Thief steals from Queens grandmother - New York News | NYC Breaking News

Thief steals from Queens grandmother

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MYFOXNY.COM -

A thief who stole a handbag from a 77-year-old Holocaust survivor from Queens messed with the wrong grandmother. Bertha Presz was shopping at a Kosher meat market in Kew Gardens Hills Friday when a guy lifted her bag from the shopping cart while she was reaching down for some eggs.

Initially, the police categorized it as "lost property," Presz said. She didn't think that was fair and insisted they take it more seriously.

The 5-foot-tall dynamo, who grew up in Belgium and fled the Nazis as a child, is fighting back. She has been handing out fliers with images of the thief taken from surveillance video. Presz is also encouraging anyone who will listen to check out the video on YouTube.

Her daughter is helping, too. She tracked her mom's cell phone, which was in her pocketbook when it was stolen, to Westbury, Long Island.

Police are asking the public's help finding the suspect, who is described as a white man, about 6 feet tall and 180 pounds.

Presz said she doesn't even want the purse back, she is just one senior citizen determined to get justice.

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