Career Purse Snatcher Gets 20 Years for Grand Larceny
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LAS VEGAS — A Las Vegas man who was described by police as a one-man crime wave who snatched more than 1,000 purses a year has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
District Judge John Mendoza sentenced Willie Ormond, 34, to 10 years in prison Thursday on a grand larceny charge. He ordered that the sentence run consecutive to another 10-year prison term imposed a day earlier by District Judge Robert Rose in another grand larceny case.
Mendoza imposed the maximum sentence after Metro Police established that Ormond is a habitual criminal.
Officers estimate that he stole more than 1,000 purses a year, making his living by taking purses left between slot machines at casinos downtown and along the Las Vegas Strip.
“According to a reliable informant, Willie averaged three to four purse-snatches a night, five nights a week,” Metro Police Lt. Steve Raeder said.
Ormond’s arrest sheet is 6 1/2 feet long and shows 58 felony and 88 misdemeanor arrests.
Police report that Ormond has spent a total of nearly seven years in prison on 36 previous convictions.
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