Well-Dressed Robbers Attacking Women in Center City: Police

4 attacks and robberies happened almost the same exact time over several weeks

Two men wanted for the assault and robbery of an elderly woman inside a posh Center City may have committed a similar crime three times before.

Philadelphia Police released surveillance video Monday from the first attack that happened on July 19 at 1500 Chestnut Street. In the video, one of the suspects could be seen trying to grab a woman's purse from her stroller as she tried to enter a building.

The woman was able to fight off the attackers, but her stroller nearly rolled into the street as she pushed the men away. Both men fled the scene, police say.

Police believe the same men held an 86-year-old woman inside an elevator at 100 S. Broad Street until she gave up her wallet the following Monday, July 26. The suspects got away with $20 and the woman wasn't hurt.

Exactly two weeks later on August 9 the same men stole a 46-year-old woman's wallet from her purse as she withdrew cash from an ATM at 1636 Walnut Street, police say. She was not hurt.

The most violent attack came on August 16 at 1500 Locust when the men robbed a 93-year-old woman. Surveillance video shows one man distracting the apartment building's guard as the other follows the woman onto an elevator.

Inside, he pushed the woman into a corner and stole her wallet with $6 in cash and several credit cards from her purse, police say.

"I wanted that wallet," she told the Philadelphia Daily News. "It had the only decent picture of my husband. . .A good one that he had given me."

The man then threw the woman out of the elevator and kicked her.

"I fought ever inch of the way," she told the paper.

The woman suffered a broken wrist and several bruises, police say.

Investigators say surveillance video of the last attack has generated many tips, but arrests haven't yet been made.

The man who allegedly attacked the woman in the last robbery is described as a black male, 6-feet, 2-inches tall, 195 pounds and between 30 to 40 years old. He was wearing a white polo hat, black glasses with metal frames, a red long-sleeved shirt and khaki pants.

Anyone with information on the two suspects should call Central Detective Division at 215.686.3093 or 215.686.TIPS.

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