Shorewood Police Arrest Purse Snatcher: Complaint

SHOREWOOD, IL — A 28-year-old Minooka man was taken into custody this week in connection with an October robbery at the Jewel parking lot in Shorewood that left a senior citizen slightly injured, according to the Shorewood Police Department.

On Monday, the Will County Sheriff's Office arrested Jacob Gabel on a bench warrant issued last week on charges of aggravated robbery. Gabel's bail was set at $50,000 and he remained incarcerated Wednesday.

Shorewood Deputy Police Chief Jason Barten told Joliet Patch that Gabel attacked a Shorewood woman in her 70s as she was leaving the Jewel store. The woman had her purse in the top of her shopping cart and Gabel stole her purse and he pushed her out the way, Barten said.

The woman refused medical treatment at the scene of the crime, Barten said. Immediately after the crime, Gabel used the woman's credit cards and her cash, the police investigation revealed.

At the Jewel parking lot, police were able to obtain a partial license plate of the purse snatcher. During the past two months, Shorewood detectives Paul Retzke and Kevin Frazier worked with Braidwood and Minooka police departments to identify Gabel as the culprit of the Shorewood purse snatching crime, Barten said.

Barten also praised the Shorewood Police Department's patrol division. "The initial patrol officers set a good foundation for the detectives to follow," he told Patch. "The information on the partial license plate led us to Gabel."

Gabel was also arrested last month by the Braidwood Police Department on charges of burglary and retail theft in connection with a crime at a Braidwood business. Gabel spent one day in the Will County Jail after his Braidwood arrest and he was released from custody on Nov. 19.

This week, a Morris radio station also reported that Gabel and 30-year-old Minooka resident Andrew Soto were both indicted in Grundy County on two counts of burglary. Authorities in Grundy County say the pair burglarized a Minooka gas station and one in Morris on Oct. 26, stealing more than $300 in cigarettes from both stores.

Shorewood police are still investigating the October purse snatching at the Jewel store and additional charges may arise, Barten said.

"We're confident he did not act alone in this either," Barten said of Gabel.

Gabel lives in the 300 block of Wedgewood Drive in Minooka, jail logs show.