Police: Man Caught Stealing Purse from Brookline Church

A South Boston man was arrested last week after he allegedly dropped a stolen woman’s purse in front of a Brookline police officer who happened to be walking down the street.

Police say Scott Hatfield, a 47-year-old Southie man, had stolen the yellow handbag along with a black cosmetics bag from an office in the in Brookline Village while the woman that owned them was praying in a nearby chapel. The woman reportedly heard the man in the office, which was supposed to be empty, and ran outside to confront him.

According to a police report, Sergeant Paul Cullinane was walking down Pierce Street around 9:45 a.m. on March 9 and saw the woman ask Hatfield if he’d been inside the parish office. While answering her, Hatfield allegedly pulled his hands out of his jacket pocket and dropped the two stolen bags on the sidewalk.

Police found the woman’s university ID and credit cards bearing her name inside the purse. Hatfield was arrested and charged with larceny from inside a building.

In the arrest report, police noted that the northern side of Brookline has seen around 21 wallet thefts from unattended bags since the start of the year.