Suspect in Street Robbery Ordered Held on High Bail

A Revere man was ordered held on high bail this week after allegedly grabbing a woman’s laptop bag while she and a friend were walking on Harrison Avenue in the South End.

Viktor Klein, 28, was arraigned in Boston Municipal Court on Monday and charged with unarmed robbery and attempted robbery for the March 12 incident, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office announced. Judge Thomas C. Horgan set bail at $20,000 after Assistant District Attorney Spencer Lord pointed out Klein’s previous offenses - he was convicted on robbery charges in Worcester Superior Court and has a criminal history in Texas.

According to Lord, Klein approached two women in their mid-20s around 2 a.m. on March 12 and feigned conversation before “lunging at one of the women and grabbing at her purse.” A struggle ensued, and when Klein was unable to grasp the purse (which was strapped across the woman’s shoulder and chest) he reportedly seized her friend’s bag, which contained a Sony VAIO laptop and her identification.

Klein then fled on foot in the direction of East Springfield Street and was later apprehended by police in the vicinity of Shawmut Avenue and Northampton Street. When approached by officers, Klein allegedly refused to take both hands out of his pockets. When he finally did, a Sony VAIO laptop fell from his jacket to the ground, Lord said.

The two victims positively identified Klein as the man who robbed them. He is due back in court on April 12.