Alleged Purse Snatchers Targeted Elderly Women

WILKINS TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- Two men accused in a rash of purse snatchings around the area have been arrested.

The men are accused of taking advantage of preoccupied holiday shoppers – mostly elderly women.

At least a dozen have been targeted in the past two weeks.

Police say the most recent victim was an 84-year-old woman at the Shop 'N Save in Wilkins Township.

It happened Monday evening.

Wilkins Township Police put out an APB and James McConeghy of Jefferson Hills and Matthew McCracken, of Butler, were picked up at the Get Go on Penn Avenue in Wilkinsburg late Monday.

Police identified the getaway car. Detectives believe the same men are also behind other purse thefts at malls and supermarkets in West Mifflin, McCandless, Shaler, Ohio Township and North Versailles.

Investigators from those municipalities met with Northern Regional Police to finalize charges.

McConeghy and McCracken are in the Allegheny County Jail.

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