Mugging at Vernon bank concerns police

VERNON – A senior was mugged in plain daylight at the CIBC bank downtown Vernon, and the audacity of the incident has police concerned.

RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says an 83-year-old man was withdrawing cash from the bank machine at CIBC on 30 Avenue around 2:30 p.m. Monday. Being a holiday, the bank was closed, but the ATMs were available. Before the man could retrieve his cash, a woman came up behind him and snatched it from the machine. He grabbed her jacket, but she pulled away and bolted.

“The elderly man followed but he slipped on the snow outside the bank. He fell and sustained a cut to the back of this head and a sore shoulder,” Molendyk says.

The man was treated by ambulance personnel and provided a description of the woman. Molendyk says it’s alarming that seniors, who make up a large portion of Vernon’s population, are being targeted. Seniors are preyed upon because they often prefer to pay with cash instead of credit or debit card, Molendyk says.

Police are hoping someone witnessed the incident, and are asking anyone with information to call the detachment at 250-545-7171 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

The woman is described as a 32-35 year-old caucasian, 5’5”, slender to medium build with long dirty blond hair. She was wearing a lot make-up and a heavy coat.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelnews.ca, call 250-309-5230 or tweet @charhelston.