Purse Thief Nabbed by Elderly Victim's Daughter Has Long Criminal History
The woman accused of stealing a 92-year-old woman’s purse at the laundromat and who was detained hours later by the victim’s 73-year-old daughter has been identified as a St. Paul woman with a long history of felony level convictions for theft and burglary around the state.
Autumn Jane Isham - Accused of stealing a 92-year-old woman’s purse in a St. Paul laundromat Thursday, March 25, 2021.
Autumn Jane Isham, 31, was arrested Thursday night and held on probable cause felony robbery after allegedly ripping a purse from the arms of a 92-year-old woman around 10:45 a.m. that morning at a laundromat on the 700 block of Milton St. N.
Isham got away on foot, but about nine hours later and across the street from the laundromat, Isham was found by the victim’s daughter, who called St. Paul police to report she was being detained by a group of the victim’s friends. The daughter told police she had staked out the area for hours in hopes of finding the woman who stole her mother’s purse.
Isham has multiple previous felony level convictions for theft and burglary in Mahnomen, Ramsey, St. Louis, Polk and Hubbard counties in Minnesota.
She was convicted of two charges of theft and one of assault in 2008 and 2011 in Beltrami, Becker and Clearwater counties. In 2011 in Polk County, Isham was convicted of 2nd-degree burglary and had another burglary conviction there in 2012. Most recently, she was convicted of theft and felon in possession in Mahnomen County in late 2018.
Isham denied stealing the woman’s purse Thursday night, police said, but the victim’s property was found in her possession.
Our previous coverage on the incident