A homeless man who attacked a 78-year-old Little Rock woman to steal her purse last year has accepted a 15-year prison sentence.
Sentencing papers filed Tuesday show Joseph David Powell pleaded guilty to robbery and theft in exchange for the 15-year term imposed by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen. As a repeat offender with at least four prior felony convictions, Powell, who turns 36 next week, faced a maximum of 55 years for the January 2020 attack on Crystal Wood in the parking lot of Sam's Club, 900 S. Bowman Road, in Little Rock.
Wood reported minor injuries. She told police she was standing at the back of her car loading her groceries from a cart when a man in a camouflage jacket grabbed her from behind in a bear-hug and pulled her purse away, knocking her to the ground, before fleeing. Wood told police she'd noticed the man walking behind her as she went to her car, but thought he had intended to pass by her.
A witness, 46-year-old Amy Allen of El Dorado, told police she heard a yell and saw a woman on the ground with a man in a camo jacket running away with a purse.
Allen said she jumped in her car and chased the fleeing man, describing how he got into the passenger seat of white Chevrolet S10 pickup, which she chased through the neighboring parking lot long enough to get the license plate number. Allen said she gave up the chase when the pickup driver turned into oncoming traffic on Chenal Parkway.
Court filings show that police traced the plate number to the truck's owner, Vincent Martinez Gomez, 52, of Little Rock. He gave police Powell's name, saying that he'd only known Powell for a few days and that they were acquainted because both were drug addicts. Gomez told detectives that he'd given Powell a ride to the store so Powell could shoplift from Sam's but did not know that Powell was going to rob anyone.
Gomez, who was not charged, said he panicked when Powell got into the truck with the woman's purse and drove them to a car wash on North Rodney Parham Road where he punched Powell several times and left him.
Detectives got an arrest warrant for Powell and arrested him about two weeks after the robbery when a patrol officer came upon Powell panhandling -- and wearing a camo jacket -- at the intersection of Interstate 430 and North Rodney Parham. Powell has been in the Pulaski County jail ever since.
In custody, Powell admitted to stealing the purse, although he denied knocking the woman down, and confirmed Gomez' account of what happened, court records show. Powell said the decision to rob the woman was made on the spur of the moment and that he threw the purse away but kept the cash, which police said was $150.
Court records show that Powell is awaiting trial on theft charges in White and Lonoke counties where he is accused of pawning $27,806 in tools stolen from a lawn service business that had employed him in 2019.