By Julie Manganis
BEVERLY — A Newburyport woman has been indicted in the brazen mugging of a 69-year-old woman in downtown Beverly last June.
Elizabeth Strauss, 23, could face state prison time if convicted of unarmed robbery on a person 60 or older and giving a false name to police. The charges were part of an indictment issued Wednesday by an Essex County grand jury.
Police and prosecutors say the victim had just left the Beverly police station on the afternoon of June 23 and was walking near the intersection of Cabot and Abbott streets when Strauss ran up and grabbed the woman's purse strap, then punched the woman several times in the chest and stomach.
As Strauss was running away, police said, three men in the area saw what was happening and gave chase, as Strauss tried to hide under a truck parked behind the fire station on Hale Street.
Meanwhile, a police officer on a detail nearby called in to fellow officers. When police arrived, Strauss was being held down by the bystanders.
Strauss originally gave her sister's name during booking. Police later learned that the fingerprints they had taken belonged to Strauss and not her sister, and added the false name charge.
Strauss, who was briefly held without bail and then on $10,000 bail, is currently out on $1,000 bail on the condition that she take part in a drug treatment program at the Salvation Army.
She is scheduled to be arraigned within the next several weeks in Salem Superior Court.
The prosecutor on the case is Melissa Woodard. Strauss is represented by Neil Hourihan.
