Cops: Couple robbed woman, dragged her by car in Mount Prospect

A Cary couple was charged with robbing a woman of her purse and dragging her by a car in a Walmart parking lot last month in northwest suburban Mount Prospect.

At 8:34 a.m., the 46-year-old victim was loading groceries into the back of her vehicle outside the Walmart in the 900 block of Mount Prospect Plaza with her purse in her shopping cart, according to Mount Prospect police.

A man approached when her back was turned and grabbed the purse, police said. He ran to the front passenger seat of a lime green Ford Taurus parked across the aisle.

The victim chased the suspect and reached the open passenger door of the car and grabbed onto her purse, which the suspect was still holding, police said.

The driver of the getaway vehicle started heading south through the parking lot, with the victim still holding onto her purse through the open door, police said. She was dragged through the lot until the suspect in the passenger seat let go of the purse and the victim was thrown to the ground.

The vehicle took off and the woman was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

Thomas M. Nowakowski, 25, and Kyra Santiago, 24, were each charged with felony counts of attempted robbery, aggravated battery and failure to stop after having been involved in an accident involving personal injury, police said.

In addition, they were each charged with a felony count of theft related to an August 16 incident in the parking lot of an Aldi grocery store at 1000 Mount Prospect Plaza, police said. In that incident, Nowakowski stole a purse from a shopping cart, and Santiago served as the getaway driver.

Nowakowski and Santiago, who live at the same address in northwest suburban Cary, were identified as suspects through their vehicle’s license plate, police said.

They are both being held at Cook County Jail on $100,000 bond, according to police and the Cook County sheriff’s office. Their next court appearances were set for October 6.