A Chatham man with dozens of arrests on his record was arrested again after an off-duty court deputy caught him trying to steal a woman's purse in a downtown restaurant, according to the Cook County sheriff's office.
Reginald McNeil, 43, of the 8300 block of South Vernon Avenue, is facing attempted robbery charges for the Aug. 9 incident and is still in Cook County Jail.
Counts vary as to how many times McNeil has been arrested. According to the sheriff's office, this is McNeil's 58th arrest -- 20 of them for theft, attempted theft or pickpocketing.
Chicago police say he has been arrested 60 times, including 12 times on felony charges and 42 times on misdemeanor charges.
Court records show he has been convicted several times, including once for burglary in 1989.
According to a sheriff's statement, McNeil walked into a restaurant on Madison and Dearborn streets around 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 9, wandered around for a while and sat down without ordering anything.
Deputy Otto Molina, who was having lunch, saw McNeil move closer to the chair of a woman who had hung her purse on the back, police said. McNeil opened the purse and Molina got up to confront him. At the same time, the woman realized what was happening and yelled out for help.
McNeil allegedly struggled with the woman over the purse until Molina stopped him and held him until Chicago police arrived.
McNeil is being held on $80,000 bail.
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