Police: App, cameras, social media help nab Hempfield purse thief

Police used a cellphone app, surveillance footage and social media to find and charge an accused purse thief in Westmoreland County.

According to state police, a man was captured on surveillance footage taking a purse from an 81-year-old Jeannette woman’s shopping cart while she was preoccupied at a Giant Eagle on Lincoln Highway in Hempfield on Jan. 22. The man was seen getting into a white Chevrolet SUV.

The purse was found at a Giant Eagle in North Huntingdon using the “find my phone” application, state police said. The white SUV was seen on the store’s surveillance footage.

State police searched social media for the name of the SUV’s registered owner and said they identified a “likely boyfriend” of the owner as Steven J. Lucko, 34, of North Huntingdon.

Finding a picture of Lucko on social media, state police said he matched the image of the man captured on Giant Eagle surveillance footage.

Police said they contacted Lucko, who confessed to taking the purse and $120 in cash from it. Police said Lucko also made a $500 Home Depot gift card purchase using the woman’s credit card.

During the gift card transaction, police said Lucko used a Giant Eagle Advantage Card from a theft in North Huntingdon in December. The victim in that theft was a 93-year-old woman from Irwin.

State police have filed theft and other charges against Lucko in connection with the January incident in Hempfield, while North Huntingdon police have charged him in the December theft, according to court records.

Lucko is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on the North Huntingdon charges at 9:30 a.m. April 1 before District Judge Wayne Gongaware, according to court records. No hearings are shown as scheduled on the charges filed by state police.