SIDNEY — Police have arrested a man in a purse-snatching incident that injured an elderly woman last week.

On Tuesday, law enforcement authorities said they were able to positively identify the man who allegedly committed the crime in the parking lot of the Sidney Food Town, 1010 Wapakoneta Ave., the afternoon of Oct. 28.

Sidney Police Capt. Jerry Tangeman said investigators from the Sidney Police Department, working in conjunction with investigators from the Lima Police Department, were able to identify Gene Patrick Agnew, 42, of Sidney, as the person allegedly responsible for the crime. Agnew is currently incarcerated in an Allen County holding facility charged with one count of aggravated robbery on an incident he is believed to be involved with in Lima. Agnew was charged with one count of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, Tuesday afternoon in Sidney Municipal Court for the incident that occurred in Sidney.

Investigators from Sidney and Lima learned Friday afternoon that Agnew was a likely suspect in multiple robbery-type incidents occurring in Sidney, Wapakoneta and Lima areas, Tangeman said. Both agencies put forth investigative efforts to solidify their suspicions, which included Sidney officers conducting around-the-clock surveillance at a location Agnew was known to frequent in Sidney. Agnew was apprehended in Lima early Saturday morning by Lima authorities.

“Sidney citizens’ willingness to offer their eyewitness accounts surrounding the robbery incident and their tips of possible locations of the whereabouts of the white Chevy S-10 truck believed used during the robbery played an important part in bringing Agnew to arrest,” Tangeman said. “To this effort we thank the public’s willingness to help, not only law enforcement, but more importantly the victim.”

The 86-year-old victim told police she was walking to her car when a white Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck pulled alongside her, the driver grabbed her purse, and drove away. The woman was dragged a short distance by the truck.