BOSTON — A Boston man on probation after receiving a split sentence for car break-ins and vandalism is now facing new charges after he was identified in two purse snatching incidents, including one that left a woman injured, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced Friday.
Justin Caterson, 33, was arraigned Thursday in Boston Municipal Court (Central Division) on charges of unarmed robbery and assault and battery on a person over 60. Judge Paul Treseler set bail at $5,000. A probation warrant was also issued for violating the conditions of his release.
Caterson had previously pleaded guilty in April 2024 to a series of car break-ins and vandalism in Jamaica Plain, for which he received a six-month sentence at the House of Correction followed by two years of probation.
According to Hayden’s office, Boston police responded around 8:46 p.m. on February 22 to the Tufts Medical Center emergency department, where the victim’s son reported that his mother had been robbed and was receiving treatment for head pain.
The woman told police she was waiting at the MBTA Silver Line bus stop at Washington Street and William E. Mullins Way when a man grabbed her purse and ran. The victim said she lost her IDs, cards, keychain, and between $600 and $700 in cash. Surveillance footage showed two men passing the victim at the bus stop, then returning, at which point one grabbed her purse, causing her to fall to the ground.
Police circulated still images from the video to officers in the area. Investigators identified Caterson as a suspect from the photos, and he was arrested on February 25 in connection with a separate purse snatching incident at East Berkley Street and Harrison Avenue. He appeared to be wearing the same clothes and a GPS ankle monitor in both incidents, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said in its statement.
Using GPS data and surveillance footage that placed Caterson at the scene of the February 22 robbery, police obtained a warrant for his arrest.
He was arraigned on February 26 for the February 25 incident and held on $3,000 bail for that case. He is scheduled to return to court on April 23 for both cases.
“We know that a disproportionately small sector of the population drives a disproportionately high percentage of crimes. Our neighborhoods feel the impact of these repeat offenders,” Hayden said. “I wish the victim in this incident a full recovery and I can assure her we will do everything possible to hold her assailant accountable.”
