Man Pleads Not Guilty to Safeway Purse Theft

A man has pleaded not guilty in San Mateo County Superior Court to stealing a purse from a Belmont Safeway store in January, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Mark Damon Taylor, 44, was  Thursday in connection with the purse theft, and was also charged with additional counts of identity theft and use of a stolen credit, police said.

He pleaded not guilty Friday, and the case was continued to March 8 for for superior court review and March 15 for a preliminary hearing.

Store surveillance tapes allegedly captured Taylor carrying away the purse of a 79-year-old San Carlos woman, who was shopping at the Safeway store at 1100 El Camino Real. She had placed her purse in the child seat portion of her shopping cart while shopping.

Sometime between 5:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., the the woman walked away from her cart to gather some items and her purse was taken.

After a review of the store security cameras, investigators were able to learn that an African American male with a stocky build took the purse from the victim’s shopping cart when the victim’s attention was elsewhere.

Store security cameras then show the male suspect leaving the store with the victim’s purse. The male suspect was apparently in the company of an African American female, who left the store a short time later. Some of the victim’s credit cards were later used in San Mateo.

Taylor was subsequently arrested as a result of tips that were received by Belmont police following the release of Taylor's photo.

Taylor remains in custody in lieu of $10,000 bail.

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