Truesee's Daily Wonder

PLAISTOW — Police are calling him the "remorseful robber."

A man returned $90 and a GPS to the 61-year-old woman he robbed a few weeks earlier, stopping at her home and leaving a long letter of apology.

"She said he knocked on her door around 8 p.m. (on July 26)," Deputy police Chief Kathleen Jones said. "When she opened the door, he said he was sorry, put the stuff down and ran away. He knew where she lived from the items he stole from the wallet."

The suspect stole the woman's purse from a shopping cart at the Plaistow Market Basket on July 18. He grabbed her wallet and GPS, leaving the purse behind in the supermarket aisle. The wallet was later found by the Tewksbury post office and returned to the victim.

The victim of the crime, while happy to have her belongings returned, is still afraid, Jones said.

"Having him show up at her door, even though he was trying to do a decent thing, was a little unnerving," she said. "He had committed a crime against her."

And Jones said though the police are calling the suspect remorseful, she isn't convinced.

"It was either nice, or he knows he's been in the paper and is trying to head off the inevitable," she said.

Jones said the man will still be charged with theft by unauthorized taking despite returning what he had stolen. So far, there are no suspects in the case.

"We have a few tips, but nothing concrete yet," Jones said. "I have no doubt they'll be able to make an arrest in this case."

The suspect also was spotted in a neighboring town by an off-duty police officer and pursued. He got away, but police were able to get a better description of him.

He is a white male with fair skin, blue eyes, 5 feet 10 inches tall, heavy set, in his late 20s to mid-30s.

He has short light brown hair and a brown close-cropped beard and mustache. He wears branded baseball caps, like Nike and Patriots, dark-colored T-shirts, and Converse high-top gray sneakers or sandals. He drives a newer red car, similar to a station wagon.

Police are looking for this man who recently returned items to his victim.