After five years of investigation, East Haven police seeking out a purse snatcher have found and arrested a local man after obtaining DNA evidence from the perpetrator's sweatshirt and the woman's purse.

The 42-year-old East Haven man was accused of violently snatching the purse of a middle aged woman on September 15, 2006. The crime, which occurred on Main Street around 7 p.m., left the woman with serious facial injuries, for which she was treated at Yale-New Haven hospital.

According to sources, detectives pursued investigative leads over the course of five years. After finding the woman's purse along with a man's sweatshirt, police obtained a search and seizure warrant for the man's DNA. A forensic test matched the DNA from the sweatshirt with the man's DNA.

Along with the DNA evidence, there were also various witnesses who gave supporting testimony as to the identity of the perpetrator.

On Wednesday evening, police arrested the 32-year-old man at his home in East Haven, and he was later charged with second-degree larceny, first degree robbery, and first degree assault. He is now being held on $200,000

According to sources, the man had violently tried to steal the woman's purse, causing her serious injury. But sources didn't indicate why the man was charged with larceny in addition to robbery.

Larceny and robbery differ from one another in that larceny involves no force or threat of force in the taking of property from another, whereas robbery does.

Source: NBC, "Accused Purse Snatcher Nabbed by DNA on Sweatshirt," Leanne Gendreau, 24 Mar 2011.