So this actually happened a few years ago.

I was sitting at a bus terminal waiting for my bus when this old lady asks to sit next to me. I say yes, she sits down and starts talking to me, small chit chat just to pass the time. After a few minutes of that I get a phone call and, excuse myself stand and answer it. I was on the phone for about 3 minutes, standing in a few feet away from where I was sitting. When I hung up and turned around, the old lady was gone but her purse was still sitting there.

Well, I start looking around and finally catch a glimpse of her. She is already about 600 feet away and about to walk around a corner. I quickly grab the purse and start to run as fast as I can so I can get back before my bus got there. Well about two seconds after I start running, I hear someone shout "Stop him, he just stole a purse!" Before it could even click in that she was talking about me or the fact that it must have looked sketchy as hell, I was tackled to the ground.

Again before I could do anything, this guy is on top of me throwing punches. I'm yelling out in pain and at least one other person came over and started stomping me. Because of the area, there were always cops close but by the time they got there, my face was all bloody and bruised. Of course the "good samaritans" took off and the only witnesses around just told the cops that they saw me steal the purse and didn't see anything else happen after that.

So while I am waiting for the ambulance because my face is super fucked up, the officer tells me that I am going to be arrested and charged with theft. Luckily the old lady realized at some point she forgot her purse and came back. She told the officers that she had just forgot it and that I must have been trying to return it since we had just been talking before (which is what I had already told the officer).

tl/dr: old lady forgot her purse, tried to return it, got jumped and almost charged