74-year-old woman punched unconscious during purse snatching in southwest Houston

HOUSTON – A 74-year-old grandmother is healing after she was attacked while walking to church.

“It’s pain, everything’s pain,” Teofila DeLeon said as she put her hand on the back of her head showing KPRC 2 where she landed after she said she was punched. “My face is (in) pain and my back.”

Her daughter, Nereida Garcia, said her mom got out of her car on Sunday, preparing to go into Iglesia Bautista Horeb Church on Dublin Street, when she noticed a man walking toward her.

“She thought he was actually going into the church,” Garcia said. “As she was walking closer to the door, he was, like, walking towards her and she said that she looked at him and even smiled at him. As he was getting closer and walking faster, she noticed the way he looked at her was a different type of look.”

Garcia said her mom was punched in the face and the force pushed her to the ground, hitting her head and she briefly went unconscious.

“She said all she remembers is opening her eyes and there were a few people trying to talk to her and the ambulance got there right away, as well,” she said.

The grandmother to eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren lost two front teeth and suffered a skull fracture.

Grandmother punched during purse snatching. (KPRC)

“She does have to go to a specialist to get that checked out because we don’t know if it will affect her hearing as well,” Garcia said.

Court records show that 25-year-old Trevion Rogers was charged with aggravated robbery in the case.

Documents state Rogers committed “theft of property owned by Teofila DeLeon and with intent to obtain and maintain control of the property, intentionally and knowingly threaten and place in fear of imminent bodily injury and death, a person at least sixty-five years of age by striking the Complainant with his hand.”

Garcia said she helped in Rogers’ arrest by tracking her mom’s phone, “as I was on the phone with HPD trying to get all the information that was going on,” she said. “I was telling them, ‘I can track my mom’s phone and this is where he’s going.’ We stayed on the phone all that time until I was able to get to where HPD was at and they were able to find him.”

Records show Rogers is in jail on a $75,000 bond. He is set to appear in court on Wednesday, May 4.

“I do not want him to walk free again,” Garcia said. “There was no reason to strike her because he could [have] killed her. If he was going to take her belongings, she wasn’t going to fight for it. He could [have] just snatched it from her and left.”


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