Man targeted Asian women in robberies because they were ‘easy’, report says

A man was arrested Saturday after police said he robbed several elderly Asian woman at and around the Gold Coast over the course of several weeks.

According to a Metropolitan Police Department arrest report, Jephery Steward, 25, told police he attacked people in the specific demographic because they were “easy targets.”

During several robberies, Steward grabbed the women’s purses, often pushing or throwing the women to the ground, before running away, police said in the report.

In one attack, Steward punched a woman in the face multiple times, the report states.

Steward’s attacks were caught multiple times on video footage from various properties, police said.

Steward told police that because he was not being paid at a job that he had recently started, and was having difficulty making ends meet for his children and fiance, he decided to commit the robberies, the report states.

Steward has been charged with four counts of robbery with a victim over 60, and one count of larceny.

Contact Taylor Lane at tlane@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tmflane on Twitter.