NH police search for suspect who robbed disabled man

MANCHESTER, N.H. (WHDH) -- Police in New Hampshire say a cruel thief helped an elderly man in a wheelchair and then turned on him, stealing $150 from his wallet.

Richard Robitalle says the man, caught on surveillance video, offered to help him with his mail. The disabled 75-year-old says he couldn’t go pick it up himself because he had left his wallet upstairs, and it contained the keycard that would let him back in through the lobby door.

But when the man came back with the mail, Richard says he asked for five dollars.

When Richard agreed, he says the man followed him back upstairs to his apartment and Richard got a bad feeling.

“When I got through the door he grabbed ahold of this line,” Richard said, indicating the plastic tubing that supplies his oxygen. “That scared me a little bit.”

That’s when Richard says the thief helped himself, taking $150 in cash straight from his wallet.

“That was my money for the rest of the month, you know?” Richard said.

Police aren’t' sure how the suspect got into the locked building in the first place, but Richard says if the man had simply asked him for more money he would of given it to him.