Brother gives up ‘crack monster’ who robs women and drags them with car, police say

A known crack cocaine user who got out of prison in December for an armed carjacking was arrested Thursday on charges of robbing a woman with a screwdriver and dragging her through a parking lot with his car as she tried to hold on to her purse.

Police believe it’s the same man who pushed a victim down last week and stole her purse outside a Miami Presidente Supermarket, then dragged her as she held on to through the open passenger window.

“Identical car. Identical crime. Identical-looking suspect,” said Hialeah police Sgt. Carl Zogby.

Police arrested Jorde Harold, 42, after his brother notified them of his whereabouts. Harold was charged with armed robbery, aggravated battery and grand theft and taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. His bond was set at $22,500.

“He targets women,” Zogby said.

According to police and eyewitnesses, a woman who has not been named by police was walking to work in the 800 block of Southeast Eighth Street at about 10 a.m. Thursday when Harold came up behind her, pointed a screwdriver at her and demanded her purse. Police said he took her purse, struck her with the screwdriver and jumped into a gold, four-door Honda sedan.

But the woman went after him, and as she tried to hold on to her purse she was dragged by the car a short distance in the parking lot before she was able to free herself. Zogby said she was scraped up, but otherwise fine.

Police said they found the vehicle late Thursday afternoon on Northwest North River Drive and 36th Street with the woman’s belongings inside. The same vehicle had been reported stolen in Miami on July 6. The Honda also came back as a match with a vehicle used in a similar robbery in Miami a week earlier.

Fingerprints linked the Honda to Harold, police said. Detectives then went to his last known address in Hialeah and found his brother living there. His brother, police said, led them a well-known drug-hole, where they found Harold. He refused to talk to detectives.

The robbery was extremely similar to one on July 12, when a man — also in a gold Honda sedan — pushed a woman down outside a Presidente Supermarket at 2199 S.W. 36th St. in Miami and grabbed her purse. In that instance, the woman also held on to her purse and was dragged a short ways as the robber tried to drive off. The woman, who also was not named, was not hurt badly.

“He’s a crack monster who did almost 20 years for armed robbery,” said Zogby. “Both women were tough. Both went after him.”

This story was originally published July 21, 2017 at 2:57 PM with the headline "Brother gives up ‘crack monster’ who robs women and drags them with car, police say."