Newport police are looking for a purse-snatcher who robbed an elderly woman Wednesday night.

An 80-year-old woman was getting into her car at the Irving gas station on Route 100 when at 7 p.m. a teenage male grabbed her purse from her hands and ran off, according to Newport police Sgt. Sanger Davis. The woman was shaken but not hurt and lost $300 in cash that was in her purse, he said.

The suspect is approximately 15 years old and 5 feet 4 inches tall with a slim build, Sanger said. Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call the Newport Police Department at 368-3263.

A Hampden woman was summoned Wednesday for felony theft after she allegedly racked up more than $2,000 in unauthorized charges on a company credit card.

Lorrie St. Pierre, 33, allegedly used the American Express card issued by her employer, Gates McDonald-Nationwide Insurance Co., from June through August to buy groceries and other personal items, according to reports. St. Pierre, a workers’ compensation claims specialist, told police she intended to pay back the unauthorized charges.

The felony theft summons also includes inflated expense checks issued to St. Pierre, unauthorized cell phone charges and fees associated with her credit card balance, according to reports. The alleged thefts total $5,400.

St. Pierre was fired from the company and is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 19.

A transient’s burning mattress sent up black smoke Thursday that made the fire look worse than it was according to Bangor firefighters.

Captain Ritchie Palmer of the Bangor Fire Department said that the black smoke appeared to be coming from a home in the area of Hancock and Washington streets as firefighters approached.

Instead firefighters found a homeless person’s mattress, blankets and other items burning in the area between Hancock Street and the Penobscot River.

Palmer said firefighters arriving at 3:42 p.m. used an extinguisher and backpack-style hand pumps to put out the fire and clean up the area in 18 minutes.

No one was around when the fire department arrived, he said.

Old Town police are looking for a vandal who spray-painted the outside of a Middle Street church.

Chinese characters were found Thursday spray-painted on an exterior cement wall at the United Baptist Church, as well as on a nearby sidewalk, according to police. The vandalism occurred sometime earlier this week.

Police have not identified any suspects in the case.

– Compiled by NEWS reporters Jackie Farwell and Doug Kesseli