He eventually confessed to the robbery, according to police, and said he did it because his two friends convinced him it was a way to get money to go to a local casino. According to court records, it all started when Clark, who told police he was pressured by two male friends, showed up at Dearinger’s house at midafternoon wearing black clothes and a purple bandanna around his face. She says he then grabbed her setting off a struggle during which she ripped off the bandana revealing his face and confirming it was her grandson Thomas Clark. Clark threw her to the floor, grabbed her purse and ran out the back door, according to the complaint. Clark, 22, was arraigned on felony charges Saturday in Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court where a judge set his bond at $15,000. She told police that about a year ago, Clark had burglarized her home and stolen a television.
– An Albuquerque grandmother thought she recognized a masked burglar who entered her home on Friday morning—and when Pamela Dearinger managed to rip off his bandana, her suspicions were confirmed: It was her grandson, police say. Thomas Clark, 22, came in through the back door while she was watching TV, she says; he grabbed her, and that's when she pulled off the bandana. He knocked her down and stole her purse—Dearinger pegged the value of it and its contents at $507—before fleeing, reports the Albuquerque Journal. Police caught up with him at his parents' house several hours afterward, KRQE reports. Why the desperate need for cash? Police say Clark told them his friends suggested it would be a great way to fund a trip to a nearby casino. Worse still, he's broken in once before to steal a TV, his grandmother says in the criminal complaint. Clark now faces felony charges. His grandmother was bruised and received cuts to her wrist and mouth in the altercation, but she says she's OK.