Registered sex offender stabs woman in leg, steals her phone outside Christiana store: Police

A 33-year-old Claymont man is behind bars after police said he stabbed a woman in the leg with a broken glass bottle then made off with her cellphone Tuesday afternoon.

According to police, the 46-year-old woman was walking in a parking lot outside the Christiana Ross department store just before 1 p.m. when Jake Gillespie came up to her.

The woman was talking on her cellphone at the time, and Gillespie began arguing with her, police said. He stopped her from getting into her car, then stabbed her in the left leg with the broken bottle.

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Gillespie "forcibly stole" the woman's phone as she was trying to call 911, then ran on foot from the parking lot, according to police. A passerby saw what happened and chased Gillespie down, holding him to the ground until police could arrive.

Gillespie, a registered sex offender, was charged with robbery, weapons charges, assault and interfering with a 911 call. He was arraigned and taken to Howard R. Young Correctional Institution on $130,200 cash bond.

Police did not say whether Gillespie and the victim knew one another.

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