Fla. man accused of snatching girl's socks

Police say Robert Van Wagner arrested in 2012 after asking 3 girls to run around in socks

Robert Van Wagner is accused of snatching a girl's socks at a Port St. Lucie park.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – A Florida man was arrested after he stole a girl's socks from her as she was leaving a park, police said.

Robert Van Wagner faces a charge of robbery by sudden snatching after last week's incident.

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Port St. Lucie police said Van Wagner stopped a girl in the parking lot as she was leaving cheerleading practice and asked her for her socks, which she was holding in her hand.

Police said Van Wagner told her he needed the socks for a project and pleaded with her to give them to him before he finally snatched them away.

According to the police report, a similar incident occurred in 2012 when three girls said a man asked them to put on socks he was carrying and run around in them. Police arrested Van Wagner after identifying him from surveillance video.

This time, police said, the girl identified Van Wagner from a photographic lineup as the man who snatched her socks.