OSWEGATCHIE -- An Ogdensburg man has confessed to robbing an 81-year old woman from Penfield in the last year.

Travis M. Howe, 27, has been identified as the man who robbed Patricia Menga at the Stone Fence Motel at 9:35 p.m. Aug. 12, 2011, St. Lawrence County sheriff’s deputies said.

Deputies said Howe waited until Menga's husband Richard Megna entered the hotel before emerging from the darkness and stealing purse.

In a statement to deputies, Menga said the man told her to give him her purse and while brandishing what appeared to be a club held in a threatening manner.

Menga allegedly yelled for her husband and the attacker left with her purse.

Menga told deputies she fell to the ground after the incident.

Deputies said Howe was identified as the assailant after he allegedly described how the robbery took place and the items that were taken.

Deputies said they did not recovery the stolen items, which were tossed in a trash container in Ogdensburg the day after the robbery.

Deputies said the robbery was a random act and Howe had been waiting "in the darkness for an "unsuspecting victim."

Deputies said the crime was covered as part of a plea agreement reached between Howe and the St. Lawrence County District Attorney's Office.

Howe was recently accused of assaulting another inmate while held in St. Lawrence County Jail.