After being allowed inside a woman’s Woodward Township home on the pretense that she needed to use the telephone, Patricia Ann Walker stole the woman’s purse, which contained $161, state police alleged in an affidavit.

Walker, 48, of 528 Reuben Kehrer Road, Muncy, came to Mary Womeldorf”s front door on McGill Hollow Road about 11 p.m. on Feb. 4, claiming she needed to make a telephone call to get a ride because her husband had ordered her out of the couple’s car, police said.

Once she was allowed in the home, Walker picked up Womeldorf”s purse and soon walked out the door, police said. The victim did not discover the purse missing until the next morning, police said.

Charged with theft and receiving stolen property, Walker failed to appear last week for a preliminary hearing before District Judge Jerry C. Lepley. A bench warrant for her arrest was filed.