On Thursday, November 9, 2017, Knox County Deputy Claude Hudson received a complaint of a purse snatching near a residence on Happy Lane in Barbourville. The victim told Deputy Hudson that Michael Sampson grabbed her purse and ran off. When she tried to stop him, he allegedly punched her in the face. Deputy Hudson traveled to Sampson’s house, also on Happy Lane, to interview him. He denied taking the purse, but the deputy observed the purse partially covered on top of a blow-up mattress in the living room floor. Michael Sampson, 44, was arrested and lodged in the Knox County Detention Center.