A Stubbly Riddle Wrapped In A Mystery Inside An Enigma And Stuffed Into A Fendi Shoulder Bag

An appellate panel has ruled that a transgendered person’s appearance — suspiciously looking unlike a woman — is probable cause for police to stop him . . . or her, as the case may be:

A Chelsea transsexual is simply too masculine-looking to sashay his way out of charges of possessing a stolen purse, four state appellate judges ruled yesterday.

Cops had busted manly tranny Stephen Lomiller — an admitted homeless crack addict — three years ago, after noticing him sitting on a doorstep on Second Avenue and 28th Street.

He was “rifling” through a Fendi shoulder bag while looking nervously up and down the street, cops said.

On his face was what one arresting officer has described in court as “like, a three-days’ growth of beard.”

Still, Lomiller claims that cops never should have stopped and questioned him, because “transgendered” guys like himself often carry a purse, so there’s nothing suspicious about it.

The argument worked — for a while.

A lower-court judge, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice James Yates, actually agreed with Lomiller, and dismissed the purse-possession case.

“While he might not have been fully dressed as a woman, he unquestionably is a person of transgender appearance,” Yates said at the time.

. . .

But in overturning Yates’ decision yesterday, the appellate panel unanimously agreed that Lomiller was obviously no lady to the arresting officers, who, therefore, had good reason to stop and question him.

“The defendant looked like a man when he was arrested,” the panel ruled, noting that in his mug shot, Lomiller displayed “what seems to be two to three days’ growth of beard.”