Woman nabbed in $10G fastfood burglary gets probation
MEDIA COURTHOUSE » A former Popeyes Chicken manager pleaded guilty Monday to one count of burglary of an unoccupied business for stealing nearly $10,000 from the fast food chain’s Eddystone location in March.
Christine Thomas, 32, of the 1000 block of West Fifth Street in Chester, was sentenced to five years of probation and 120 hours of community service under the negotiated plea worked out by Assistant District Attorney Sean McNabb and defense attorney Howard Anmuth.
Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge George Pagano also ordered Thomas to undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation and comply with all recommendations, provide a DNA sample to state police and stay away from the store at 1530 Chester Pike.
Thomas was arrested after Eddystone Police Officer Michael Slowik noticed a person wearing all black approach the store about 1:20 a.m. March 13 and enter a side door “with relative ease,” according to an affidavit of probable cause.
Slowik saw Thomas slip on a ski mask as she walked into the restaurant and move to an area behind the registers where a safe was located. Slowik parked his cruiser in front of the store and approached Thomas as she exited.
Thomas allegedly told the officer she had returned to pick up some medication that she left at the restaurant earlier in the day, but could not produce any medication. Slowik noticed Thomas was wearing latex gloves and asked her to step in front of his vehicle.
“Thomas kept bending over as if she dropped something,” the affidavit states. “When she stood back up, I noticed two bundles of cash on the ground next to my patrol vehicle.”
Thomas told Slowik that she had more money in her jacket sleeves. She allegedly said her boyfriend, who was still working at the Popeyes at the time, had given her a key to enter the restaurant and empty the safe.
Surveillance video showed Thomas entering the store and accessing the safe. Thomas used the safe code she had learned as a former manager to open the safe and take $9,975, according to the affidavit. A key was found on the ground near the dropped bundles.
A white Dodge sport utility vehicle was also seen in the video. The current Popeyes manager arrived at the scene and told officers Thomas was not authorized to be in the building. The manager also identified the Dodge as belonging to Thomas’s boyfriend, who was not charged.