by Dona Dreeland (www.yourcranberry.com) - November 18, 2010
What started out as an average Saturday at Planet Pulse clothing store in Cranberry ended with some quick-thinking heroics and a foiled shoplifting attempt.
Store manager Nicki Scalamogna and clerk Greg Dvorsky, 22, were talking to two female customers on the afternoon of Oct. 23. Then, the customers went into the fitting room to try on clothing, including True Religion jeans. The jeans sell for $300 a pair.
When Scalamogna, of Gibsonia, and Dvorsky, of Ingomar, were at the register, one of the women exited the store. The sensor went off, signaling that unpaid-for items were leaving with her. Dvorsky followed her out as Scalamogna called the storeowner, Marty Smith, and Cranberry police.
Dvorsky found the woman, later identified by police as Nicole Savage, 19, of the North Side, hiding by a car. She asked what was wrong, according to the criminal complaint, and he convinced her to return to the store.
"We just want our stuff back," he told her.
Dvorsky knew police were on the way.
Savage didn't want to go through the door with the sensor, he said, but she came inside the store. Dvorsky retrieved the woman's purse and put it behind the counter.
Savage grabbed other items and tried to leave again, police said.
She also called to her friend, Saundra Walker, 22, also of the North Side, who was in the fitting room, that they had to leave.
In those minutes, Dvorsky said he locked the front door. When Savage realized the door was locked, she bit Dvorsky on his left arm and began punching him, according to the criminal complaint.
By now Cranberry police had arrived, and Officer Justin Lee Hewitt detained Savage and Walker.
After a preliminary hearing on Oct. 29, according to the criminal records, Savage was charged with robbery to take property by force, retail theft, criminal conspiracy and giving false identification to the officers.
Walker was charged with retail theft, criminal conspiracy and giving false identification to officers.
Their formal arraignment is set for Dec. 7.
While Walker had nothing in her purse, the fitting room was littered with sensors that had been ripped from pairs of jeans, the criminal complaint read. Later, Scalamogna and Dvorsky found where she had hidden those jeans, now sporting holes where the sensors had been, Dvorsky said.
Had the theft succeeded, Planet Pulse would have lost nearly $5,000 in merchandise.
Each store has its own policy about engaging shoplifters, said Sgt. Chuck Mascellino, Cranberry Township's information officer.
"For employees, no money or items are worth endangering themselves," he said. "Dvorsky just wanted to keep (Savage) in the store."
"You can't use force to prevent a theft, but you have a right to defend yourself."
Dvorsky, who is 6-feet, 2-inches tall, 180 pounds, never thought he'd be harmed during the incident with the women who, he had guessed, were in their mid-20s or slightly older.
As a close friend of the Smith family, he was happy to help.
"If it wasn't for Greg, we wouldn't have caught her," Scalamogna said.
"He's my employee of the month," she said. "He's my employee of the year."
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