PENNSDALE - Two woman face Muncy Township police charges for allegedly conspiring to steal merchandise at Sears at the Lycoming Mall and at Target at Lycoming Crossing, according to court records filed at the office of District Judge Jon E. Kemp.
Police said Melissa Jean Raup, 28, and Alicia Sue Catherman, 27, both of Milton, took merchandise - a coffee maker and clothes - off the shelves at Sears and went to a customer service counter, claiming they were returning the items on Oct. 2. The two women received gift card instead of cash, police said.
The two women did the same thing the very next day, but this time they removed two comforters off the shelf, and again each received a gift card from a customer service employee, police said. The following day, Oct. 4, Raup and Catherman each received a $68 gift card for stolen merchandise they claimed they had purchased from Sears and were returning, police said.
The total amount stolen from the department store was $551.
In a second case filed against the two, township police allege Raup and Catherman stole 33 DVDs from Target and then Catherman sold them to FYE, located in the mall, on Oct. 31.
In a third criminal complaint, this one filed just against Raup, police allege the woman conspired with two men in removing $150 worth of merchandise from Macy's at the mall and then illegally obtain a gift card from the store for that amount on Oct. 17. With the gift card, Raup obtain a pair of golf earrings, police said.
Both Raup and Catherman faces multiple counts of theft by deception, receiving stolen property and related offenses, including conspiracy. Raup faces an additional charge of access device fraud. She waived her preliminary hearings on all three cases when she recently appeared before Kemp. She is free on $15,000 bail each.
However, Catherman, who had eluded authorities for several weeks, was committed to the Lycoming County Prison in lieu of $80,000 bail when she was arraigned before Kemp earlier this month on her set of charges.
When she was taken into custody in Milton on Dec. 4, she appeared to be under the influence of some kind of narcotic, police said.
