A northwestern Pennsylvania woman has been jailed on charges she tried to help an alleged robbery and burglary ring avoid detection — by telling one of its accused members to remove a tattoo that says “Stick Up Kidz” from his arm.

Online court records don’t list an attorney for 21-year-old Desirée Husband, of Erie, PA,  who has been jailed pending a preliminary hearing on charges including conspiracy to tamper with physical evidence and obstruction of justice.

The Erie Times-News reports Husband became the 15th person charged in connection with the group which Erie police say operated a robbery and burglary ring out of a duplex on the city’s crime-ravaged East Side.

The group refers to itself as the “Stick Up Kidz” or “S.U.K” and is allegedly responsible for crimes in the city and its suburbs.

Source: Erie Times-News, http://www.goerie.com

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Making a Spectacle of Yourself

A woman has returned a pair of $2,000 eyeglasses she stole from a Pittsburgh-area shop after she made a spectacle of herself when surveillance video of the heist was broadcast on the local TV news.

Brad Childs, vice president of the Eyetique in Penn Center, tells WPXI-TV that the woman called the store after the station broadcast the video of that night’s theft.

The woman, who isn’t being identified and has not been charged by police, can be seen taking the glasses from a locked case while a man distracted a sales clerk.

Childs says the woman phoned him “after she saw herself on the news and asked me what we could do.”

Police in Wilkins Township haven’t decided whether the woman will be charged.

Source: WPXI-TV, http://www.wpxi.com

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Lucky Number 13?

Police have charge a former maid with stealing 13 painkiller pills from Room 13 at a family-owned western Pennsylvania motel.

Online court records don’t list an attorney for 34-year-old Adria Maceross, of Industry, who was charged by Beaver police with stealing the drugs on March 1.

Police say the owners of the Willows Inn on Route 68 contacted them after guests complained about money and prescription drugs being stolen from their rooms last month.

So, Beaver police Chief Dan Madgar tells the Beaver County Times that police installed a camera, disguised as an alarm clock, on Feb. 13 in Room 13 to see who was behind the thefts.

On March 1, police say they saw Maceross put a pill bottle in her pocket and say she later confessed to taking 13 pills in it that day.

Source: Beaver County Times, http://www.timesonline.com/

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Shoot Off Your Finger to Spite the Ring

Police have charged a federal prison guard with shooting his own finger in a drunken attempt to remove his wedding ring at his northwestern Pennsylvania home.

Online court records don’t list an attorney for 31-year-old Alfredo Malespini III, of Bradford, who was wounded in the March 2 incident.

The Bradford Era reports police were called to Malespini’s home and found him with a bloody finger, after which he told them he was “trying to get rid of his wedding ring” and decided to “shoot it off.” Police say the attempt badly mangled Malespini’s finger, but didn’t remove the ring.

Police say he was taken to an Erie hospital for medical and mental health treatment. Online court records show he’s yet to be arraigned.

Officials at the Federal Correctional Institution – McKean couldn’t immediately comment on his employment status.

Source: The Bradford Era, http://www.bradfordera.com

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No More Daddy’s Little Girl

Pittsburgh police say a determined 6-year-old girl didn’t hurt anyone when she crashed her mother’s car while trying to drive across town to visit her father.

Police haven’t released the name of the girl whose mother was reportedly still sleeping when the girl took the woman’s car keys about 9 a.m. one Sunday.

Police Sgt. Jerry Parker tells reporters the little girl is tall for her age, but adds: “How she knew how to operate a car, your guess is as good as mine.”

Police say the girl hit two parked vehicles, pushing one of them into a third, before hitting a utility pole.

Police and the girl’s father arrived to take her home after the accident.

Police are still investigating but haven’t said if anyone will face charges.

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Clogging in the Boys’ Room

An eastern Pennsylvania high school says vandalism forced it to create a policy in which toilet paper has been taken out of the boys’ bathrooms.

Boys at Mahanoy Area High School now must go to the school office to request toilet paper and sign it out. Principal Thomas Smith says that’s helped solve a major problem of intentionally clogging toilets that’s been going on for two years.

Smith says boys must sign out the toilet paper and then sign it back in. But the Republican-Herald of Pottsville reports some parents are protesting the policy.

Parent Karen Yedsena says some students are too embarrassed to go to the office to get toilet paper and are going home sick instead. School officials say they aren’t aware of any such problems.

Source: Pottsville Republican and Herald, http://www.republicanherald.com