PA - Woman who held up dollar store using "gun finger" pleads guilty to felony count

Desperate due to a lost job, a 52-year-old woman with no criminal record held up a Walnutport Dollar General store — with her finger.

"This is a stickup, give me all the money," Laura L. Pastor of Palmerton told the clerk, after placing her finger into her jacket pocket to make it look like she was armed. "I'm not kidding, give me all the money or someone is going to get hurt."

"It sounds like a Woody Allen movie," Northampton County President Judge F.P. Kimberly McFadden quipped Thursday.

"I just snapped," Pastor said. "I was under a lot of pressure. This is not my style." Pastor got away with $148 after the Sept. 25 holdup.
---
McFadden will decide Pastor's punishment on March 8, and ordered her to undergo a psychological examination beforehand.

"I don't think that would be a bad idea," Goodrich agreed.

Click to expand...

wfgodot said:

I hope she escapes with a very short sentence - along with strict parole, ample community service, ankle monitor if need be, a fine she could re-pay over time, anything other than a long custodial stint. Because she certainly does not sound like Ma Barker to me. I think the psychological exam will point that way too.

Click to expand...

jjenny said:

She might be better if they lock her up. How is she going to find any employment now?

Click to expand...