A couple from Luzerne County face charges after breaking into Boscov\u2019s in Scranton on Christmas Day and stealing merchandise, police said.<\/p>\n
Officers were dispatched to the store inside the Marketplace at Steamtown, 400 Lackawanna Ave., around 11:50 a.m. Thursday for a report of a burglar alarm going off, according to a criminal complaint.<\/p>\n
Patrolman Patrick DeBiase met with a loss-prevention officer who said a female \u2014 identified as Morgan Maleski \u2014 was inside the store, police said.<\/p>\n
Maleski said she went to Boscov\u2019s to do some Christmas shopping and told police the door was open, DeBiase wrote in the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n
Officers initially released Maleski as there were no signs of forced entry, police said.<\/p>\n
A few minutes later, the loss-prevention officer informed DeBiase that Boscov\u2019s had been burglarized, according to the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n
DeBiase observed that a piece of glass had been removed from the door at a parking lot entrance to Boscov\u2019s, and the door was propped open, police said.<\/p>\n
While watching video footage, DeBiase witnessed a male \u2014 later identified as Michael Hoban \u2014 and Maleski enter Boscov\u2019s through the propped-open door, officers said. Additionally, Maleski was wearing the same clothes and was carrying a white backpack while stealing items, police said.<\/p>\n
DeBiase found\u00a0multiple bags with Boscov\u2019s merchandise on the first floor next to the escalator \u2014 totaling approximately\u00a0$6,652.97 \u2014 that Maleski and Hoban had attempted to steal from the store, police said.<\/p>\n
When police arrested Maleski around 1:30 p.m., officers found suspected methamphetamine in a purse in her pocket and a purse from Boscov\u2019s with tags still on it inside the white backpack, according to the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n
During an interview at police headquarters, Maleski told investigations she had been with Hoban, her boyfriend, officers said.<\/p>\n
Maleski told DeBiase that Hoban used a knife to cut the rubber strips around the glass window to take it out, and she also admitted stealing items with him, police said.<\/p>\n
A security guard at the Marketplace at Steamtown reported having seen a gold Chevrolet in the parking garage with a male inside; the man \u2014 later determined to be Hoban \u2014 told the guard he didn\u2019t know the store was closed, officers said.<\/p>\n
The guard noticed shopping bags in the back of the vehicle and told police to be on the lookout for the car, according to the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n
Officers patrolling the area of Lackawanna and Adams avenues spotted a gold Chevy Impala \u2014 which they believed was used in the robbery \u2014 and identified Hoban as the driver after viewing a photo on Facebook, police said.<\/p>\n
Officers conducted a traffic stop, noticed items with Boscov\u2019s tags in the backseat, and took Hoban into custody, according to the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n
While speaking with Hoban outside the vehicle, officers observed he was wearing a flannel jacket with the tag still on and two shoes that appeared to be brand new, police said.<\/p>\n
Inside the vehicle, police found three unused needles and a scale with drug paraphernalia on the lid, along with several items sold at Boscov\u2019s, including a purse, jeans, jackets and wallets, officers said.<\/p>\n
During a search at police headquarters, officers found\u00a0eight alprazolam pills in Hoban\u2019s wallet, investigators said.<\/p>\n
Police charged Hoban, 53, 249 Lidy Road, Dupont, with burglary, criminal trespass, retail theft, criminal attempt, receiving stolen property and possession of a controlled substance.<\/p>\n
Police charged Maleski, 32, 172 Elizabeth St., Pittston, with burglary, criminal trespass, retail theft, criminal attempt, criminal conspiracy and possession of a controlled substance.<\/p>\n
As of Sunday, Hoban and Maleski remained in Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail.<\/p>\n
A preliminary hearing for both is scheduled for Jan. 7 at 10:30 a.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A couple from Luzerne County face charges after breaking into Boscov\u2019s in Scranton on Christmas Day and stealing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[202,201,182,803,139,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":{"0":"post-72245","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","9":"tag-lackawanna-county","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-luzerne-county","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-pennsylvania","14":"tag-scranton","15":"tag-scranton-headlines","16":"tag-scranton-news","17":"tag-top-stories-stt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}