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Police: Couple creates a diversion, strikes clerk, steals cash, cigarettes

Posted at 2:29 PM, Sep 28, 2020
and last updated 2020-09-28 23:18:38-04

PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, Va. -- A man and a woman from Richmond were arrested and charged with robbery and malicious wounding.

The man, according to police, smashed a bottle over the head of a female clerk at the Love’s Truck Stop in Disputanta, then held a fist to her neck as he emptied a cash drawer.

Surveillance images showed Prince George Police responding after the violent robbery early Monday morning.

"Prince George don't skip a beat,” said Christina Stith a local resident. “I give props when props are due and when it comes to crime, Prince George is on it."

The clerk’s attention was diverted by 56-year-old Esther Gordon, who was asking for directions, according to police.

Her accomplice, 52-year-old Van Scaturro, would come up behind the clerk and smash a bottle over her head before jamming his fist in her neck and demanding money, police said.

"I'm shocked because normally we don't have that kind of thing down here," said Stith.

Scaturro grabbed cash while Gordon swiped food and cigarettes, police said.

Gordon, who ran off, was captured a short time later.

Scaturro, who drove away in a minivan, was arrested Monday afternoon in Hopewell.

"I don't like it when people hurt people you know,” said Stith. “Get out here and work. Just like that lady, she's out of work because you hit her and she's probably scared to work now. It's crazy. I don't know, some people just don't care!"

Both Gordon and Scaturro were booked at Riverside Regional Jail with no bond.

The clerk was treated for a cut on her head.

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