Washington residents face theft, conspiracy charges
Two Washington residents were arrested Sunday on warrants for charges filed against them by Washington and South Strabane Township police.
Paul Phasupong, 36, who lists addresses on East Maiden Street and Jefferson Avenue, and Amanda Molinaro, 34, who has addresses on Broad Street and Michigan Avenue, were taken into custody by state police during a traffic stop.
Washington police charged the pair with trespass and conspiracy, while township police charged them with theft and conspiracy.
City police were called Jan. 13 to Washington Hospital’s case-management office to take a report from an employee after her checkbook was stolen from her purse. Co-workers of the victim told police there had been a suspicious woman near the desk who said she was looking for “Christine’s office,” before leaving the area. Hospital security checked surveillance and were able to identify Molinaro and Phasupong, police said.
Security determined the two had been in other parts of the hospital before going to the management office area. Staff at the outpatient surgical unit on the third floor said they had confronted a suspicious couple in the unit who were walking through the nurse’s station and kitchenette, near a medicine supply room.
When confronted, they said they were there to visit a patient named Molinaro. The two were directed to the sixth floor and escorted to the elevators. The staff later called the sixth floor and learned there was no such patient. It is believed the two went to the second floor, where the case-management office is located, instead of the sixth floor. Surveillance shows the two leaving by a little-used stairway into the parking garage.
The previous day, the two were reportedly in Walmart, Trinity Point, when Molinaro allegedly stole a woman’s purse containing $400 and credit cards from a shopping cart. The two then fled in a vehicle, police said.
The two were arraigned before District Judge David Mark and placed in Washington County jail. They are scheduled for preliminary hearings Feb. 16 before District Judges Robert Redlinger and Jay Weller.