Crime & Safety

Mom, 26, High on Heroin Robbed 7-Eleven, Gets 2-4 Years in Jail

Joanna Scandlen told police she was high on heroin and financially desperate when she robbed a gas station and a 7-Eleven in September.

 

A 26-year-old Bethlehem mother of two who admitted to robbing a gas station and a convenience store will spend between two and four years in state prison for her crimes, according to The Morning Call.

Joanna Scandlen, who admitted to police that she was financially desperate and high on heroin and Ecstasy when she committed the robberies, also got 10 years of probation in the sentence handed down Wednesday by Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano.

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Scandlen, of 3120 East Blvd., robbed the Quick Fill gas station at 2960 Linden St. on Sept. 15 and the 7-Eleven at 2930 Linden St. the following day. Both robberies happened in the early morning hours, with Scandlen flashing store clerks a BB handgun hidden under her sweatshirt, according to court records.

At both stores, she demanded cash, Newport cigarettes and lottery tickets. But during the second robbery at the 7-Eleven, Scandlen also grabbed a six-inch tall WWF cigarette lighter from the counter.

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That lighter ended up providing Bethlehem police with a break in the case, according to the arrest affidavit.

Police said a witness at the Quick Fill garage reported seeing an older four-door silver vehicle with a green door and black primer on the front leave from Stefano's Restaurant at 2970 Linden St. after the 7-Eleven robbery and had seen it before.

Police found a vehicle fitting the description parked at 3120 East Blvd. 

"I observed in plain view on the passenger side floor a WWF oversize lighter approximately six inches in height," Det. Moses Miller said in the affidavit. 

Police interviewed the car’s owner -- Scandlen’s boyfriend -- who told them that she had been arrested for shoplifting in Allentown and was in Lehigh County Prison.

Scandlen admitted to the robberies when police interviewed her in prison. "My financial situation was desperate and I did not know what to do,” the affidavit says she told them.


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