A shoplifting turned to robbery and assault when a River Vale resident fled a Park Ridge supermarket with a shopping cart full of merchandise and then hit an employee who tried to stop her with her car, authorities said.
Susanna Allegretta Burne, a 54-year-old longtime financial services manager, “filled a shopping cart to the max” and left the Lidl Market on Kinderkamack Road without paying just after noon on Tuesday (May 5th), Park Ridge Police Chief Joseph Rampolla said.
Burne was loading her trunk when a store employee came out and ask to see her receipt, the chief said.
She fumbled a bit, then got into and started her car, he said.
The employee found the license plate of Burne’s car covered in shaving cream, Rampolla said.
He wiped it off and took a cellphone photo, the chief said.
At that point, Burne “backed up several times, pushing him back repeatedly,” he said.
Then she drove off.
The employee was OK, Rampolla said.
Police in Woodcliff Lake later stopped Burne after hearing Park Ridge’s alert, he said.
Burne was charged with robbery, assault with a weapon and shoplifting.
She spent the night in Bergen County’s jail before a judge released her, with conditions, on Wednesday.
Burne is listed as a U.S.-born American citizen.
Her online resume shows that she’s worked as a client relationship manager with a few different financial services firms going back to 2008 and boasts a “deep credit and investment banking background.”