BRIAR CREEK, Pa. -- Police in Pennsylvania say a nun is shown on surveillance video stealing from a store using the store's grocery bags hidden in her purse, according to WNEP.
Workers at the Surplus Outlet near Berwick say the nun stole $23 worth of food and toiletries from the business.
The crime was apparently captured on the store's surveillance camera around 3:45 p.m. Monday.
"Another customer came to me in aisle 5 and said, 'I'm not sure what I'm seeing, but I think a woman is stealing,' and she had already left the store by that time and I went out to pursue her," Zane Kishbach, a manager at Surplus Outlet, told WNEP.
Workers were able to get the license plate number on the car. State police say the car is owned by the nuns at Saints Cyril and Methodius Convent in Danville.
The thief, Agnes Pennino, 78, is a nun at the convent. She's charged with a summary offense. If she pleads guilty, she will only have to pay a fine.
"I was shocked, to say the least. I was shocked. I couldn't believe it that a nun would actually do something like that," Kishback told WNEP.
Investigators and store employees believe Pennino planned to steal from the store. They say Pennino brought the store's red grocery bags in her purse to take the stolen items out of the store.
The woman apparently avoided leaving the store through the exit because she would have had to pass by all the cashiers who would have seen her leaving with groceries that hadn't been checked out. Instead, she waited for someone to enter through the front door, which triggers an automatic door open, and left the store.
"Terrible. Humanity's gone to hell, to put it bluntly. It's not good anymore," said Wendy Everett, who shops at the store.
The convent declined to comment.
