Suspect Indicted in Robbery at Pharmacy in Lawrence

A Mercer County grand jury in Trenton this week returned a four-count indictment against a Pennsylvania woman accused of assaulting an employee while trying to steal cigarettes from a CVS Pharmacy in Lawrence Township last month.

The indictment, handed up by the grand jury on Tuesday (June 21), charges Melissa Deems with one count of second-degree robbery, one count of third-degree shoplifting, one count of third-degree theft by receiving stolen property and one count of fourth-degree unlawful taking of a means of conveyance, according to Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

The 33-year-old Deems – a Falls Township, Pa., resident who sometimes uses the alias Melissa Marier – from the CVS in the 1900 block of Brunswick Pike, at the corner of Cherry Tree Lane, shortly before 7:45 p.m. on Sunday, May 15.

According to police and court documents filed in connection with the indictment, Deems tried to steal seven cartons of Newport cigarettes – valued at about $540 – and punched a female store employee who confronted her. Deems dropped the cigarettes and fled the area in a silver 2000 Hyundai Elantra being driven by a yet-to-be-identified man.

Police said the vehicle, belonging to a Ewing Township resident, had been reported stolen in Morrisville, Pa.

DeBlasio said the robbery and shoplifting charges stem from the alleged incident at CVS, while the other two charges are related to Deems’ use of the Hyundai which, authorities allege, she knew was stolen.

Lawrence Township police eventually charged Deems after she was taken into custody in Falls, Pa., after she allegedly led Mercer County sheriff’s officers on a brief car chase that went from Trenton into Pennsylvania on May 16.

Officer William Osterman, public information officer for the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office, said Deems was driving the same stolen Hyundai through Trenton when two sheriff’s officers spotted it with its rear bumper hanging off. They went to stop the car for being unsafe, but Deems allegedly speed up and tried to elude them, Osterman said.

During the chase – which lasted only a few minutes – the Hyundai driven by Deems struck the officers’ vehicle, causing them to suffer minor injuries, Osterman said.

He said Deems was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, as well as eluding, receiving stolen property and multiple traffic violations in connection with the chase. She was also charged by Falls police for several violations that occurred in Pennsylvania, he said.