Albany Store Owner Gets Pepper-Sprayed

What makes this story interesting isn't so much about the store owner, but about the woman who pulled the trigger.  Classy story.

Yesterday evening, a 20 year-old woman was charged with a number of crimes including 2nd degree robbery, 3rd degree assault, endangering the welfare of a child, and (my favorite) possession of a noxious material.  And all this for what?  A bottle of lotion that would have set her back $1.08!!  BEST.CRIME.STORY.EVER!

 It seems the would-be thief was caught by Albany store owner Tag Ahmed when he saw her stick the substance in her blouse.  He confronted Cassandra Thigpen and informed her that she would either have to put the lotion back or pay the whopping $1.08 to purchase it.  Instead, Thigpen retaliated by whipping out her can of pepper spray and dousing our poor merchant with a healthy does of the stuff in front of Ahmed's two-year old son.  S-M-R-T.

 Thigpen now faces a slew of charges all because she was hard-pressed to come up with the cold, hard cash for a shopping spree at the dollar store.  It seems to me that if you're going to risk jail, at least try to steal something that would be worth getting thrown in the can for.  It's pretty embarrassing to be arrested, but lumping in assault, possession, and endangerment charges on top of it because you filched a bottle of substandard, greasy lotion from a dollar store is something the word embarrassing doesn't even begin to describe.  You can check out her smilin' mugshot photo here.  Enjoy your lotion, Cassandra!  It'll go nicely with your new rap sheet.