Cops Arrest 2 Women After Fleeing Scene of Alleged Supermarket Theft

Cops nabbed a pair of women they say lifted $180 worth of baby formula and fled from the Food Basics on Lincoln Avenue in a car that had been reported stolen.

Hawthorne Police received a call just before 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 11, that a shoplifting had just occurred at the food store.  Hawthorne officials notified the and dispatched units to the area as well.  

Cops were notified that the alleged shoplifters had fled, and police were given a partial identification of a 1996 Honda.

Hawthorne police pursued the vehicle over the Lincoln Avenue Bridge in Paterson. When it finally pulled over, a male passenger bailed out of the vehicle and Geier pursued him on foot, but eventually lost the man. 

Glen Rock units stayed with the vehicle and arrested two females: the driver and her passenger. A DMV check revealed that the car, a 1996 Honda, was reported stolen out of Paterson on Nov. 4.

Police arrested Lucia Piccinini, the 36-year-old homeless woman who was driving the car, and charged her with receiving stolen property (the car,) possession of narcotics paraphernalia, and shoplifting baby formula. Bail was set at $20,000.

Michelle Trasente, the 19-year-old female passenger out of Randolph, was charged with possession of narcotics paraphernalia, possession of a hypodermic  needle and shoplifting.  Bail was set at $1500.00.

Both females were transported to the Bergen County Jail in lieu of bail, and the male was never located.

The women stated that they had been up all night at a “crack house” in Paterson and when they had no money left for drugs, they decided to steal the formula to sell at a bodega to buy more heroin, police said.