WESTFIELD – A woman captured on security video stealing tools from three different Home Depot stores pleaded guilty to larceny from the Westfield store and was placed on probation.
She was already on probation as a result of a similar crime adjudicated in Springfield District Court in July so the newer probation period was ordered to be served concurrently with the first probation sentence. Her probation service fee and a victim/witness assessment were waived
Dayna L. Zalowski, 32, then of 32 Ardmore St., Springfield, had had been arraigned in in Westfield District Court July 30 on a charge larceny of property valued less than $1,200 after an investigation by Westfield Det. Anthony Tsatsos.
Tsatsos reports in a court document that he responded to a report by Home Depot loss prevention employees who reported that a female party had targeted Home Deport stores and had stolen tools valued at $249 and $299 by taking the merchandise from the stores’ shelves and walking out of the stores.
At the Westfield store, Tsatos reports that the woman’s arrival, in a vehicle seen leaving the Hadley Home Depot store after a theft there, was recorded on the store’s security video. He reports that the woman, and an unidentified male companion, are seen leaving the store less than five minutes later “each carrying a yellow Dewalt box” as they “exit the store via the lumber exit bypassing all points of sale”. The stolen merchandise was two Dewalt tool kits valued at $299 each.
Tsatso reports that “Zalowski has sixteen adult entries and sixteen juvenile entries” in her criminal history with charges including larceny, shoplifting and receiving stolen property.
When she appeared before Judge John P. McKenna in Westfield District Court on Aug. 28, Zalowski pleaded guilty and was placed on probation for one year. She had pleaded guilty July 31 to a charge of shoplifting by asportation, a third offense, in Springfield District Court and had been placed on probation for a year in that case.
McKenna ordered that the probation he imposed be served concurrently with the probation imposed in Springfield and waived all fees which Zalowski might otherwise be responsible for. He also ordered that she remain drug free and submit to random testing for verification.
State law provides that the penalty for conviction of a charge of larceny of property valued less than $1,200 may be a jail term of not more than a year or a fine of not more than $1,500.
