Woman who coughed on market produce, claimed virus gets jail

[left-of-center2012]

A Pennsylvania woman who pleaded guilty to coughing and spitting on food at a supermarket in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic was sentenced Tuesday to at least a year in jail. Margaret Ann Cirko, 37, pleaded guilty in June to a felony count of making bomb threats.

Authorities said Cirko entered a Gerrity’s Supermarket location in Hanover Township, near Wilkes-Barre, on March 25, 2020, and
purposely coughed on fresh produce and other merchandise while yelling that she had the virus and that everyone would get sick. Joe Fasula, co-owner of the supermarket chain,
said that over $35,000 worth of merchandise had to be thrown out as a result of what Gerrity’s had called a “twisted prank.”

Cirko tested negative for COVID-19, according to her attorney,
who said she was intoxicated at the time of the incident. Cirko apologized in court Tuesday. “I wish I could take it back,” she said.

A Luzerne County judge called Cirko’s conduct “totally outrageous” and sentenced her to one to two years in jail, to be followed by eight years of probation. She also was ordered to pay nearly $30,000 in restitution.

https://apnews.com/article/health-coronavirus-pandemic-3600f8f977c8105c3030641787149873

[Aristus]

1. I hope the book the judge threw at her hurt like hell.

Guess you won't do that again, will you, lady?

[NurseJackie]

14. Police: Supermarket spitter refuses to leave church, claims to be 'child of God'

She ain't right in the head. She's gonna need more than jail-time.

The link below requires a subscription... but I wanted to share the headline along with the short snippet of story that's visible:

https://www.citizensvoice.com/news/crime-emergencies/police-supermarket-spitter-refuses-to-leave-church-claims-to-be-child-of-god/article_6327e917-4dab-5661-ba44-afa33bc9f683.html


Police: Supermarket spitter refuses to leave church, claims to be 'child of God'

BY JAMES HALPIN STAFF WRITER Apr 7, 2021

Margaret Ann Cirko, 37, of Hanover Twp., was sentenced to serve one to two years in prison on Tuesday for deliberately coughing on food at Gerrity's Supermarket in Hanover Twp. in the beginning of the pandemic in March of 2020.
The Citizens’ Voice File

The woman accused of deliberately coughing on food and causing a supermarket to toss out tens of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise in an incident that made international headlines is now charged with repeatedly refusing to leave a Warrior Run church on grounds that she is a “child of God.”

[Rebl2]

2. Since it

is a felony, she won’t be able to vote for a time after she gets out of jail?

[cannabis_flower]

18. I don't know about other states, but

In Texas you can’t vote until you have finished your jail and your probation for felonies. Of course for misdemeanors you can still vote.

[Sherman A1]

3. Good

Hope she learns to control herself in society after her release.

[lagomorph777]

4. Good. Now can we do the same for the insurrectionists?

Instead of sending them to Cancun?

[malaise]

10. THIS

[hibbing]

26. +1

[appleannie1]

40. Yes

[Fritz Walter]

42. Indeed. I'd suggest taking it one step further

Their wardens should assign them to morgue duty, 24-7 if necessary. Especially if there's a major virus outbreak among the incarcerated population.

[Johnny2X2X]

5. Good to see a judge hand down a harsh sentence for a MAGA for a change.

That sentence is no joke.

[gohuskies]

6. Do stupid things, win stupid prizes....

I guess she was simply exercising her freedumb. What she did was not cute or funny, it was another terroristic move by a magat.

[Tadpole Raisin]

7. Ok fine, but could we please give the capital rioters at least the same prize?

I’m tired of people like her getting reasonable punishment but then you look at other offenders who have done at least that much damage of a sort and get almost no punishment.

This is especially true of the white collar criminals whose jail sentence and financial penalty are a relative drop in the bucket compared to the damage they did and the profit they made.

[William Seger]

11. She did a stupid prank; they participated in an actual insurrection

"At least the same prize" would let them off too easy.

[multigraincracker]

8. Instant A**hole, just add

alcohol. Can't blame the alcohol, only the person that consumed it, like that is her excuse.

[appleannie1]

41. You do drunk what you would like to do sober but don't have the guts to do.

[MLAA]

9. We need this judge to handle the insurrection traitors' sentencing

[Ligyron]

24. +1

[Sogo]

29. +1000

.

[IronLionZion]

12. Intoxication reveals more of who you are inside

so if you're an asshole, alcohol lowers your inhibition filters to reveal more of your true asshole nature. Some people love to irritate other people. They get off on it.

[SledDriver]

15. A drunk person's words are a sober person's thoughts

[Piasladic]

27. not really

I heard the phrase 'in vino, veritas.'

I used to believe the inhibition thing, but it's not true. I think alcohol just makes some people assholes... not true, just assholes.

Some people are nice - stone cold sober. I've known a woman for twenty years who has been sober for over decade, sober and nice. I don't think she's an asshole deep down. True nature, asshole or not, is hard to find, especially on drugs. She was an awful person when drunk.

[IronLionZion]

32. Your drunk self is your truest self, according to science

https://www.science101.com/drunk-self-truest-self/

One study published in Clinical Psychological Science found that, contrary to popular belief (and contrary to what we’re probably all hoping to hear right about now), alcohol doesn’t actually have the power to change your personality. So all those times that you woke up to embarrassing photos and videos and tried to blame it on whatever you were drinking the night before? According to the study, that’s all on you.

[Piasladic]

33. Wow

thanks for the link.

[marie999]

43. If that is true, my true self wants to sleep.

[keithbvadu2]

13. Spits/bi_ch-slapped

Spits/bi_ch-slapped

[FreepFryer]

16. She gets 30k in damages assessed and the insurrectionists only pay a pittance in fines so far.

Same terrorism.

[William Seger]

28. She terrorized a supermarket; they terrorized a nation

Do the math.

[FreepFryer]

37. LOL k

[IcyPeas]

44. my thoughts too.

[getagrip_already]

17. sadly, the $30k fine will hurt her more than the jail time.....

She was probably only making $15k or so a year, so the $30k will be more of a loss than her freeddumb to her.

But she will probably only serve a few months of that, unless she is a pita in prison, which is likely.

[Jon King]

19. Lie about Covid online, kill thousands, no penalty, but she gets a year?

Amazing how utterly broken our justice system is. Had she spread misinformation that caused the deaths of thousands, she would have gotten zero penalty.

[rollin74]

20. good. but if you storm the capitol and try to stop our gov't....

from functioning you get a $500 fine

[Rebl2]

22. It should

be a felony! It’s ridiculous what these people are getting away with! A simple slap on the hand 😡

[Sogo]

31. Exactly.

.

[twodogsbarking]

21. Keepin' it classy in Pennsavayna.

[MarcA]

23. Especially agree with the Restitution part.

She has a lifetime to pay it off in cash or in-kind services.

[Traildogbob]

25. Child of god?

Maybe he should have aborted that one. God’s turning out to be a wuss, allowing Trump and Trump like people to kill so many people. Come on God, you been pissed before, reclaim your rep.

[left-of-center2012]

35. Trump told us that he is the chosen one

He even pointed up to the heavens when you said that.

[Traildogbob]

39. When his cult

Is interviewed, pre and post rally, (why the hell is that) they always say God is behind everything trump and is his personal warrior. Are we sure Momma trump wasn’t the non Virgin Mary?

[WinstonSmith4740]

30. OK, first of all...excellent!

I'm glad she's being held to account for her actions, and I have no problem with the sentence. What I don't understand is why she got a year, and insurrectionists are walking away, or getting 6 months. How do we get those assholes in front of this judge?

[in2herbs]

34. Let me see if I got this straight: you try to overthrow our government, destroy our Capital,

and kill or seriously injure others you'll get maybe 5 months in jail. But spitting and coughing on food is at least a year.

I'm not saying she shouldn't be seriously punished but this is over the top in comparison to almost losing our democracy to insurrectionists.

[GregariousGroundhog]

36. Charged with making bomb threats for coughing/spitting on produce and saying she had COVID?

Don't get my wrong, this lady got what she deserves. That just seems like an interesting choice of charges by the prosecutor.

[Hassler]

38. Freedumb claims another one. Enjoy the baloney sandwiches.