Pennsylvania Woman Sentenced To Year In Prison After Spitting On Grocery Produce, Yelling She Had COVID

The Associated Press reports:

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.

Read the full article. Cirko has also been ordered to pay the store for the $35,000 in produce that had to be thrown away. She claims she was drunk at the time and wishes she could “take it all back.” She did not have COVID at the time. Last March, I reported that she had been charged with making terrorist threats.

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 to at least a year in jail. https://t.co/ZDZsmIW0fr

— NPR (@NPR) August 25, 2021

Police have charged Margaret Cirko, 35, with making terroristic threats after they say she claimed to have #coronavirus & intentionally coughed/spit on food in grocery store. Store threw out $35,000+ of product ⁦@69News⁩ pic.twitter.com/vppZBdEh0S

— Emma Wright (@wright_emma) March 26, 2020