Posted: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 6:30 am, Wed Apr 11, 2012.
Two Quakertown women are in county prison after being charged with conspiring to burglarize the Quakertown Sonic store in August.
Christine Racosky, 35, and Valeria Carambot-Vazquez, 21, both of Braithwaite Lane, were arraigned on burglary and conspiracy charges Monday and sent to county prison on $10,000 bail apiece.
Originally the burglary was reported by Racosky, the restaurant manager, as a robbery, but police said that the false report was an attempt to cover up the burglary that was staged with Carambot-Vazquez, a former Sonic employee.
According to court documents, police responded to a silent panic alarm at 7:19 a.m. at the Route 309 Sonic and were told by Racosky that an armed robber had ordered her to open the restaurant’s safe.
She said she handed the robber, who Racosky said was wearing a mask and a hooded sweatshirt, $814.14 from the safe, according to police. She then said she was placed in the restaurant’s rear walk-in refrigerator, police said. Racosky pulled the alarm from inside the refrigerator.
During the investigation, Racosky told detectives that she had received a text from Carambot-Vazquez asking, “Are we going fishing today?” Racosky replied, “Yeah” to Carambot-Vazquez and sent additional texts, according to court records.
When police played the surveillance video of the reported armed robbery for Carlos Perez, general manager of the restaurant, he recognized Carambot-Vazquez as the armed robber from her distinctive walk, according to court documents.
On March 29, detectives questioned Carambot-Vazquez about the robbery. She reportedly admitted to playing the robber as part of a staged heist concocted by the two women. Later that day, police questioned Racosky, who also admitted to participating in the plan, they said.
Matt Coughlin: 215-345-3147; mcoughlin@phillyburbs.com; Twitter: @coughlinreports
