Michael Scott

Hunger pangs apparently got the best of an alleged shoplifter who was nabbed trying to steal a pack of doughnuts and a jug of milk, Butler police said.

The suspect, Michael John Wallace Scott, 29, no known address, made things worse for himself, police say, when he struggled with a Friedman's supermarket employee in his failed getaway Saturday afternoon.

Instead of petty theft, he was arrested on a robbery charge. Police said they also found Scott with suspected drug paraphernalia. Additionally, they found he was wanted on several warrants.

Police said they were called to the supermarket on West Brady Street about 4:35 p.m. for a reported shoplifting. Officers say that store manager John Kane, aided by a good Samaritan, had caught Scott.

“Scott stated he was hungry,” Patrolman Eric Klopfer said in his affidavit.

Kane told police that he saw the defendant hide a package of Nickles Donuts and a gallon of milk. Scott also was holding a pack of Ramen noodles.

“Scott attempted to flee and began resisting,” documents said. But Kane was able to stop and hold the alleged shoplifter with the help of an unidentified customer.

A search of the defendant, police said, turned up an empty stamp bag of suspected heroin, a used syringe, and a spoon with what appeared to be drug residue on it.

Scott was later arraigned on a felony charge of robbery and a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.

He also was arraigned on an unrelated misdemeanor count of retail theft stemming from an Aug. 9 shoplifting incident in Butler.

Scott is in the county prison on $3,500 bail as well as on three bench warrants issued after he failed to appear for court hearings in three criminal cases in Butler County court.

Those pending cases, all this year, include one for burglary and theft in Slippery Rock, and two for shoplifting in Butler and Butler Township.