PASADENA >> Police jailed a woman on suspicion of robbery after an associate of hers intervened in a heist at a Pasadena gas station Saturday afternoon, police said.
Vanessa Leigh Bova, 32, of Pasadena was ultimately booked on suspicion of robbery, according to Pasadena police officials and Los Angeles County booking records.
The incident began about 4:05 p.m. when Bova, along with another woman, entered a Chevron station at California Boulevard and South Arroyo Parkway, Pasadena police Lt. Jason Clawson said.
Bova grabbed herself a drink and asked the clerk for cigarettes from behind the counter, Clawson said. When the clerk turned his back, Bova pulled a what appeared to be a handgun, which was later determined to be fake, walked behind the counter and began trying to open the cash register.
The other woman who accompanied Bova asked her what she was doing and began wrestling the suspect for the gun, Clawson said. The woman succeeded, pulling the replica pistol from Bova’s hand and throwing it to the floor.
Clawson said both women left the store. Bova took with her cigarettes and other items stolen from the gas station.
Officers were investigating the crime when they received a report a short time later of two people arguing about a robbery in the 900 block of South Marengo Avenue.
On arrival, they found the second woman who had accompanied Bova into the store, but not the suspect herself, the lieutenant said. Police, aided by a helicopter overhead, soon found her near Allendale Park in Pasadena and arrested her without a struggle.
Bova was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail pending her initial court appearance, records show.