By VICKIE JAMBON – Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – A woman paid fifty-three cents for hair lotion before spraying a cashier with mace and stealing all the cash from her money drawer.

Arnella Sentimore was robbed at 5:17 p.m. while working in the Beauty Outlet at 17461 W. Airline Highway, said Capt. Michael Tregre with the St. John the Baptist Sheriff’s Office.

“I almost quit my job. I did not want to come to work today but my husband and my friends told me not to quit. They told me not to let this thing affect me like that,” said Sentimore.

Tregre said police are looking for a 6-foot-1-inch stocky, black female with shoulder length hair and a gold tooth. She was last seen wearing a black shirt with gray shorts.

The alleged robber ran out of the store and got into the passenger side of a 1989 or 1999 silver to light gray Cadillac with tinted windows.

Sentimore said the woman was a regular customer at the store, often coming into the business twice weekly.

On the day of the robbery, the woman came into the store and briefly spoke with Sentimore. With two other customers in the store, the woman pretended to shop. After placing three items on the customer counter, she left the store only to return 45 minutes later.

The woman took two of the three products from the counter. She returned two to the store shelves and purchased the third.

After buying hair lotion luster, the female told Sentimore to “stoop,” pulled a can of Mace out of her pocket and sprayed the worker’s face. She then told the cashier, “Go into the back because you know who I am.”

Sentimore went into an office located at the back of the store and called 911. When the police arrived, they found the can of mace used by the robber.

The alleged thief left the oil moisturizer she had just purchased on the counter along with the receipt.

If anyone has information pertaining to this crime, please contact Detective Lt. Todd Hymel at (985) 652-2773.