Cops: Thieving women turn on employee

Four young women from Philadelphia punched, pepper sprayed and put an Exton 7-11 employee in headlock on Saturday after he confronted them for stealing from the store, police said.

Around 2 p.m., the four women entered the store on Pottstown Pike and the employee witnessed one or more of them stealing, police said.

As the women left the store, the employee tried to take pictures of them with his cell phone but one of the women grabbed the phone from his hand, punched him in the face and doused him with pepper spray, police said.

The tough-as-nails employee then grabbed a bag with some of the allegedly stolen merchandise that one of the women had dropped and ran back in the store. Two of the four women followed him back inside, where they continued to assault him by punching him and putting him in a headlock, police said.

The women eventually ran out of the store without the bag and all four fled in a white Ford Focus, police said.

West Whiteland Township police, who cover Exton, and Philadelphia police worked together and were able to arrest the alleged driver of the car, Shanell Davis, 18, on Saturday at her home in Philadelphia. A second suspect, Nirrah Jones, 18, of Philadelphia, turned herself in to police along with the cell phone she allegedly stole from the store employee. Davis is being held on $75,000 bail and Jones is being held on $50,000 bail.

Warrants have been issued for the other two suspects - Asia Henderson, 19, and Najia Davis, 22, both of whom are from Philadelphia and remain on the run.