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Police Wait Outside Gas Station For Robbery Suspect

CONWAY, Pa. (KDKA) - Police say a robbery suspect didn't get far, they were waiting for her at the backdoor of a Conway gas station.

It all started around 1:30 a.m. Surveillance cameras captured a shadowy figure moving across the back parking lot of the business.

Inside the gas station, cameras capture the suspect walking past a terrified clerk, push toward the cash register, empty out the drawers and casually leave.

What the suspect didn't know was that parked outside on routine duty was Conway Police Officer Michael Priolo.

"This was just the right place at the right time," said Officer Priolo.

Suspicious, Officer Priolo started talking to the suspect, and then a few minutes into that conversation got a call on his police radio.

"The Marathon gas station was just robbed at gunpoint," Officer Priolo said.

Standing directly in front of Officer Priolo was the suspect, identified by authorities as 34-year-old Jennifer Olivo-Torres.

"It was surreal. I didn't believe that it was actually happening, that I just got that call," said Officer Priolo.

Olivo-Torres, a former employee of the Marathon station, is now in jail on robbery charges.

Police recovered the cash she allegedly took and the toy gun she used to pull off the heist.

Also recovered was the plastic wooden handle cover for the gun. Police later discovered that the other half was found at a robbery scene in Aliquippa recently.

"It definitely is a happy ending," said Officer Priolo. "I've never seen this before, so it does make everybody feel good. It makes everybody feel safer that they see that we're actually out there and we can get ahead of it sometimes."

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