Woman leaves baby in taxi while robbing Wawa, police say

A woman robbed a Bellefonte-area convenience store at gunpoint Tuesday, while leaving her 1-year-old daughter and an acquaintance in a waiting taxi, state police said.

Amanda Paoletti, 29, of Wilmington, was arrested after police tracked down the taxi and its driver – unaware that her quick stop at a Wawa was an armed robbery – gave police the address where she was dropped off afterward, Sgt. Richard D. Bratz said.

The incident occurred shortly before 3:30 a.m. Tuesday at a Wawa in the 700 block of Philadelphia Pike, Bratz said.

Paoletti, wearing a hooded sweatshirt, pointed a handgun at a 19-year-old woman at the counter, demanded cash and was given an undisclosed amount from the register, he said.

The employee told police she fled in a dark-colored boxy-style minivan cab, headed south on Philadelphia Pike toward Wilmington, he said.

Troopers went to the Wilmington train station, located the cab and talked to its driver, he said.

They also learned Paoletti had left her baby and an acquaintance in the cab during the armed robbery, Bratz said.

When troopers went to the address in the 100 block of Ashton St. where the cab dropped them, they learned the acquaintance, who owns the house where she lives, had no knowledge of what she was doing, Bratz said.

A search found Paoletti was in possession of an undisclosed amount of cocaine and drug paraphernalia, he said.

She was charged with first-degree robbery, endangering the welfare of a child, cocaine possession and drug paraphernalia possession.

Paoletti was committed to Baylor Women's Correctional Institution near New Castle after failing to post $8,000 secured bail.

Contact robin brown at (302) 324-2856 or rbrown@delawareonline.com. Find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @rbrowndelaware.