Police arrested a 28-year-old woman who donned a black cat’s mask, among other disguises, when she allegedly robbed shoe and beauty supply stores in the East Village and Queens.
Shanna Spalding was arrested Wednesday afternoon after police saw her leaving a SoHo boutique wearing a burqa, which police say was another of her disguises. Spalding had just robbed the Greene Street boutique, police said, and threatened store employees with a handgun.
Spalding, a Queens resident, sings in a death-metal band called “Divine Infamy,” and goes by the stage name “Purgatory.”
She was charged with two armed robberies, although police suspect Spalding hit four stores this summer, starting in April. She would pass a note to the clerks, telling them she had a gun and demanding cash. At one Nine West shoe store in Queens, Spalding threatened her husband would enter and shoot everybody if she wasn’t given money.