Police say Christine Lajewski posed as a tornado victim; her court-appointed lawyer said she was taking donated items to give to a friend from Monson.
Christine Lajewski, 47, of Ware, at her arraignment in Palmer District Court Tuesday. She was charged by Monson police with larceny and fraud for allegedly posing as a tornado victim and taking donated items from the First Church of Monson.PALMER - A Ware woman denied in court that she stole donated items from the First Church of Monson that were supposed to be for tornado victims.
Christine Lajewski, of 4 East St., Apt. 1, was charged by Monson police, who were assisted by Ware police in the ongoing investigation. She denied charges of larceny over $250 under false pretenses and fraud at her arraignment in Palmer District Court on Tuesday before Judge Patricia T. Poehler.
Monson police said Lajewski, 47, told volunteers at the High Street church on Sunday that she lived on Main Street and that the June 1 tornado destroyed her home and car.
But Lajewski's court-appointed lawyer for bail, Holly Battige, said that Lajewski told her that she was there to volunteer, and to collect items for a friend's sister from Monson.
Before the arraignment, Monson Detective Kristen Marciniec said that after Lajewski told her story, the volunteers immediately started helping her, and loaded her car with $700 to $800 worth of items – baby formula and clothes, a $200 freezer, food, paper products, toys, stuffed animals and a gazebo tent.
"She took several trips, in her own vehicle," Marciniec said.
Marciniec said that some of the items Lajewski kept for herself, while others were given to friends.
Poehler released Lajewski on her own recognizance, but told her to abide by her conditions of release, which include staying out of Monson, remaining drug free and not committing a crime.
Lajewski, who held her face in her hands throughout most of the arraignment, will return to court July 12 for a pretrial conference.
Prosecutor Mary Partyka requested bail of $5,000, citing Lajewski's past record, which included a failure to appear on a 2005 possession of drug paraphernalia charge in Florida.
Battige described Lajewski's record as "minor."
Battige said Lajewski was gathering the items for a friend's sister who had lost everything in the tornado. Battige also said that Lajewski went to the church to volunteer but was told that they had enough volunteers that day.
Partyka said a friend of Lajewski's contacted authorities after she was told what Lajewski allegedly did in Monson. Partyka said Lajewski had "bragged" about what she had done, and the friend was "disgusted."
When a volunteer went to Lajewski's apartment to drop off the freezer, the volunteer saw people from the neighborhood taking the donated items from Lajewski's vehicle, Partyka said. Inside her apartment, "many of the items were already opened and being consumed," Partyka said.