by George P. Hassett

A 21-year-old Cambridge woman was arraigned in Somerville District Court today after she allegedly used a hypodermic needle to stab a Bob’s Store security guard who confronted her for shoplifting.

Jennifer L. Stacy, 21, of Charles Street in Cambridge, was charged with armed robbery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, said Lt. Paul Upton, the department’s public information officer.

At the arraignment, assistant district attorney Beth Reilly said that Tuesday Stacy had stabbed security guard Justin Boleski four times in the chest shortly after 4:15 p.m. when Boleski followed Stacy into the parking lot after witnessing her stuffing store merchandise into her bag.
After the stabbing, Stacy jumped into the backseat of a parked car already containing two white males and shouted to witnesses “Does anyone else want AIDS?” Reilly said.
The dramatic scene was caught on the store’s surveillance video and re-played several times on the nightly news, said Upton.
Upton said Stacy’s aunt saw the footage and convinced the young woman to turn herself in. Stacy then called the Cambridge police who directed her to the Somerville police. Detective Paul Duffy then went to Stacy’s home and observed her leaving to get into a cab.
“It is not clear whether she was getting into the cab to go to the police or to flee,” said Upton.
Before she was inside the vehicle, Duffy apprehended her and placed her under arrest, he said.
A woman who identified herself only as family of the defendant said Stacy had seen the error of her ways and was on her way to the Somerville police station to surrender to the police.   

In court today, Stacy appeared hands cuffed behind her back, in a pink hooded Harvard University sweatshirt. She used her shoulder to wipe tears from her face and mouthed, “I’m sorry” to family in the courtroom.

Her attorney, Lawrence Perlmutter, said in his arguments that Stacy was not a dangerously violent offender but a scared young girl with a drug problem who had been overcharged by an overzealous prosecution.
To this, Stacy nodded her head.

Perlmutter made a motion to dismiss the armed robbery charge.

“The prosecution has overcharged this young woman. She never used a weapon in the robbery. The only attempt to instill fear was after the robbery had occurred and she was trying to escape,” he said.

Judge Maurice Flynn, the presiding judge denied the motion

Stacy pleaded not guilty and was ordered to be held without bail, pending a dangerousness hearing June 20.