Restaurant worker charged

Staff report

GIRARD

An employee of Margherita’s Grille on North State Street is accused of chasing through the streets two customers who left without paying and shooting at them.

Jorge A. Carreno Valladolid, 30, of Woodlawn Avenue, was arraigned on a charge of felonious assault Monday in Girard Municipal Court.

He posted $10,000 bond and will appear in court again at 2 p.m. Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.

The customers who left without paying also will be charged, according to Girard Police Capt. John Norman, the detective who handled the case. The two men will be charged with theft and receiving stolen property, according to Girard Municipal Court.

The episode occurred from 10 to 11:30 p.m. June 21, according to a police report.

One of the men, Michael S. Reddinger, 26, listed as a victim of felonious assault in the report, came to the police station shortly afterward.

Reddinger told police he and a friend went to Margherita’s, at 728 N. State St., with the intention of eating a meal without paying, the report says.

They ate, then ran out, he told police. As they did, an employee chased them, saying he would shoot if they didn’t stop, he told police.

They were able to outrun the employee, Reddinger told police. He said he took shelter on a porch on either North or Washington avenue, and he saw the suspect driving the streets in a white SUV.

Reddinger said he then made his way toward the IGA grocery store, where a bystander asked if he was OK. He said at that time, Valladolid pulled up in the white SUV and pointed a black pistol at his head.

Reddinger pleaded that it wasn’t him, and that he’d seen two men running down State Street, and the SUV drove off, he told police.

He met his friend again on North Avenue.

Reddinger said they began walking east to Washington Avenue in the rear of Girard Manor. The suspect pulled in, got out of the SUV and said he was going to kill them.

They began to run, and Reddinger heard three shots from about 30 yards away, he told police.

Police did not find any evidence of gunfire, but they did find a witness who saw a white SUV speed into the Girard Manor parking lot, heard a gunshot, and then saw the SUV speed away, the report says.

A patrol officer spoke with Valladolid that night, and he said he never left the restaurant.

Owners of Margherita’s could not be reached Wednesday.