News

Grocery grab by senior ends in conviction

By Bruno Matarazzo Jr.
Staff Writer
Published: July 9, 2009

SALEM — A 74-year-old Revere man was given a suspended jail sentence yesterday for his role in a brazen theft from Market Basket last year, a crime that left a store employee holding on for "dear life" as he made his getaway.

Paul M. Hurley was found guilty yesterday at Peabody District Court and given a 21âÑ2-year jail sentence, set aside for two years. He will be under house arrest and on an electronic monitoring bracelet during the two years.

Hurley was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, driving to endanger, shoplifting, and leaving the scene of an accident, after he drove off in his car loaded with stolen groceries.

The charges stem from a Sept. 21 visit to Market Basket on Highland Avenue.

Hurley grabbed some items found on an average person's shopping list: 2 pounds of shrimp, three 12-packs of Diet Coke, a package of hamburger, peaches and English muffins.

But instead of waiting in the cashier's line, police said Hurley covered his groceries with newspapers and walked out of the store.

Nancy LeBlanc, a store employee, followed Hurley and confronted him, telling him to return to the store and pay for the groceries, but he refused.

Hurley packed his stolen goods into the back seat of his car and LeBlanc started to retrieve some them. But Hurley took off, leaving LeBlanc clinging to the side of his car.

"LeBlanc said she grabbed onto the door for her life as Hurley drove away at a high rate of speed," Patrolman Michael Dunn wrote in his initial report.

LeBlanc was able to get out when Hurley had to stop for traffic, police said.

A witness told police LeBlanc was hanging on for "dear life" and that when she got out of the car she put her hand up for the vehicle to stop.

Hurley later crashed into another car on his way out of the parking lot.

Police had his license plate information, and they issued a warrant for his arrest.

This is not the first time Hurley has gotten into trouble. He has a criminal record seven pages long that goes back decades.

In the 1990s, he helped run a bar in Chelsea Square that his wife, Gloria, owned until it was shut down by the state attorney general's office for drug dealing, according to published reports.

The bar, Jilly's, became state property under a plea agreement reached with the Hurleys. Paul Hurley pleaded guilty to 11 drug distribution charges at the time.