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WILKES-BARRE — The woman wanted for violently shoving a young girl outside a city convenience store last month was captured Thursday afternoon in Nanticoke.
Marlenea Uravage, 29, was apprehended near East Green Street with the help of U.S. Marshals.
Uravage, of Wilkes-Barre, is accused of shoving 12-year-old Presley Keeney to the ground May 28. Keeney was standing outside the Quick Stop, across Route 309 from Home Depot, when a man reportedly approached her and asked for something to eat from her bag of snacks.
Surveillance video from outside the store shows Uravage walking over to them both. She shoved the man away, then turned quickly and shoved Keeney, police say. Keeney was shoved so hard, her head almost struck the store’s door as she flew backward.
Keeney weighs only about 80 pounds, said mother Chere Fuller, who went to local media with the story in an attempt to get justice for her daughter.
“She said she didn’t even have time to think when that woman turned around, cursed at her, and pushed her hard in her chin and face,” Fuller said.
Store cameras also show Uravage running from the scene.
Fuller said her daughter was not injured other than a minor scrape on her hand. She added, however, that Keeney had trouble sleeping, did not want to go to school, and was afraid of walking home alone.
In the days following the incident, Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis said her office was looking into the matter.
Uravage, who apparently dyed her hair blond since the alleged assault, was arraigned by video at Wilkes-Barre Police Headquarters. She appeared to laugh as she walked down the stairs from the police station to a transport van. Reporters and TV cameras surrounded her. But the handcuffed suspect refused to answer any questions from the media.
She is facing one count each of misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct.
She was taken to the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $50,000 straight cash bail.
The Marshals Service was assisted by Wilkes-Barre City Police, the Scranton Police Department, Pennsylvania State Police and the Nanticoke Police Department.
