Women face charges in a bogus money order scheme

Two South Hills women face a March 15 hearing on charges they stole more than $12,000 from a Bethel Park grocery store in a bogus money order scheme, Allegheny County police said.

Detectives on Monday arrested Margaret A. Kennedy, 34, of South Park Township, and Paula Ann Gdula, 32, of Bethel Park, on a combined 36 charges of theft by deception, passing bad checks and forgery.

The women told detectives that while employed by the Foodland Market along Fort Couch Road, they wrote the money orders and then cashed them through the store, a police affidavit states. The women forged the names of regular customers on the checks and then used them to pay for lawyers, rent and loans, police said.

The store manager estimated the store lost at least $30,000 through the scheme, police reported.

Each woman blamed the other for teaching her how to work the scheme, the affidavit states. Kennedy is charged with cashing 24 checks worth $8,300. Gdula is charged with taking $3,785.

The suspects were arraigned before District Justice Rob Wyda of Bethel Park, who released them on their own recognizance.