Lotto-deli worker ‘goes McGruff’ on bandit

Find out why a Montavilla video poker hall worker chomped down on a knife-armed woman. The suspect didn’t get away with much …

The woman, armed with a knife, walked into the lotto-deli – perhaps thinking she’d have good luck robbing this Montavilla establishment.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton
It’s mostly ethnic restaurants and shops that line a small strip mall on SE 82^nd Avenue, near Portland Community College Southeast Center.

The store located at 8230 SE Harrison Street is a “lotto-deli” named “Jonny’s”.

Police rushed there just before noon on May 7 – when an employee called, saying that she’d been robbed.

The short-but-scrappy employee asked not to be photographed or identified when she talked with reporters about the incident.

“A big woman came in and asked for change,” the employee said. “When I opened the cash register, she reached iton the drawer and took all the $20 bills.”

The robbery suspect pulled a knife – but that didn’t stop the employee. “I bit her hand and she started pulling my hair. She was really mad. But, I wasn’t going to let her take my money!”

Half of a $20 bill is all the suspected robber got for her effort – in addition to a nasty bite on her hand.

The once armed, now bitten suspect escaped from the store bearing half of a torn $20 bill in her tooth-marked hand.

While some Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct District officers came to the deli, others went into the area. One of the officers spotted a woman who matched the suspect’s description, walking with other women a few blocks away, and took her into custody.

“I told the police I recognized the woman; I’m really sure it is her,” the employee said after they brought the suspect back for identification. “If they don’t believe me, look for the bite mark on her hand!”

Police arrest 32-year-old Jamie Lynn Musgrove, and charged her with Robbery in the First Degree.

The “big woman” police arrested was a 5 ft 7 in, 170 lb, parolee – 32-year-old Jamie Lynn Musgrove.

After being interviewed by PPB Robbery Division detectives, Musgrove was booked into Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) at 3:23 p.m. that afternoon on a charge of Robbery in the First Degree, a Class A Felony.

After being arraigned the following day in Multnomah County Court, Musgrove picked up a Misdemeanor charge, that of Assault IV. She remains in custody, in lieu of $252,500 combined bail. Court records show she is also being held for parole violation.

“McGruff the Crime Dog”, a cartoon character created by an ad agency for the National Crime Prevention Council, couldn’t have done a better job of “Taking a Bite out of Crime” this time.

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