Judge bans 4 shoplifters from Pa. malls, calls them locusts

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) - Likening them to a "plague of locusts," a judge has banned four women from Pennsylvania malls after they pleaded guilty to stealing.

Common Pleas Judge Steven O'Neill sentenced the four Thursday to time served and placed them on probation in addition to the mall restriction.

The women are related and have extensive criminal records. They pleaded guilty to stealing from a Macy's store in a mall north of Philadelphia in September 2007.

O'Neill told the women they had "descended like a plague of locusts" on Montgomery County. Court records say the four traveled around the country, stealing for a living.

The four, Jeannie Davis, Christina Robson and two women named Catherine Robson, pleaded guilty to similar charges in Bucks County in January.