Com. v. Bazzo, J.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 9, 2025
Docket599 WDA 2024
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Bazzo, J. (Com. v. Bazzo, J.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Com. v. Bazzo, J., (Pa. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

J-S06028-25

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : JUSTINE MARIE BAZZO : : Appellant : No. 599 WDA 2024

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered February 9, 2023 In the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-65-CR-0001499-2021

BEFORE: PANELLA, P.J.E., LANE, J., and BENDER, P.J.E.

MEMORANDUM BY LANE, J.: FILED: May 9, 2025

Justine Marie Bazzo (“Bazzo”) appeals from the judgment of sentence

imposed following her convictions for one count each of theft and receiving

stolen property, and two counts each of burglary and criminal trespass. 1 We

affirm.

We glean the following factual and procedural history from the evidence

and testimony presented at trial. In 2016, Bazzo started working at the Center

Med Spa and Salon (“the spa”), which offered a variety of services, including

hair and nail services, facials, permanent make-up, eyelash extensions,

chemical peels, and prescription injectables such as Botox. Because these

injectables require a license to administer, the spa employed a physician’s

assistant and a doctor to perform these services, and restricted access to the

Botox and other injectable products by keeping them in a locked room at the ____________________________________________

1 See 18 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 3921(a), 3925, 3502(a)(4), 3503(a)(1)(i). J-S06028-25

back of the spa. The spa also kept skin care and eyelash enhancement

products in locked display cabinets at the front of the spa. Further, pursuant

to the spa’s internal policy, employees were not permitted to remove any

products from the spa premises unless they had paid for them.

In the course of her employment at the spa, Bazzo worked multiple days

during the week during the spa’s normal operating hours, exclusively

performing eyelash extensions for clients by appointment. In this regard, the

spa was open Tuesday through Saturday, and was closed on Sunday and

Monday. The spa was open from 9:00/10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., except on

Fridays, when it closed at 4:00 p.m., and Saturdays, when it closed at

2:00/3:00 p.m. Given these operating hours, Bazzo could only schedule

evening appointments on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, as those

were the days the spa stayed open until 8:00 p.m. If Bazzo did not have an

appointment scheduled with a spa client, she would not work in the spa.

When working with a spa customer, Bazzo sometimes purchased and

used eyelash extension products from the spa, and would submit receipts to

spa management for each purchase. Bazzo did not have a license to use, nor

did she have access to, any of the spa’s prescription Botox or injectable

products in the locked room. Similarly, Bazzo did not have authorization to

access the locked display cabinets containing the spa’s skin care and eyelash

-2- J-S06028-25

enhancement products,2 which were located by the front desk. Additionally,

because Bazzo’s eyelash extension appointments could only take place during

the spa’s normal operating hours, Bazzo did not have a key to the spa, nor

did she generally have permission to be in the spa outside of these hours.

In March 2019, the owner of the spa, Michelle Lucas (“Lucas”), noticed

that prescription Botox and other injectable products were missing from the

spa’s inventory. Accordingly, Lucas instructed the spa manager, Karen

Hillegas (“Hillegas”), to photograph the Botox and other injectable product

inventory kept within the locked room. After checking the locked room the

next morning, they discovered that additional Botox and injectable products

were missing. This prompted Lucas to review surveillance footage from inside

the spa, which reflected that on two separate occasions, March 3rd and March

15th of 2019, Bazzo was in the spa while it was closed.3 Although the spa’s

surveillance cameras did not capture the locked room containing the spa’s

____________________________________________

2 We clarify that although these display cabinets contained skin care and eyelash enhancement products, these products were unrelated to the eyelash extension kits that Bazzo used on her clients. See N.T., 11/16/22, at 93-94. Thus, Bazzo had no need to access any of the products that were kept in the locked cabinets when performing eyelash extension services for spa clients.

3 We note that March 3, 2019, was a Sunday. Lucas explained that the spa was never open on Sundays, and that she did not give any employee permission to schedule appointments or be in the spa on that date. We further note that March 15, 2019, was a Friday. As explained previously, the spa had shorter hours on Fridays, such that it was only open until 4:00 p.m. Accordingly, the spa had been closed for several hours when surveillance footage first captured Bazzo in the spa on this date at 7:23 p.m.

-3- J-S06028-25

prescription injectable products, it captured a wide-angle view of the front

desk, which included a view of the locked display cabinets containing skin care

and eyelash enhancement products, as well as a hallway leading towards the

back of the spa, where the locked injectables room and a separate exit were

located.

The footage from the evening of March 3rd showed Bazzo alone in the

spa, wearing gloves, and using a key that she took from the front desk to

open, and subsequently take products from, a locked display cabinet

containing skin care and eyelash enhancement products. The footage from

the evening of March 15th showed Bazzo in the spa with an unidentified

individual, wearing gloves, and using a flashlight to navigate the store in the

dark. Again, Bazzo took a key from the front desk to unlock and take products

out of a locked display cabinet containing skin care and eyelash enhancement

products. On this occasion, Bazzo placed the products down her shirt and into

a pile below her, before picking them up and walking towards the back of the

store.4 Neither Lucas nor Hillegas gave Bazzo permission to be in the spa

while it was closed on either of these dates.

Lucas submitted a report to the police and provided, inter alia, the

surveillance footage from both of these dates, and a list of missing injectables

inventory that she compiled. Lucas indicated that the value of these stolen

products totaled approximately $8,000. Before the police could act on this ____________________________________________

4 While reviewing security footage, Lucas also witnessed another one of her

employees, Josie Ruffner, stealing products from the spa.

-4- J-S06028-25

information, however, Lucas and Hillegas confronted Bazzo. When Lucas

showed her the list of missing injectables inventory, Bazzo admitted she took

Botox and other injectables from the locked room. When Lucas asked her why

she took them, Bazzo responded she did not know why, that she was sorry

for doing so, and that she would bring the products back. When Lucas showed

Bazzo the surveillance video footage, Bazzo again apologized, admitted it was

her on the video taking skin care and eyelash enhancement products from the

locked cabinet, and offered to return these products as well. Finally, when

Lucas asked Bazzo how she got into the building, Bazzo replied that she

borrowed a key from the spa receptionist.

Following this confrontation and Bazzo’s admissions, police arrested her

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