Staff photo / Ed Runyan Eugena Russo, left, cries as she apologizes Wednesday to the loss prevention officer from the Boardman Kohl’s store. Russo got a sentence of two to three years in prison for pepper spraying the loss prevention officer after the officer confronted her in the parking lot about items she had stolen from the store. At right is her attorney, Bradley Olsen.

YOUNGSTOWN — Eugena M. Russo, 38, of Randolph Street, New Castle, Pa., pleaded guilty Wednesday to robbery for shooting pepper spray into the eyes of a store loss prevention officer in order to get away.

Judge Anthony Donofrio sentenced her to two to three years in prison.

Russo went into fitting room of the Kohl’s store in the Shops at Boardman Park on April 25, 2019, and stuffed clothing into her purse. Then she left the store without paying.

Loss prevention officer Elizabeth Kendall followed Russo outside and into the parking area and asked Russo to return to the store, Kendall told Judge Anthony Donofrio of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday.

As the two approached a busy area for vehicles and pedestrians in front of the store, Russo sprayed the pepper spray from her key chain upward and into Kendall’s eyes, disabling her, Kendall said. Her injuries were not permanent, Kendall said.

“She clearly was trying to get up under my glasses to get into my eyes,” Kendall said. “It went across my glasses, underneath my face, all over the side of my head.”

Russo then ran off and got into her car, but another loss prevention officer saw the vehicle’s license plate number and looked up the owner.

Officers then also looked up Russo on Facebook and found her to have the same tattoo on her breast as the woman who committed the robbery, said Rob Andrews, assistant county prosecutor.

Russo’s attorney, Bradley Olsen, said Russo was in the midst of active addiction at the time of the offense.

“In her mind, all she was thinking of was where she was going to get the next drug fix,” Olsen said.

“Since this time, my client has been engaged in treatment,” he said.

During the hearing, Russo tearfully apologized to Kendall and said her mother was dying of a brain disorder at the time.

She received the indefinite sentence of two to three years under Ohio’s Reagan Tokes law. The law requires a judge to select a minimum sentence and a maximum sentence of an additional 50 percent of the minimum sentence.

A person is presumed to serve the minimum sentence but can get more for bad behavior in prison and less for good behavior.