LEWISTON — A local woman who police said helped rob a delivery man of a pizza in July received a suspended sentence and will continue with counseling.

Judith Pereyra, 20, of 242 Park St. pleaded guilty Tuesday in 8th District Court to a misdemeanor theft charge. A felony robbery charge was withdrawn by prosecutors. She was sentenced to six months in jail, but that sentence was fully suspended by Judge Susan Oram, who approved the plea agreement. Pereyra will be on probation for one year.

Police said Pereyra and a 17-year-old female had ordered pizza July 11 shortly after midnight to be delivered to a vacant apartment on Bartlett Street.

When the driver arrived at the address shortly after 1 a.m., the two led him halfway up a darkened stairwell, lighting his way with a cigarette lighter. He continued to the top floor, then descended the stairwell and left the building.

As he approached his car, they beckoned him to a building across the street. Pereyra asked him whether the order was for Calia. He said it was. She told him to enter 187 Bartlett St.

He walked into a dark enclosed porch and handed Pereyra the pizza. She told him she had to go upstairs for the money to pay him. Someone who had been hiding behind the door sprayed him in the face with Mace. Pereyra and the teen fled the building with the pizza.

Police stopped Pereyra while she was driving the next day after identifying her from surveillance video. She told police that she was homeless and had been hungry. She said she and her teenage friend had planned to simply grab the pizza and flee when the driver entered the first building, but they had “chickened out.” Instead, they regrouped and planned the same pizza theft at the second building where the teen sprayed the driver.

Conditions of Pereyra’s probation include completion of substance abuse counseling and treatment. She must have no alcohol or illegal drugs and can be searched and tested at random for both. She also is barred from having any contact with her juvenile co-defendant and must live at a residence approved by her probation officer.

cwilliams@sunjournal.com