Dewey Tanning Salon Owner Feeling Burned After Robbery

NewsOn6.com

DEWEY, OK -- A Dewey business owner says an armed robbery at Pokey's Beauty Palace was the first time she had ever been robbed. 

Lonita Pitchlynn, better known as Pokey and the owner of Pokey's on U.S. Highway 75 in Dewey, was robbed at gunpoint Wednesday afternoon.

"Everybody called me Pocahontas, because I'm half Indian, and then they just started calling me Pokey," said Lonita Pitchlynn, owner of Pokey's and a robbery victim.

Pitchlynn says she has been in business for more than 60 years and nothing like this has ever happened.

"He said, 'give me your money!'  I said 'What?'" she said. "I thought he was kidding me, you know."

They wanted fast cash, not a quick tan. She gave in, although she didn't want to.

"I'm not mean to people, but if they get mean to me, I can really be mean," Pitchlynn said.

The robbers emptied the register and took her purse. Pokey wanted to knock the gun away, but thought better of it.

Now she says she would just like to slap him. 

"They'd better get right with God. And they'd better straighten their act up," she said.

2/11/2010 Related story: Dewey Police Issue Arrest Warrant In Pokey's Beauty Palace Robbery

On Thursday, Dewey Police issued an arrest warrant for 18-year-old Justin Nicholas in connection with the robbery.  

While police try to find the robbers, at Pokey's it's back to work - and hopefully back to business as usual.