Man boosted & lost has been found
By Kiki Pepper, Staff Writer
January 1, 2022
STROUDSBURG — An elderly Bartonsville man has been reunited with his family after getting locked inside the Stroud Mall overnight on Friday. Timothy Wiegol, 86, of 924 Wigwam Park Road, was found on Saturday morning, asleep in the Food Court behind the counter of Gino & Son Pizza. Wiegol was found by Jackson Vintek, 17, a member of the mall’s cleaning team, from Pocono Cleaning based in Stroudsburg.
Stroudsburg police Sgt. Larry Holmgren, speaking briefly only to this reporter, indicated that Mr. Wiegol was first reported missing at 8:00 pm on Friday, by his son Frederick Wiegol, 54, from Arlington Heights. Timothy Wiegol had told his son he was taking the bus in to receive a COVID-19 booster shot, early on Friday, at the former JC Penney property. Frederick then became concerned after multiple phone calls to his Dad were not answered, and after no one responded when he knocked on his Dad’s door in Bartonsville.
‘The son sounded pretty frantic,’ reported Sgt. Holmgren. ‘Apparently, the Dad has a weak heart and the family was worried the booster shot would cause some sort of medical event.’
Although the timeline of events is not clear, it appears that Timothy Wiegol was ‘first in line’ to receive his booster shot, and then wandered the mall for several hours. He was found with a bag from Gertrude Hawk Chocolates, half-full with mocha hazelnut brittle bark, and a receipt from 10:51 am. ‘We think he might have ended up in the restrooms after that,’ according to Sgt. Holmgren, ‘and was not aware that the mall closed at 12:00 noon for New Year’s eve.’
‘Someone from the mall security team may have some explaining to do given they reported to officers that a thorough sweep of the building was completed at 12:30 pm, to make sure no one was still inside before they locked up.’
Paramedics called to the scene reported that Wiegol was surprised at ‘all the fuss being made’ over his whereabouts and was in good health, though he ‘was feeling nauseous’ after eating half of a pepperoni pizza he had found in the trash.
While this reporter was on scene, Timothy Wiegol’s phone was located below a bench outside the Victoria Secrets store.
Reporter Kiki Pepper can be reached at 570-555-2521, by email (kpepper@stroudsburgnews.com) or on Twitter (@SNKikiPepper).
Image generated on Magic Studio
ABOUT bob gielow
A college administrator by day, Bob Gielow (he/him) spins tales in formats we all use when communicating with each other: text messages, emails, fictional Wikipedia posts, and diary entries all allow him to be clinical and thorough in describing his characters, their thinking and actions … without diminishing his ability to explore the resulting human emotions.
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