COPS: Tamaqua Adults Use Kids To Steal From Upper Hanover Wal-Mart

Location of Upper Hanover Township in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

UPPER HANOVER TOWNSHIP, PA — State police arrested two Tamaqua adults for allegedly taking $583.23 in merchandise from the Wal-Mart on the 600 block of Gravel Pike on Aug. 15 at 5:42 p.m.

Store security saw Samantha Lynn Wagenhurst, 30, of Tamaqua, and Carlos Martinez, 29, of Tamaqua, allegedly placed numerous electronic items and DVDs into a shopping cart.  The pair allegedly instructed one of the children to push the shopping car past all points of sale and continue out of the store.

The 13-year-old child walked past all points of sale and was stopped by store security.

Read more: http://www.timesherald.com/article/20130826/NEWS01/130829750/cops-tamaqua-adults-use-kids-to-steal-from-upper-frederick-wal-mart

Police: $25K In Copper Has Been Stolen From Former Bethlehem Steel Headquarters

A man charged with six burglaries in Bethlehem’s Martin Tower told investigators he was only “exploring” the vacant building, but he was in fact stealing copper, police say.

Repeated thefts of copper from the former headquarters of Bethlehem Steel led to the installation of video and audio recording devices throughout the 21-story building, court records state.

Investigators said those recordings show Erik Michael Hotton, 27, in the building stealing copper, according to an arrest affidavit.  Police say an estimated $25,000 worth of copper has been stolen over the past six weeks.

Hotton, of 927 Tilghman St. in Allentown, is charged with burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, theft and receiving stolen property.  He was sent to Lehigh County Prison under $75,000 bail.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-c-bethlehem-copper-thefts-martin-towners-20121127,0,760997.story

2 Caught Stealing Game Commission Wire In Berks, Police Say

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Two men had carted four large rolls of wire to a vehicle at the Port Clinton Fire Tower in eastern Berks County on Thursday when state police arrived and arrested them, police said.

Edward M. Matalavage, 36, of New Ringgold and Rayan M. Navitsky, 34, of Tamaqua were charged with burglary for allegedly breaking into a building and stealing the government-owned wire.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-p-berks-fire-tower-wire-burglary-20121013,0,480612.story

Carjacking Suspect Has History Of Stealing Lobsters, Fine Meats

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Editor’s note:  This is what’s known as having champagne taste and a beer pocketbook/wallet with a healthy dose of stupid thrown in for good measure!  Lock him up and thrown away the KEY!

It didn’t take long for employees at a Weis Kings Market in west Allentown to realize they had a lobster thief in their grocery store Thursday afternoon.

Charles A. Shumanis III, who was arrested Thursday after police say he carjacked a man in South Whitehall following a botched retail theft attempt at the supermarket, had been charged the week before with stealing more than $160 worth of lobsters from the store, according to court documents.

Hours after allegedly stealing from the market Feb. 23, Shumanis went to the Wegmans, 3900 Tilghman St., where he took $150 worth of meat, according to court documents.

Shumanis already had four prior retail theft convictions, making the fifth and sixth retail theft charges on Feb. 23 felonies, police said. He added a seventh charge Thursday, to go along with more serious charges of carjacking a man and dragging him 50 feet in the Friendly’s Restaurant parking lot in South Whitehall.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-carjacking-suspect-history-stealing-lobsters-me-20120302,0,7455738.story

First Copper Thieves, Now Bronze Thieves!

When will it end?  Two Pottstown borough men are in the Montgomery County jail after being arrested Wednesday for stealing 200 bronze flower vases from Highland Memorial Cemetery.  You read that correctly, a cemetery!  These two upstanding citizens were stealing from the dead.  They were taking their ill-gotten gain to a Philadelphia scrap yard to sell.  The vases were valued at more than $20,000.  The thefts took place during March of 2011.

In the not too distant past borough churches were stripped of copper gutters and spouting by thieves.  It never ceases to amaze me the lengths people will go to in trying to make a fast buck.

Two Roy’s Rants thumbs down to these alleged criminals.  Thrown the book at them!

Dumbass Of The Day Award: Man Stuffs Frozen Shrimp In Pants – Flees Store

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Sometimes you have to read something a second time to make sure you were not hallucinating!

A 37-year-old man in Dover Township, York County shoved a bag of frozen shrimp in his pants (first clue) and attempted to flee a grocery store with the ill-gotten gains (second clue).  When a store security guard tried to stop this Mensa member and upstanding citizen, the guard was attacked (third clue) by the customer.  The thief customer was followed into the parking lot and subdued by the battered security guard and a bystander.

Our award winner is being held on $10,000 bail over a bag of frozen crustaceans and some fisticuffs.  Somebody should have made a trip to Long John Silvers!

I hope the bag of shrimp was not returned to the freezer case!!!!

Those Crazy Copper Thieves Are Back!

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Maybe the gang in Fayette County has moved east in their quest for more copper?  A Lebanon County cell tower was vandalized and six copper plates valued at $75 each were stolen.  The tower is fenced in and thieves cut the lock to gain entrance.  The tower is shared by Verizon, T-Mobile, Nextel and AT&T.  And we wonder why prices keep going up!  The total damage estimate was $3,000!

Anyone with information is asked to call the Cornwall police at (717) 274-2071.