Credit: Bucks County Department of Corrections
A Bristol Township man was arrested and charged after he ransacked and robbed a Woerner Avenue business early Friday morning, police said.
Wayne Stewart, 51, of Pine Needle Drive in the Levittown section of the township, was arraigned Friday on charges of burglary, criminal trespass, criminal mischief, theft and receiving stolen property. He is currently in jail on 10 percent of $25,000 bail.
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Police responded to the All Clean Laundromat 4:30 a.m. for the report of an alarm coming from the back of the building. After a responding officer found the business ransacked and damaged, he spotted Stewart riding his bicycle away from the scene, police said.
According to court documents, Stewart stated immediately that there were two bags filled with money around back and that they were too heavy for him to carry away. The 51-year-old told the officer he did take money out of the bags and put $101 in his pockets, police said.
The responding officer noted in court documents that the money in the man’s pocket was “neatly folded,” except for some single dollar bills, which were “uniquely” folded and held together with pink paperclips. Police said Stewart had no answer when asked about the “uniquely” folded cash.
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The owner of the business later told police the paper-clipped and “uniquely” folded money was from a game machine inside the business.
Video surveillance from the store showed Stewart entering the laundromat from a side utility closet which was accessed by prying security bars off the outside of the building at approximately 2 a.m., police said.
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Once inside the business in the 4100 block of Woerner Avenue, the tape showed Stewart ransacking the laundromat, destroying coin machines and games to take cash, police said. They added that the suspect also searched through desk drawers. Steward was seen exiting the business when the alarm was reported a few minutes before law enforcement arrived, police said.
The business owner also told police he was missing $800 that was in a deposit envelope. Police said they searched Stewart again and found an envelope containing $773 hidden in his pants.
The two bags of money at the back door were filled with so much change they were difficult to lift, police said.
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Thousands of dollar of property damage was reported by the business owner, who said he did not know Stewart.
