Off-Duty Officer Helps Catch Suspects, Police Say

A 23-year-old man was arrested after police say he stole items from vehicles parked in the Fairless Hills section of Bristol Township.

Michael Beard Jr, of the Morrisville section of Falls Township, was arrested and charged with several counts of theft from a motorcycle, conspiracy and receiving stolen property last week.

According to Bristol Township police, an off-duty officer reported witnessing two men entering vehicles and taking change in the area of Fernwood Lane and Queen Anne Drive in Fairless Hills shortly before 1 a.m. last Tuesday. The officer confronted the two men and they jumped in a conversion van and backed down the street in an attempt to hide the license plate from the lawman.

Responding police checked the area and searched the nearby Hidden Forrest Apartment Complex for the suspect van, police said. An on-duty police officer looked for the suspects and discovered them in the center of the complex, according to court documents.

The two men ran when they saw the officer’s patrol car roll up, police said. Authorities state the officer chased the two into a small wooded area near the back of the 900 building, catching one man.

While the officer was detaining the one suspect, he heard a rustling in the nearby bushed and law enforcement ordered the man – later identified as Beard – out of the bushes and onto the ground, police said.

Shorty after, county dispatch advised of a second 911 call stating a witness saw the two men put objects in the bushes near his apartment, according to court documents.

An officer searched the area where the witness claimed to have seen the two men placing the object and discovered a laptop, computer monitor and jumper cables, police said. They added that a wallet belonging to one of the victims was found in the area where Beard was hiding in the woods.

Upon a later search, police said they found two cup holders full of money that were reported stolen from a vehicle.

Investigators interviewed the man who accompanied Beard. According to police, he said Beard asked him to watch his back while he stole from vehicle. The man – who had no charges filed against him as of Monday morning, according to online court records – said the 23-year-old offered to pay him money to help. Court documents state the man helped police identify the vehicle they entered and said the duo tried to enter other vehicles in the area.

Beard was sent to county jail on 10 percent of $20,000 bail District Judge Robert Wagner Jr.