Credit: Bucks County Department of Corrections
An Penndel Borough officer responding to a report of a burglary in progress arrived to find the suspect ripping off a window screen guard and attempting to enter a unit at the Mill Creek Apartments early Friday morning.
Police detained the man – Penndel resident Christopher Peden, 39 – after a brief scuffle, according to a criminal complaint, and later charged him with burglary, criminal trespassing, unlawful theft, receiving stolen property and related offenses.
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Police were summoned to the apartment complex at 3:29 a.m. after a woman called 911 and stated Peden, who she knew, was trying to get in and banging on the window
Once in custody, the unemployed 39-year-0ld said requested police secure a black flat-screen TV and video monitor he had brought to the apartment complex. He later said he was planning to sell the items as scrap, according to court papers.
The woman told authorities the items he wanted secured were likely from nearby Penndel Laundromat. Police said the woman specificity recognized the TV and monitor.
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An officer went to the laundromat on Durham Road and found the front and a rear door unlocked, with another door near the front “completely” smashed in, police said. They added the business also suffered damage to its walls, doors and counters.
An employee of the laundromat arrived and confirmed the a TV and monitor were missing from the business, police said. The items were confirmed to be the same ones that Peden wanted secured.
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According to police, Peden admitted to stealing the items and insisted they were outside the business already in a shopping cart.
District Judge John Kelly Jr. arraigned Peden and sent him to county jail on 10 percent of $40,000.
