Police Department Employee & Husband Charged By Detectives

A Falls Township Police Department employee and her husband have been charged with stealing nearly $20,000 in electricity from PECO.

Husband and wife duo Faith Friedhofer, 51 and Donald Watson, 54, both of Falls, were arraigned Wednesday on charges of theft services and various other offenses. During a preliminary arraignment before District Judge Jan Vislosky, bail for the couple was set at $50,000 unsecured for each.

Interest in the couple’s property and power consumption came after PECO officials responded to the mid-December fire at the house at 211 Centre Avenue. As LevittownNow.com exclusively reported last year, detectives executed a search warrant at the property following the fire.

The home has been owned by Friedhofer and Watson since 1986, county records show. Friedhofer is an administrative assistant for Falls police Chief William Wilcox and Watson works as a pool installer for a company whose business address is listed at 211 Centre Street.

According to the probable cause affidavit, a PECO employee cut off the flow of power to the house while firefighters were fighting the blaze but noticed that several spotlights were still on. The concerned PECO official requested that a supervisor respond to the scene. Further investigation found that the electrical setup had an illegal hookup which bypassed PECO’s meter at the residence, authorities said.

During the execution of the search warrant, law enforcement discovered the illegal hookup took power from underground power lines and diverted it to the home, bypassing PECO’s meter and therefore allowing Friedhofer and Watson to receive electrical service without paying for it.

According to the probable cause affidavit, the amount of money that PECO lost from the theft is $19,803.38. The stolen electricity was allegedly being used to power a jacuzzi hot tub, a tanning bed, a cooking range, flat screen televisions, a refrigerator and the home’s heating and cooling systems.

At Wednesday’s arraignment, Watson was also accused of the recent theft of batteries from the Fairless Hills Athletic Association. According to police documents, Watson was identified in video taking six batteries out of a utility golf cart at the association’s property.

In 2012, Watson pleaded guilty to stealing copper from a closed furniture store. The theft happened in 2011 and caused thousands of dollars of damage to the store in Falls. Watson pleaded guilty and was sentenced to parole and probation.

Sources inside Falls have said Friedhofer remains employed by the township but is on leave. One source with knowledge of the situation said the township will move to fire Friedhofer in the coming days.

The cause of the blaze that damaged the couple’s home has not been released.

Both Watson and Friedhofer are being charged with felonies involving thefts of services, receiving stolen property, and conspiracy and misdemeanors involving recklessly endangering another person.

Due to his incident with the batteries, Watson is being charged with an additional misdemeanors involving theft, receiving stolen property and criminal mischief.

Both Friedhofer and Watson’s preliminary hearing has been set for June 21 at Vislosky’s court.

The case was investigated by the Bucks County Detectives due to the conflict of interest that would have occurred if Falls authorities handled it.

Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.