Some modern police work was used to catch a burglary suspect.
According to Middletown police, officers responded to Picerno’s Gas and Convenience Store at 452 South Bellevue Avenue near the border with Langhorne and Langhorne Manor on the morning of December 30, 2015 when an employee arrived at 6 a.m. to find that a burglary had occurred.
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Video surveillance revealed that one of the two burglars entered the business through a smashed window around 4 a.m. The suspects used a garbage bag to collect cigarette cartons and cash boxes from behind the register. By 4:11 a.m., the two burglars were done and had left the store with $300 in cash and $4,659 in cigarettes, police paperwork said.
Further review of survalliance video showed the suspects, who both had crowbars, returned to the store around 4:42 a.m. and entered an office. Inside, the two stole $5,000 cash from the office and tried to pry open an ATM. Shortly after, the two left the gas station that sits right off Route 1 at 4:59 a.m, court papers stated.
The damage to the gas station was nearly $3,000, police said.
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DNA samples were taken from a back exit door. Upon testing, the DNA sample matched one obtained by Bensalem police as part of an investigation into the 24-7 Convince Store on Bristol Pike early on January 25, police said.
Middletown Detective Patrick Nicastro spoke with Bensalem police who said they caught William Parker, 30, of Philadelphia, near the store. Bensalem police said they recovered Parker’s mobile phone near the scene.
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Nicastro obtained a court order and was able to use Parker’s cell phone to place him near the scene of the Middletown burglary, police said.
Parker was charged with burglary, conspiracy, criminal trespassing and criminal mischief. He was out on bail in the Bensalem burglary when the Philadelphia Police Department’s Major Crimes Unit picked him up last week and turned him over to Middletown police.
Following arraignment last week, Parker was jailed on 10 percent of $75,000 bail.
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The second suspect has not yet been charged.
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.
