Burglary Suspect Swallows Paper Bracelet After Arrest, Cops Say

A man has been charged after he allegedly stole items from a business along State Road in Bristol Township’s Croydon section.

Marsell Crowder, 29, of Philadelphia, was charged last Thursday with burglary, defiant trespassing, theft, tamper with evidence, and false identification to law enforcement. He was arraigned before an on-call district judge and sent to the Bucks County Correctional Facility on 10 percent of $100,000.

Police were called last Thursday morning to Bristol Environmental Services on State Road for an overnight burglary. The business owner said he found papers in the office scattered and out of place. He later discovered a Ford fleet key for trucks, safety vest, tools, and a red Dell laptop were removed. The value of the items was more than $1,000, according to court papers.

Surveillance video from around 4 a.m. that morning showed a suspect in the building. Police said they were able to obtain a description.

A short time later, 9-1-1 received a call of a possible intoxicated person walking in the roadway at Route 13 and Veterans Highway (Route 413). The person was wearing a safety vest, police said.

An officer responded and found the person, who matched the description of the burglary suspect, tugging on the door of a closed business on Route 13, police said.

The man was taken into custody and had a bag with a red Dell laptop and Ford fleet key in it, police said.

While in a patrol car on their way to the police station, the man said he went into the State Road business and took the computer because nobody else claimed it, police said.

Investigators said the man was not provide his correct name and had paperwork with several different names on it. He did not have identification on him.

An officer, according to court papers, noted the man had a single-use yellow paper bracelet on his wrist with “Crowder 6/7/90” written on it. The man then broke it off his wrist and swallowed it.

Police said they ended up identifying the man as Crowder using his fingerprint.

Crowder reportedly then told police he goes by a lot of names.

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.

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