Cops: Hotel Burglary Ends In Arrest Of Former Employee

December 23, 2024

Terriek Hammonds Credit: Falls Township police

A former employee of an area hotel was arrested late Sunday night after allegedly burglarizing his former place of employment, according to police.

Falls Township police officers were alerted to the incident at approximately 11:48 p.m. when the hotel manager reported a burglary in progress at the Sheraton Hotel on North Oxford Valley Road, according to authorities.

The manager was monitoring a live video feed and observed a male suspect, later identified as 44-year-old Terriek Hammonds of Philadelphia, breaking into the hotel’s locked liquor closet and packing bottles into bags, police said.

Arriving at the scene, an officer found Hammonds in the rear of the hotel and matching the description provided — wearing a blue and red leather jacket and carrying three full bags, police said.

Hammonds was instructed to place the bags on the ground and was taken into custody without incident, police said.

Hammonds, who was terminated from his position at the hotel a few months prior and asked not to return from the property, reportedly forced entry into the liquor closet, police said.

An investigators noted fresh pry marks on the closet door and damage to the locking mechanism, police said.

Recovered from Hammonds at the scene were 37 bottles of alcohol that was valued at over $1,000, along with a knife and two small pry bars, police said.

Hammonds was charged with burglary, criminal trespassing, theft, and criminal mischief. He was preliminarily arraigned before on-call District Judge Christopher O’Neill and held on $75,000 bail.

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.