Police say burgarly interrupted
State police in Waynesburg believe they’ve stumbled upon a tale of a burglary interrupted. When Josh Patton came home from a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday, he saw three men with a car pulled up to his home at 320 Gordon Hill Road in Franklin Township, Greene County.
The men, Edward Francis Harper, Samuel Elijah Miller and Maurice Rogers, told him they were from a landscaping company.
Only state police said Woolen didn’t hire landscapers, at least not any that were allegedly authorized to stash his flat-screen computer monitor and his father’s hunting jacket in their car.
Harper, 27, of 1024 Greene St., California; Miller, 22, of 1202 Parkford Place and Rogers, 23, of 104 Parkford Place, both in South Park; each are charged with two counts each of burglary and theft and multiple counts of conspiracy.
Patton came home from his doctor’s appointment about 11:45 a.m. and saw a maroon Buick “backed up to the front porch of his residence,” trooper Thomas Schuster wrote in an arrest affidavit.
Patton saw a side door to his home open and reportedly saw the three men get into the car, police said.
When he asked them what they were doing, “they said they were from a landscaping company and were there to see if they (sic) needed any work,” Schuster wrote.
As Patton talked to the men, police said he noticed a flat-screen computer monitor like his and a camouflage jacket that looked like his father’s inside the vehicle.
He got the license plate number and called police.
Police in Washington found the vehicle and stopped the men on Bayne Road in West Bethlehem Township, Washington County, Schuster said.
Patton was able to identify the men and the vehicle, police said.
Harper reportedly told police that he stayed outside as a lookout while Miller and Rogers went inside Patton’s house. When Patton pulled into the driveway, Harper reportedly told police that he “banged on the side of the house for them to get out.”
Miller also confessed to police, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
After Patton went through his home, he also noticed a digital camera, watch and jar of money were missing, police said.
The three also are charged with another break-in at Richard Wollen’s home at 324 Ankrom Road, Jefferson Township, on Tuesday.
Police reported that they were able to enter Woolen’s home through an unlocked door.