Three arrested in South Union Twp. burglary
Three Fayette County residents are accused of burglary and rioting at the Shogun Steakhouse restaurant in South Union Township earlier this month in an incident that left another man there injured.
Felony charges were filed Monday against Thomas Butterfield, 40, of West Leisenring; Britney Karpel, 25, of Lemont Furnace; and Debra Ann Smitley, 45, of Lemont Furnace.
Police were dispatched to a disturbance at the restaurant shortly after 11 p.m. Aug. 2. When they arrived, according to court paperwork, officers found Butterfield, Karpel and Smitley at the scene, who said they had come there to confront a man at the restaurant after it closed.
“(Smitley) made the comments, ‘I’m going to be honest, I came here with an intent to hurt this man” and “I should have beat him to a bloody pulp,'” Trooper Tyler Murray wrote in Smitley’s criminal complaint.
Surveillance footage showed Smitley shoving the man before Butterfield and Karpel continued assaulting him, the complaint against Smitley alleged. Butterfield tried to strangle the man, according to his criminal complaint, while Karpel told police she had tried to separate her co-defendants from the man once the altercation turned physical.
During the strangulation attempt, the man told police, he was unable to breathe and felt like he was going to die. He also had injuries around his neck matching those seen in the video, according to the complaint.
Charging documents did not disclose the name of the person allegedly assaulted in the incident.
Butterfield, Karpel and Smitley each face felony charges of burglary and rioting. Butterfield is also charged with misdemeanor strangulation and simple assault.
All three are awaiting preliminary hearings.