A Bradford man is in custody after he allegedly broke into a neighbor’s home and stole a number of items.
Christopher L. Ausherman, 50, of 91 Kennedy St., was arraigned Monday before District Judge Dominic Cercone on charges of burglary and criminal trespassing, second-degree felonies; theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property, first-degree misdemeanors.
Ausherman is charged with stealing about $1,000 worth of items from 87 Kennedy St. between March 1 and May 25 in 2018.
However, the criminal complaint indicates the actual worth of items missing from the home may be quite a bit more.
The homeowner went to the property to the mow the lawn and discovered the lawnmower was missing, along with a number of items from the house. The missing items include belongings that would have required someone to multiple trips to the home or more than one person to carry them. Some copper pipe had been cut and laid down in the hallway, “making it appear the suspect(s) would return later to gather the pipe,” the complaint stated.
The homeowner provided with police with several notebook pages listing items that were allegedly missing, which he estimated to be worth $20,000.
Missing items included a generator, a twin cylinder electric air compressor, chisels and metal punches, aluminum scaffold, staple guns, metal siding, a table saw, the arm from a radial arm saw, two circular saws, plumbing tools, DVDs, 55-inch LED flat screen TV and more, court records stated.
Police connected Ausherman to the case using a cigarette butt that was found on the kitchen floor of 87 Kennedy St.
The cigarette butt was sent to the state police crime lab in Erie for testing, and a DNA sample from the butt was forwarded to the state police Forensic DNA Division in Greensburg. The DNA profile was then uploaded to Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
On Oct. 25, the forensic DNA Division contacted Bradford police to report that Ausherman came back as a match, according to the complaint. As fingerprints were unable to be confirmed, state investigators requested a reference sample from Ausherman.
On Oct. 26, police were granted a search warrant to collect Ausherman’s DNA. An officer collected two buccal swabs from Ausherman at the McKean County Jail, where Ausherman was incarcerated on unrelated charges.
On Nov. 9, Ausherman’s wife brought a letter to Bradford police that was addressed to her from Ausherman. The letter, which had a Post Office date stamp of Oct. 29, was a request that she clean out the house because he did not want her to get in trouble, according to court records. He told her officers would be coming with a search warrant.
On Oct. 26, she received a phone call from someone at the jail who said it would be in her best interest to visit her husband. She later helped police identify items in her house that were not hers, the complaint indicated.
According to court records, on Feb. 19, the state police crime lab contacted Bradford police with confirmation that the Ausherman’s DNA sample matched the DNA profile from the cigarette butt.
Ausherman is in jail in lieu of $30,000 bail for the new case, and he is scheduled to appear in Central Court on March 28.
Also on March 28, Ausherman will be sentenced for a previous conviction. A jury found him guilty on March 4 of terroristic threats and simple assault. The charges stemmed from allegations that on June 24, he assaulted a woman and threatened to burn down 91 Kennedy St. with her and a dog inside.
A Bradford man is facing allegations that he trespassed at the Chestnut Street Uni-Mart in Bradford and conspired with another man to steal food, cigarettes and money to buy marijuana.
Gregory P. Benavidez Jr., 25, was arraigned Sunday before District Judge Richard Luther on charges of criminal trespassing and conspiracy-criminal trespassing, second-degree felonies; tampering with physical evidence and three counts each of theft by unlawful taking and conspiracy-theft by unlawful taking, all second-degree misdemeanors; and one count each of possession of a small amount of marijuana for personal use and possession of drug paraphernalia, misdemeanors.
The criminal complaint states the store manager prepared a flash drive with surveillance video as evidence for a separate criminal matter, placed it in an envelope and left it on the office desk for officers to pick up on Sunday. Later that day, she realized the envelope was gone.
She reviewed surveillance footage to determine what happened to the envelope and discovered at that 1:10 a.m. Saturday, Benavidez and Brandon Benjamin entered the store and began speaking with the clerk, according to court records.
While Benjamin kept the clerk distracted, Benavidez allegedly went into the secured office, stole money from a drawer and took the envelope with the flash drive. Then, he went back to the counter and took about $20 from a plastic donation jar marked that was to benefit a local family, the criminal complaint stated.
According to court records, when a Bradford City officer later went to Benavidez’s residence at 43 Forman St., police found marijuana and a marijuana pipe. Benavidez “was acting extremely violent” while he was in custody and refused to be interviewed.
Meanwhile, Benjamin “was extremely cooperative” with police and told them that over the past two weeks he and Benavidez conspired to steal items and money from the Uni-Mart. Benjamin would allegedly distract the clerk while Benavidez went into the back room to steal money. Benjamin took about $200 during those two weeks, which the pair used to buy marijuana; they also took food and cigarettes, the criminal complaint stated.
Benavidez destroyed the flash drive by burning it, the complaint indicated.
Court records stated that Benjamin will also be charged.
Benavidez is in McKean County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail, and he is scheduled to appear in Central Court on Thursday.
