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Alleged prowler arrested in S. Abington

By Gerard Hetman ghetman@theabingtonjournal.com

SOUTH ABINGTON TWP. - The recent taser-assisted arrest of an alleged “prowler” in South Abington Township is the latest of a string of police arrests for the subject, according to law enforcement.

According to police reports, Sergeant Gregory Winowich of the South Abington Township Police Department was working a surveillance detail on the night of Oct. 22, when he spotted a person all in dark clothing, with a hood, wandering the neighborhood of Greenbriar Drive and Briar Hill Circle. After receiving reports from residents of the neighborhood about a black-clad prowler looking into windows in recent weeks, Winowich said he spotted a person at approximately 10:40 p.m. matching the description provided by neighbors. With additional police units arriving on the scene, officers began to search for the suspect, who was first encountered by Sgt. Winowich. According to Winowich, after the suspect ignored repeated commands from officers to drop to the ground, a taser was used to subdue him.

Upon seeing the build and eye color of the suspect, Winowich noted in his report that he believed he had encountered and arrested the subject in the neighborhood approximately two years prior, when the subject resisted arrest and had to be subdued by multiple officers. Upon removing the suspect’s mask, Winowich identified him as David L. Yevitz, 24, and was able to confirm he was the offender Winowich had arrested prior for prowling and loitering at night time in the same neighborhood.

As required by South Abington Township Police Department policy in the event of a taser being used, an ambulance was called to the scene and Yevitz was transported to Community Medical Center in Scranton under police supervision.

After being medically cleared, Yevitz, of Briar Hill Circle, South Abington Township was booked at the South Abington Township Police Station at approximately 2:10 a.m. According to police reports, when questioned about his activities prior to the arrest, Yevitz first offered a different version of the events, before asking about the possibility of making a deal for the truth. Upon being informed by interrogating officers that making such “deals” was not possible, Yevitz confessed that he had been out “looking for skin” while walking through the yards in which he was apprehended. When asked to explain further, he said “you know, naked girls.” According to the police report, he confessed to repeatedly looking into the windows of homes in the vicinity at “teenage girls and housewives,” in various stages of undress, including a home where residents of the property had complained to police about similar activity in recent days. Yevitz explained that he was not looking into that particular home at the time of his arrest, but had visited other properties in the area that evening to peer into windows. According to the police report, Yevitz said he had been good after his last arrest and was not looking in windows until March of this year when he started “doing it heavy, like every night again.”

Yevitz has been charged with six counts of loitering and prowling at nighttime, one count of stalking, and one count of resisting arrest. He was arraigned before District Justice James Kennedy on Oct. 23, and remains jailed in the Lackawanna county Prison in lieu of $40,000 bail. His next scheduled court hearing is set for Oct. 28.