News

June 26, 2009

Blood links suspect to burglary

Butler Twp. police allege man cut himself while breaking into Mary’s Restaurant on Route 309.

By Edward Lewis elewis@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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BUTLER TWP. – A Wapwallopen man told township police he sat in the middle of a busy highway because he was tired early Thursday morning.

It wasn’t until police spotted blood on his clothing that they linked him to a burglary hours earlier, according to arrest records.

Police said they found Corey Marsicano, 23, sitting in the middle of North Hunter Highway, which is state Route 309, waving a white towel at passing motorists just before 3:30 a.m.

Marsicano was detained because he showed signs of intoxication. When police searched his clothing, they found blood on his pants, a bandage on his arm and a foot-long piece of steel wrapped in the towel, according to arrest records.

Marsicano admitted to police he smashed a large window at nearby Mary’s Restaurant and cut himself on broken glass.

Marsicano was charged with burglary, possessing instruments of crime, criminal mischief and public drunkenness. He was arraigned Thursday morning by District Judge Daniel O’Donnell in Sugarloaf and jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $10,000 bail.

According to the criminal complaint:

Police responded to Mary’s Restaurant for a burglar alarm just after 11 p.m. Wednesday. Police noticed a large window was smashed, and shoe prints on broken glass and a chair inside the restaurant.

No items were reported stolen, police said.

Several hours later, police received a complaint that a man was sitting in the middle of the highway waving a towel at passing motorists.

When confronted by police, Marsicano claimed he was drinking alcohol and dropped his bottle down an embankment. He was tired so he sat down in the middle of the highway, the criminal complaint says.

Police allege in the criminal complaint Marsicano’s shoes matched the shoe impression recovered on broken glass and the chair at the restaurant.

Marsicano admitted to police he smashed the restaurant’s window and went inside “to look around” for items of value to steal. He only found coins near the cash register, and fled the store when he heard an alarm, the criminal complaint says.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled on July 3.

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