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Cops: Men try to steal lottery machine at golf course clubhouse, attempt escape via foot and vehicle.
EXETER – Police described a pursuit of two men who allegedly attempted to steal a lottery machine from a golf course’s clubhouse as like a scene from the television show “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
Police say they chased one man on foot and followed the other who sped away in a vehicle on the golf course at Four Seasons early Monday morning.
“The guy drove down the fairway and exited, basically like ‘Dukes of Hazzard,’ exited out and back onto Schooley Street and took off,” police Sgt. Len Galli said.
Police captured the pair they identified as Dwayne Justin Satkowski, 30, and Gary T. Ryan, 43, both from Exeter. Ryan is identified in arrest records as the suspect who took off in the vehicle.
They were charged with burglary, criminal trespass, criminal mischief, theft and criminal conspiracy. Ryan was further charged with five counts each of aggravated assault, simple assault and reckless endangerment, and one count each of fleeing or eluding police, drunken driving and driving with a suspended license.
Satkowski and Ryan were arraigned by District Judge Joseph Carmody in West Pittston and jailed at the county prison for lack of $25,000 and $50,000 bail, respectively.
Galli said the two men attempted to steal a lottery machine from the clubhouse.
“Our officers were dispatched in the area for an unrelated incident. They were in the right place at the right time,” Galli said. “They heard a burglar alarm going off; they came upon this and saw the gentlemen take off from the rear of the building.”
According to the criminal complaints:
Police heard the burglar alarm just after 12:30 a.m. and saw two men in the rear of the clubhouse. Satkowski ran away and Ryan sped away in a vehicle driving through the golf course.
Police captured Satkowski after a 300-yard chase on the course. Ryan was pursued through the golf course until he jumped an embankment onto Schooley Avenue, where he attempted to ram a cruiser off the road.
A cruiser pursuing Ryan on the golf course was disabled when it struck a tree and a sand trap, Galli said. Ryan was stopped and struggled with officers when he was arrested, according to the criminal complaint.
“They entered through the rear window of Four Seasons, and they tried to carry out a lottery machine; it’s the size of a soda machine,” Galli said. “They brought it out the rear door and tried to push it down to their car. That’s when our officers moved in.”
Preliminary hearings are tentatively scheduled on Aug. 26.