By Ed Lewis [email protected]

Haggard

Haggard

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<p>State police at Wilkes-Barre released a surveillance picture of a man involved in the theft of cigarettes from Food Express in Plymouth Township on Dec. 27, 2021.</p>

State police at Wilkes-Barre released a surveillance picture of a man involved in the theft of cigarettes from Food Express in Plymouth Township on Dec. 27, 2021.
<p>Hanover Township police released surveillance picture of man who burglarized the Sunoco Fast Lane service station on Sans Souci Parkway on Dec. 29, 2021.</p>

Hanover Township police released surveillance picture of man who burglarized the Sunoco Fast Lane service station on Sans Souci Parkway on Dec. 29, 2021.

HANOVER TWP. — A Philadelphia man already awaiting trial in several smash-and-grab cigarette thefts at several businesses was arraigned Wednesday for ransacking stores in Hanover Township and Plymouth Township.

Danny Lee Haggard, 55, was charged after a joint investigation by Hanover Township police and state police at Wilkes-Barre involving ransacking:

• PSC service station, Sans Souci Parkway, Hanover Township, on Dec. 29, 2021.

• Food Express service center, state Route 11, Plymouth Township, on Dec. 29, 2021.

• Sunoco Fast Lane service center, Sans Souci Parkway, on Dec. 27, 2021.

In all burglaries, Haggard used cinder blocks or landscape paver stones to smash windows at the businesses and stealing cigarettes valued in the thousands, according to court records.

Haggard is scheduled for trial in Luzerne County Court in February for similar burglaries at stores in Kingston, Swoyersville, West Pittston and Wyoming.

Haggard was arraigned on the latest charges by District Judge Donald L. Whittaker in Central Court on six counts of theft, five counts each with burglary and criminal trespass and four counts of criminal mischief. Haggard was remanded to the county correctional facility for lack of $100,000 bail on the latest charges filed by Hanover Township police and state police.

Haggard has been jailed since his arrest by Kingston police after he ransacked the Convenient Mart on Pierce Street on Jan. 10. Haggard initiated a pursuit that ended in Forty Fort, where he punched an officer in the chest and genitals, court records say.

Investigators say Haggard stole vehicles he used to arrive at the stores where he smashed windows and filled trash bags with cigarette cartons, according to court records.

Online court records say Haggard has 17 convictions of burglaries, thefts and mischief in Bucks, Lancaster, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties dating back to 1999. He spent several stints in state prison during his decades crime spree in the Philadelphia region.

Haggard was on state parole when he allegedly committed the burglaries throughout the Wyoming Valley.