WBPD file charges against alleged ‘porch pirate’

WILKES-BARRE— A man facing allegations by Ashley police he assaulted a woman with a machete is charged with stealing packages from the porch of a residence on Park Avenue, Wilkes-Barre, earlier this week.

Christian Lee MacDowell, 48, addresses listed as East Newport Street, Hanover Township, and homeless, was recorded walking onto the front porch of the Park Avenue house and stealing two packages at about 6:30 p.m. Monday, according to court records.

The packages contained curtain tracks and table caps.

City police charged MacDowell with theft and receiving stolen property.

Ashley police charged MacDowell with assaulting a woman while they were camping/living in a wooded area behind the Family Dollar store on Main Street on Sept. 14, court records say.

The woman told Ashley police she suggested to MacDowell they use a tarp as a make-shift tub in Solomon Creek. MacDowell became “extremely angry” at the suggestion and began striking the woman multiple times, according to court records.

Court records say MacDowell managed to grab a machete that sliced the woman’s hand.

The woman was treated at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.

Ashley police charged MacDowell with aggravated assault, simple assault and harassment.

In another unrelated case, MacDowell is facing criminal conspiracy charges for his alleged role with two others in breaking into a WILK radio transmission station located in a building in Breslau, Hanover Township, on May 25, 2023.