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HANOVER TWP. — A township man traded five firearms he allegedly stole from his mother’s residence for crack cocaine, township police said.
Police arrested Robert Belcher, 33, after he allegedly admitted he went to a house on Cherry Street, Wilkes-Barre, to get crack cocaine for the firearms on Saturday.
According to the criminal complaint:
Tina Butromovich reported two 9mm handguns, a .380-caliber handgun, a .38-caliber revolver and an AR-15 rifle were stolen from a gun cabinet inside her South Regent Street residence. A television was also stolen.
Butromovich told police she suspected her son, Belcher, may have stolen the firearms between 6 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday. She claimed her son has a key to her residence and knows there are firearms inside.
Police later located Belcher on the front porch of her mother’s residence.
Belcher told police he pried open the gun cabinet and removed the firearms at about 10 p.m. Friday. He later traded the firearms for crack cocaine, the complaint says.
Belcher claimed he returned to his mother’s house at about 1 a.m. Saturday to steal the TV.
Court records say Belcher, of Wilkes-Barre, was free on $5,000 bail on charges he spat saliva that struck a township police officer’s face and damaged township property during an incident on South Main Street on July 12. Belcher is facing charges of institutional vandalism and simple assault in county court.
Belcher was arraigned Monday by District Judge Michael Dotzel in Luzerne County Central Court on two counts each of theft and receiving stolen property. He was jailed at the county correctional facility for lack of $75,000 bail.