Marterius Brown

CRANBERRY TWP — A felon was caught packing a stolen handgun after police say they found him last week lurking around a woman's apartment on Collingwood Court.

Marterius Brown, 27, of New Castle faces a preliminary hearing next month in connection with the case. He is being held in the Butler County Prison on $25,000 bail.

Police found the defendant Nov. 20 after a woman called 911 about 5 a.m. to report seeing two men looking at her through her bedroom window, according to court documents. She said the men ran away when she got on the telephone.

Almost immediately after getting there, officers spotted man come out from among a number of large pine trees along Rochester Road and behind the woman's apartment building.

The man identified himself and claimed that he and his brother — the defendant — had run out of gas, police said.

But when asked, the man was unable to say why they were in Cranberry Township or where their cars were, documents said. He also didn't know what happened to Brown.

A short time later, the defendant appeared walking on Rochester Road in back of the same apartment building. He was carrying a red, plastic 5-gallon gas can.

Police said an officer patted down Brown “for the safety of everyone on scene,” documents said.

During the search, the officer found a snub-nose .32-caliber revolver in his right jacket pocket. He claimed it belonged to his sister.

Both men were taken to the police station. A check of the National Crime Information Center database showed the revolver had been reported stolen out of Mahoning Township in Lawrence County.

Police also discovered that Brown's criminal record included a felony conviction.