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Alleged victims among charged

Police find nearly $68K, drugs inside home

FAIRVIEW TWP — An alleged home invasion last week has landed four defendants in the Butler County Prison — each on six-figure bail.

State police have an arrest warrant for a fifth defendant.

Two of those jailed have been identified as the victims in the armed break-in at the home on the 300 block of Petrolia Road.

Troopers called to the house to investigate that crime Thursday stumbled upon another one, authorities said.

Investigators believe the occupants — Savannah M. Blust, 24, and her boyfriend, Macklin C. Haye, 24 — were selling marijuana and THC wax, which they were making in the house.

Troopers seized about two pounds of processed marijuana as well as psychedelic mushroom and an assortment of drug contraband.

But that's not all. Hardly.

Officers confiscated $67,928 in currency — the suspected proceeds in their alleged drug enterprise.

Police on Friday arrested the couple, who District Judge Wayne Seibel later arraigned on felony charges of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, conspiracy and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities.

They also are charged with misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia.

Haye and Blust are in the county prison on $100,000 bail each.

Behind bars with them, also on $100,000 bail each, are Patrick C. Bookwalter, 35, of Brady Township, Clarion County; and Joseph R. Painter, 34, of Kittanning.

Police suspect Bookwalter and Painter along with Michael Lee Bure, 36, of Kittanning targeted the couple for the money.

Seibel on Friday and Sunday also arraigned Painter and Bookwalter, respectively, on a list of charges in the incident that left Bookwalter briefly hospitalized with injuries.

Police are still looking for Bure, who is facing similar charges as his co-defendants.

Despite Bookwalter allegedly being armed with pepper spray and a handgun, investigators said, Blust turned the tables on Bookwalter when she repeatedly stabbed him with a butcher knife while defending her boyfriend.

Bookwalter was the first person charged in the incident. From his hospital room at UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh, court documents said, he gave investigators a detailed confession while implicating his alleged accomplices.

Bookwalter claimed Painter was “responsible for planning and recruiting him for the robbery,” according to a police affidavit. He didn't know the name of the other accomplice, later identified as Bure.

The trio allegedly forced in a basement door to get into the home, police said. They believed some of the money was in a vehicle in the garage and some was in the kitchen.

Bookwalter admitted he went upstairs to the first floor, assuming there would be no one there.

While he went into the house, Painter and Bure allegedly searched the garage for the keys to the car.

Once in the home, Bookwalter was surprised to find Haye sleeping on a couch in the living room. He is accused of shooting Haye with pepper spray as the two men tussled.

Blust, who was sleeping on the second floor, heard the fighting and came downstairs. She got a butcher knife in the kitchen and stabbed Bookwalter, who was wearing a mask.

He allegedly assaulted Blust, grabbing and dragging her by the hair. She got away but moments later Bookwalter had a gun pointed at both occupants.

He and his accomplices fled the house empty-handed, and eventually made their getaway in Bookwalter's car.

The home's occupants called 911 to report what happened.

Within 10 minutes, Bookwalter also called 911, claiming he had been stabbed near the All Star Bar in East Brady. Police called that report a lie.

Emergency crews found him in an alley near the bar. He had four stab wounds to his back, documents said, with the largest being about two inches in width.

A medical helicopter flew him to the Pittsburgh hospital. He recovered enough to be released Sunday

He is charged with robbery, burglary, felons not to possess firearms, aggravated assault, attempted theft and trespass, all felonies.

He also faces misdemeanor charges of simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, loitering and prowling at nighttime and summary harassment.

Painter and Bure are charged with robbery, burglary, conspiracy, attempted burglary trespass, simple assault, reckless endangerment and loitering and prowling at nighttime.

While in the house as part of their initial investigation, police said, troopers noticed suspected marijuana, contraband and suspicious equipment.

Police later got a search warrant, which led to the confiscation of numerous items, including processed marijuana in Mason jars, a bucket, metal pot and an open vacuum-sealed bag, documents said.

Marijuana wax — a concentrated form of a THC — was also seized. Police suspect the couple was producing the wax, which is made by extracting THC, the primary ingredient in marijuana, using a solvent like butane or carbon dioxide.

Drug-smoking pipes, bongs, packaging materials and the bulk currency was collected, too.

Bookwalter, meanwhile, is facing additional pending charges stemming from a warrant search of his home Thursday following the alleged home invasion.

The search, police said, turned up drugs, contraband and firearms as well as evidence related to the break-in and robbery.

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