Trio charged in safe theft
SUMMIT TWP — A township man is accused of soliciting a Butler couple — both living on disability insurance — to break into a shed belonging to his niece and steal a safe containing tens of thousands of dollars.
The loot, pilfered in July, was used for gambling, and purchasing motorcycles and heroin, state police said.
When troopers Monday arrested Carl E. Collins, 52, and his wife, Kathy D. Collins, 42, they found him carrying about $7,000 and she had nearly $15,000 in her purse.
Husband and wife are in the Butler County Prison on $100,000 bail each. Their alleged accomplice, Charles E. Feitl, 52, is still being sought on an arrest warrant.
Police began investigating the case July 29, when Desiree Feitl reported a burglary at the home on Freeport Road in Summit Township.
She does not live there, investigators said, but she owns a plastic shed on the property, where Charles Feitl had been living with his mother.
It appeared a cutting instrument had been used to break into the rear of the shed, and a safe and a lock box were stolen. Police believe the safe contained about $30,000 as well as jewelry worth another $5,000.
Desiree told investigators she believed the burglary and theft happened between July 25 and 29. She also believed she knew who committed the crime — the three defendants.
Police on Aug. 1 picked up Carl Collins on an arrest warrant out of Florida. Kathy Collins agreed to talk with investigators about the crime.Carl Collins was driving a 2007 Harley-Davidson Ultra. He also had with him $7,016 in currency, a marijuana cigarette and several payout forms from the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh.Kathy had $14,900 stashed in a purple Crown Royal bag that was in her purse. The currency was all $100 bills separated in two bundles held together with rubber bands.Police said Kathy told them she and Carl had recently won between $30,000 and $40,000 at the casino. She said Carl had used a portion of the winnings to buy his Harley Ultra. He paid $11,000, in cash, for the bike. She also claimed they bought their son his own Harley.The couple, Kathy said, “live off of (Carl's) $700 per month disability check,” according to a police affidavit, “and they either play bingo with that money or gamble at the Rivers Casino.”Police also spoke to Carl, who offered up a similar explanation for all his money: good fortune and luck at the casino.But when Trooper Christopher Balcik checked transaction records at Rivers Casino, he found that since the time of the burglary, Carl had lost a total of $3,132. Kathy had won $539.25.During Carl's interview, police said, he admitted that Charles Feitl had previously approach him about breaking into his niece's shed. Feitl, according to Carl's account, claimed there was $50,000 in the safe.But both Carl and Kathy denied any and all involvement in the break-in and theft.Feitl, however, during a Sept. 15 interview with police, implicated Carl and Kathy in the crime.He recounted that Carl admitted to the burglary. Carl also purportedly claimed there was “a few thousand dollars and some jewelry” inside the safe.
The safe and lock box were taken and later tossed into an unknown waterway, documents said. Feitl said Carl told him the jewelry that was in the safe was later buried.Feitl said “by telling Carl about the safe he was supposed to give him half of the safe's contents,” the police affidavit said.Just days after the burglary, Feitl told police, he and Carl used heroin and received 50 stamp bags of heroin “as his part of the proceeds from the burglary.”Police on Sept. 16 spoke to Carl and Kathy's son, who recalled that in late July his parents paid him to buy two motorcycles in his name, documents.They told him, the son said, that they had gotten the money for the bikes from winnings at the casino.Carl Collins is charged with burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, theft and criminal mischief.Kathy Collins is charged with conspiracy to commit both burglary and theft, and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities.Feitl is charged with soliciting the crimes of burglary and theft.
