Man sentenced in courthouse disturbance
A Lyndora man was sentenced to probation in Butler County Court on Thursday after being charged with causing a disturbance at the Butler County Courthouse in May.
Thomas A. Purcell, 25, was sentenced to 12 months county probation and ordered to pay a $100 fine by Judge William Shaffer, after previously pleading guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct on Sept. 11.
He also was ordered to pay court costs and a $100 fine.
He also was initially charged with summary public drunkenness in an incident May 2.
The Butler County Sheriff's Office filed the charges after Purcell, who was suspected of being under the influence while in the building when court staff recommended he undergo a drug-screen evaluation, began yelling profanities before he left the courtroom and headed to the elevator.
He was eventually arrested and handcuffed. Still, documents said, he struggled, kicked at deputies and continued yelling profanities.
Purcell remains in Butler County Prison on $10,000 bail on an unrelated theft charge in an incident at a home on Summit Street Dec. 2.
He was charged with misdemeanor receiving stolen property by the Butler City police after a burglary investigation.
Police earlier arrested David W. Eberhardt Jr., 26, who has no known address, on charges he burglarized the house Dec. 2. He also is accused of two other recent home break-ins on North Chestnut and Federal streets.
During that arrest, Eberhardt was found with a stolen Samsung cell phone which contained incriminating information.
Police said Eberhardt later admitted that he and Purcell had broken into the Summit Street house and taken the phone and a .40-caliber pistol.
The gun was later traded for $70 worth of crack cocaine. Police on Dec. 4 recovered the stolen pistol from a house on South Street.
Police said Purcell is a suspect in the same three burglaries for which Eberhardt is charged, but, to date, has only been charged with having the stolen cell phone.
Purcell awaits further court proceedings on that matter, according to online court records.
