Portersville man to be sent to state prison for trespass
A Portersville man will be heading to state prison once sentenced after pleading guilty to two felonies in Butler County Court on Tuesday.
Bruce A. Locke, 46, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of criminal trespass before Judge William Shaffer.
The plea agreement calls for a sentence of one to two years on each charge, for a total of two to four years in a state correctional facility. He is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 8.
He also will be required to pay court costs, restitution and fines.
Locke was initially charged with felony burglary after an incident on Aug. 23 and felony criminal trespass after an incident on Aug. 24. The second criminal trespass charge was later added to the Aug. 23 incident, and the remaining charges will be dismissed.
In the Aug. 23 incident, Butler police filed the charges after they said he broke into the Heim Avenue home of his wife, who has a protection from abuse order that bars her husband from the home, according to court documents.
Theresa Locke told officers that she was sleeping upstairs at about 4 a.m. when she awoke to Bruce Locke standing over her, police said. They went onto the front porch where, documents said, “he kept asking her why she left him and also why she got a PFA.”
She told him to leave several times, but he refused, and when police arrived Locke ran through the backyard.
When Theresa Locke went back into her house, she noticed a window on the side of her house had been forced open, police said.
Bruce Locke was then charged the following day after another trespass incident at the home, when police said he again broke in while Theresa Locke was sleeping on the couch around 6 p.m.
When she awoke, Bruce Locke was in the home, and again ran when officers got there. He was later caught and charged.
Officers inspected the house and found a broken lock on a window and a torn screen, police said.
