Couple accused of looting house
FAIRVIEW TWP — State police Tuesday arrested a husband and wife team who they say broke into and looted a fire-damaged home on more than one occasion.
The couple are also accused of bringing two teenage children with them during the alleged crimes.
Matthew E. Maley, 34, and Nicole E. Brown, 33, both of Petrolia face a list of felony and misdemeanor charges. He is being held in the Butler County Prison on $5,000 bail. She is free on similar bail.
Police said that over the weekend they developed information linking Maley to the theft of property from a house on Anderson Road that recently had been unoccupied due to a fire.
Stolen from the two-story log cabin home, according to court documents, were two flat-screen televisions, boots and women's clothing, household items, video games, phones and speakers.
The owner had salvaged the items from the fire in December before they turned up missing, investigators said.
Police subsequently obtained a search warrant for the defendants' home on Forrest Street, according to court documents, where they found all of the missing property except for the phones and one Bluetooth speaker.
Maley during an interview Monday at the barracks “admitted that he made entry multiple times to remove items to include TVs, clothing and sweepers,” a police affidavit said.
He allegedly identified Brown as his accomplice when he broke into the home the second time. He also acknowledged that Brown's children, ages 13 and 14, were with them.Brown is accused of confessing to taking a sweeper from the living room,In all, police believe Maley committed three burglaries and his wife helped in two of them.Maley was arraigned Tuesday on three felony counts each of burglary and trespass and three misdemeanor counts each of theft and receiving stolen property.Brown was arraigned on two felony counts each of burglary and trespass and two misdemeanor counts each of theft and receiving stolen property.Additionally, both defendants are charged with two misdemeanor counts each of child endangerment and corruption of minors.Preliminary hearings for the couple are set for Feb. 6 at the office of District Judge Lewis Stoughton in Chicora.
