Arrest warrant issued after man fails to show
After several weeks of evading authorities, a Parker Township man is once again wanted after failing to appear at his preliminary hearing Tuesday related to a house break-in.
Raymond N. Wyant Jr., 51, was arrested July 1 after police said they got a call around 11:25 p.m. for a man trying to enter a home on the 200 block of School Street in Bruin. Troopers arrived and found the homeowners and the defendant. They suspected Wyant was intoxicated. They also discovered that Wyant was wanted on a May 22 warrant for charges stemming from the fatal overdose death of an Armstrong County man in 2017. Wyant was charged with felony burglary, among other charges, and placed in Butler County Prison on a $50,000 case bond, which he posted Tuesday. The same day, he was expected to appear before District Judge Lewis Stoughton for a preliminary hearing, but never appeared. Stoughton held the charges over for the common pleas level. He also revoked Wyant's bond and an arrest warrant has been issued.
“I think Wyant has been dodging state police for long enough. We finally caught him and now he's running away again,” Trooper Matthew Lesnett, the arresting officer in the burglary case, said to Stoughton Tuesday.
At the time of Wyant's arrest July 1, the homeowners, a couple, told police they didn't know the defendant. They told police he ripped off the shutters and siding of their home while trying to get inside the house, according to charging documents. Lesnett recalled Tuesday that Wyant had gotten into the house through the basement door. There, they found plumbing pipes broken and water leaking in the basement, Lesnett said.
Wyant “admitted to drinking earlier that evening,” according to arrest documents, “and related that he knew that he had been in another person's house.”
He was arraigned on felony charges of burglary and trespass, misdemeanor charges of criminal mischief and disorderly conduct and a summary charge of public drunkenness. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
At the scene of the alleged crime, when troopers ran his personal information, they found Wyant already was wanted on an arrest warrant in Armstrong County.
That warrant was issued to state police May 22 in connection with the overdose death of Joseph L. Evankovich, 54, a Butler native who was found dead Nov. 6, 2017, at his home in Perry Township.
Wyant is charged with drug delivery resulting in death — the equivalent of third-degree murder under state law.
He also is charged with delivery of a controlled substance and aggravated assault, both felonies. His preliminary hearing on those charges is scheduled for July 15.
