Tire slasher found
The man suspected of slashing the tires on more than a dozen vehicles in one night, including four police cruisers, was arrested Thursday.
Oscar Cosme Jr., 34, of Butler was arraigned on felony and misdemeanor charges of criminal mischief and placed in Butler County Prison on $5,000 bail.
Cosme is charged with slashing the tires of 12 vehicles belonging to city residents on the night of Nov. 17, according to the criminal complaint filed against him.
Butler police also found the tires slashed on four of its vehicles behind the police station that night.
A total of 21 tires were slashed, totaling more than $2,800 in damages.
Police were able to identify Cosme with the help of an anonymous caller on Nov. 20.
Court records say the caller identified Cosme from a surveillance video taken inside the A-Plus gas station on West Jefferson Street the night of the slashings.
The city police department posted a photograph of a suspect from that video on its Facebook page, believing the man was connected to the slashings because his body frame and clothing matched a surveillance video at the police station showing an individual slashing the tires of police cars.
The caller believed the man in that photograph was walking along West Cunningham Street, according to the complaint. When police responded to talk with Cosme, he claimed he saw a photograph of himself on the department's Facebook page and was on his way to speak with police.
Cosme told police he was at a bar that night and stopped by A Plus for food before walking to his 120 N. Sixth Ave. home.
A police officer was in the gas station at the time the video was recorded, according to the criminal complaint. The officer said he received “an angry look” after he told a visibly intoxicated Cosme to go home after he attempted to buy food but had no money.
The locations of the tire slashing, other than the four at the police station, followed the route that Cosme told police he walked home that night.
The timing of Cosme's walk home from the gas station also put him in the area when the tires were damaged.
A preliminary hearing in front of Judge Peter Shaffer has set for 1 p.m. Monday.
