Alleged thief lands in jail
Someone out walking around at 3 o'clock in the morning toting a 48-inch flat-screen television is something you don't see every day.
Butler police Sgt. Dave Villotti saw it Wednesday while on the job on the 200 block of West Brady Street. He decided to check it out.
His suspicion proved on the mark. The TV-toter was later arrested on charges he stole the television as well as a video game console after breaking into a city apartment.
District Judge Sue Haggerty arraigned Jordan G. Evans Sr., 26, of Butler on charges of burglary and theft. He was placed in the Butler County Prison on $10,000 bail following arraignment.
Villotti said that when he confronted Evans, he asked what the defendant was doing with the TV at that time of night.
Evans claimed he had “just gotten kicked out of the place he was staying at,” according to court documents, “and (was) taking it to the new place he was going to be.”
The officer let him go. But a half-hour later, police were called to a home on the 300 block of West New Castle Street for a reported burglary.
Micah Christie told police that he had awakened to find his TV and PlayStation 4 video game console gone. He also noticed that the door to his apartment had been forced open.
Police said he showed officers text messages from a man he knew only as Jordan.
The text sender “admitted to being inside the apartment while Christie was sleeping and also admitted to possessing his items,” according to a police affidavit.
Villotti went to Evans' apartment on the 300 block of North Washington Street, police said, where he spotted the victim's television and video game console — worth a combined $748 — on a stand inside the door.
