Police Blotter

Limerick

The Limerick Township Police Department logged 172 incidents between Feb. 20 and 26. Of them 13 were deemed false alarms. Here are some reports of note:

Solstice Thief Gets Away

On Feb. 20 at 2:25 p.m., Sergeant Ed Ciaciak was dispatched to at the Philadelphia Premium Outlets for a retail theft. Upon arrival, he was shown surveillance of a black male wearing a gray shirt, black leather jacket, dark blue jeans, tan Timberland boots and carrying a Macy's bag browsing the store. He was with two other males.

Camera footage showed the man taking a $265 pair of Gucci sunglasses and place them in his bag. He and his cohorts left within two minutes.

Mall security reported seeing the men exit to the parking lot and drive away, but couldn't retrieve their registration number.

Cell Phone Stolen at Outlets

On Feb. 24 at 7:11 p.m., Officer John Cassel Jr. was dispatched to at the Philadelphia Premium Outlets for a stolen property report. Upon arrival, he met with a 19-year-old male of Southampton who claimed someone stole his black Samsung Galaxy S-2 cell phone, worth $650.

The man reported he was in the shoe department and placed his phone down on the bench. Security footage showed a black male, mid-30s, about 5-foot-8 with a black knit hat, black coat, white undershirt, tan khakis and dark sneakers with white laces stealing the cell phone. He was with two black males and two black females at the time and exited the store soon after.

Man Puts Old Shoes in the Box at Kohl's

On Feb. 21 at 7:46 p.m., Officer John Cassel Jr. was dispatched to in Royersford for a retail theft. Upon arrival, 19-year-old Adriel Jose Dominguez, of Phoenixville, was in custody of Loss Prevention and cooperating.

Loss prevention reported Dominguez selected a pair of Nike Reax Run 6 men's athletic shoes from the shelf and took them to the dressing room. Security footage showed him exit the dressing room with the shoes on and his "old, beat up, brown shoes" nowhere to be seen. Dominguez paid for a watch that he had selected and left the store.

Employees found his old shoes in the box in the dressing room. The Nike shoes were worth $74. Dominguez was issued a non-traffic citation for retail theft.

Another Shoe Thief at Kohl's

On Feb. 23 at 4:38 p.m., Officers John Henry was dispatched to Kohl's Department Store in Royersford for a retail theft in progress. Police and loss prevention caught up to a female who was running from the store. She was found to have not stolen anything, but was with 28-year-old Justin B. Rusk of Spring City at the time he stole a pair of $49.99 Fila shoes.

It was reported that Rusk took the Fila shoes to the dressing room and put them on, placing his old shoes in the box and returning the box to the shelf. He exited the store without paying for the shoes and when approached by loss prevention, began to run.

He was later apprehended by several officers, including Timothy DiGregorio, who recovered Rusk's wallet and found a syringe in it. Rusk was housed at Montgomery County Correctional Facility after video arraignment and was placed on $2,500 bail.

Man Tries to Lie to Police in DUI Crash

On Feb. 24 at 9:21 p.m., Officer John Cassel Jr. was dispatched to N. Lewis Road near , where a vehicle accident was reported. He arrived on scene and observed a Ford F150 on the side of the road with no lights on and no occupant. The vehicle was reported to have front-end damage.

A witness who lives across the street came over when police arrived and told them he heard the crash 15 minutes earlier. The witness said the driver tried to leave the scene but was unable to because of a broken front axel. He approached the driver and asked if he needed help. The driver refused and called someone to pick him up.

Officer Pat Roche found the driver, identified as Steven Patrick Horne, 47 of Schwenksville, on S. Limerick Road traveling north on foot about a half mile away. Roche reported signs of an unsteady gait, bloodshot eyes and an odor of alcohol on his person.

Horne told officers he was at and consumed three beers and two shots earlier in the night. He also claimed that someone was driving him home. However, on pat-down, officers retrieved Horne's car keys and advised him of the penalties for lying to the police.

"OK, I lied," said Horne. "I had a DUI 11 years ago and didn't need another one."

He further explained that as he was driving home, he saw a missed call on his cell phone and took his eyes off the road. He then veered across the road and hit the bridge. He was not wearing his seat belt at the time.

The witness positively identified Horne as the driver and Horne was given a breath test, blowing a .171 BAC. He was released to a friend after being processed at Pottstown Police Department. His car was removed by and he was issued a DUI.

Mischief Occurs Throughout Town

The following incidents were reported by residents/business owners in the area:

• Feb. 20, 8:35 a.m. - Azalea Circle: 73-year-old male victim said an unknown actor damaged his garage door over night. Officer David Bartok saw dents in the garage door and found two "decorative-colored" rocks nearby.
• Feb. 21, 8:15 p.m. - Near in Limerick - 48-year-old female victim of Limerick said she was driving home on Linfield Road and her windshield was cracked by an unknown object. The windshield smelled sweet as if a bottle of juice hit it, but no object was found.
• Feb. 21, 11:34 a.m. - Limerick Auto Tags ownership reported an unknown actor hitting the front of the business's door with a yellow paintball over night. There was no real damage done.

issued the following releases of note:

Royersford Woman Receives DUI

On Feb. 26, Officer Tom Godin was on duty working a patrol assignment for the Royersford Police Department. He was on routine patrol when he observed a vehicle traveling southbound on Lewis Road and turn westbound on Main Street.

"The vehicle traveled into the oncoming lane of traffic while making the turn and continued to travel westbound on Main Street toward Spring City," Godin said. "While on Main Street, I observed the vehicle cross the double yellow line into the eastbound lanes on two occasions. I stopped the vehicle on First Avenue at Clover Place."

The vehicle was a gray convertible Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder Edition. Godin approached the driver, sole occupant and requested drivers license information. The driver was identified Elizabeth Ronca of Royersford. While she spoke, Godin identified an odor of alcoholic beverage emanating from her person.

"I asked her if she had anything to drink this evening," he said. "Ronca stated 'three beers at the .' The Railroad being a local bar and tavern in Linfield. I asked Ronca to exit the vehicle and perform some field sobriety tests and she complied."

Prior to administering the tests, Godin explained all three tests to her. He asked her if she had any questions to ask and that he would demonstrate the tests prior to administering them.

The first test was the one leg stand test. Ronca reportedly used her arms to balance and was advised to keep them at her side. Once she put her arms down at 14 one-thousand she touched her foot on the ground at 16 one-thousand and began to use her arms to balance again, the test was discontinued at twenty-one thousand.

The second test was the nine step walk and turn test. Ronca failed to walk heal to toe on the nine returning steps, according to Godin. Ronca walked in a straight line with her feet approximately three inches apart from each other.

The final test was an eye test. Godin then administered a preliminary breath test which showed a positive reading for alcohol. At 11:22 p.m., Ronca was taken into custody and transported to Pottstown Police Department for a certified breath test. Ronca was read her VC1547 Chemical Refusal Form and agreed to submit to a breath test. Officer Weber of the Pottstown Police Department used the BAC Datamaster breath testing device. Ronca provided two samples a .126% and .129% BAC respectively.

Spring City Man Found with Marijuana

On Feb. 27 at 11:04 p.m., Officer Tom Godin administered a traffic stop on a maroon 2001 Hyundai. The driver, Stephen Trabosh, 25 of Spring City was found in possession of a small amount of marijuana and a marijuana smoking pipe which he admitted during the stop. Trabosh was cited with Disorderly Conduct for those offenses.

did not submit reports this week.