Barnesville man jailed for burglary
A Barnesville man was arrested on Tuesday and charged with a burglary that occurred in September at a Schuylkill County business.
State police at Frackville said Richard Pizzo, 32, has been charged in connection with a break-in at the Gasway Gas Station, located off Route 61 in New Castle Township, just north of Saint Clair.Troopers said Pizzo is charged with entering the station about 4:10 a.m. Sept. 11. The entire incident was captured on the station security surveillance camera.According to troopers Pizzo used a concrete-filled pipe to smash the glass entry door. He then crawled through the opening created in the smashed glass. The alarm sounded when the glass was broken but Pizzo still entered and collected items from the store including 15 packs of cigarettes and a cellphone. As he was collecting the items, a newspaper delivery van arrived with morning papers. Pizzo attempted to hide from the van operator by opening a door from inside the store that led to a garage portion of the building. After the van left, Pizzo returned to the main store and exited the building through the hole in the glass door. Troopers said as he left the building he dropped two baseball caps he had stolen earlier from the Walmart store in Saint Clair. Troopers said Pizzo also left drops of blood from a cut he received when he broke the glass door. The blood drops were collected for future DNA analysis.After viewing the surveillance videos from Gasway and Walmart, troopers and Saint Clair police determined the same person was involved in both theft incidents.Pizzo was arrested at the office of District Judge David Plachko, of Port Carbon, where he was attending a preliminary hearing on unrelated charges. He was arraigned on the new charges of burglary, retail theft, theft and criminal mischief. He was committed to the county prison in Pottsville after failing to post $50,000 straight cash bail. Troopers said the Gasway store suffered $475.94 in damages, the cell phone was valued at $300, and the total loss of cigarettes was $84.25.Charges concerning the incident at Walmart are pending from Saint Clair police.