Man accused of stealing gas from vehicles
Central Berks Regional police have charged a Reading man with draining the fuel tanks of commercial vehicles — among them a school van and a Berks County adult probation vehicle — during a four-municipality, twomonth crime spree.
Jeremy R. Griffith-Cardinal, 30, faces numerous counts of thefts and criminal mischief for incidents reported in Lower Alsace and Oley townships, and Mount Penn and St. Lawrence between Aug. 16 and Oct. 14.
Griffith-Cardinal of the1500 block of Hill Road was free on a total of $15,000 bail to await a hearing after arraignment Saturday night before District Judge Tonya A. Butler in Reading Central Court.
Central Berks police arrested Griffith-Cardinal about 5 a.m. Friday on a property in the 500 block of Bertolet Mill Road in Oley Township.
An officer saw a small SUV pulled onto the grass in front of a barn on the property before the vehicle’s lights were turned off.
Police had received a report that copper coils were stolen from the same property, which is used by a heating, ventilation and air condition contractor, earlier in the week. The owner reported that someone operating a light-colored crossover SUV or hatchback committed the thefts on two occasions.
An officer pulled onto the property and saw an unoccupied white KIa Sorento with the motor running.
He walked between the barn and another building and encountered a man wearing a black sweatshirt, jeans and a black hat. The man was later identified as Griffith-Cardinal.
Asked why he was on the property, Griffith-Cardinal said the vehicle had overheated and he was looking for water for the cooling system.
The owner of the property arrived and pointed out to police that eight coils of copper were leaning against a trailer and were not in that position the previous night. He said they were kept on pallets.
Griffith-Cardinal was taken into custody and found in possession of three oxycodone pills that were not prescribed to him.
He was charged with attempted theft, criminal trespassing and possessing a controlled substance.
Later Friday morning, Central Berks police received reports of other overnight thefts at businesses.
According to Detective Sgt. Deron Manndel, who took over the investigations:
JB Plumbing & HVAC, 1201 Roosevelt Ave., Lower Alsace, reported that someone stole $20 worth of scrap copper from behind a building. Security camera footage showed a Kia Sorento being driven down a stone driveway on the property at 4:43 a.m. Wednesday. A white male with facial hair is seen rummaging the dumpster.
Manndel was aware that Griffith-Cardinal was arrested earlier in the day at another HVAC business. From the footage, he identified the suspect in the JB Plumbing theft as GriffithCardinal.
Manndel noted in the affidavit that Central Berks police had received reports of recent thefts in Oley Township in which fuel was stolen. The thief drilled a hole in the gas tank of the vehicles.
He noted that during Friday morning’s arrest, officers noticed a very large gasoline container in the rear of Griffith-Cardinal’s vehicle.
Following the arrest, investigators identified Griffith-Cardinal from security camera footage of one of the gas thefts.
On Sept. 19, police were called to Clear Flow Water Solutions, 1064 Memorial Highway. An employee was getting ready to go to a job and noticed the fuel gauge was showing the tank was empty. He started to fill the tank but stopped when he noticed fuel leaking.
Manndel also charged Griffith-Cardinal with these other thefts:
• About 15 gallons of gasoline siphoned from a private vehicle in the 2500 block of Jacksonwald Avenue in St. Lawrence on Aug. 16.
• A 20-gallon container full of gas from an unlocked shed in the first block of Carriage Circle in Oley on Sept. 6
• About 100 gallons of diesel from the fuel tank of a tractor on Mine Lane in Oley Township on Sept. 7
• 17.5 gallons of gasoline from a county probation vehicle parked at Aulenbach’s Cemetery on Howard Boulevard in Mount Penn on Sept. 8
• About 20 gallons of gasoline from the tank of an Exeter School District van parked at 200 Elm St. in St. Lawrence on Sept. 12.