Lansdale police seek invasion suspect
LANSDALE — Lansdale police said Monday afternoon that they’ve received new information about a suspect sought for more than a year in connection with two October 2012 armed home invasions in the borough, and investigators are asking for the public’s help in capturing him.
Zakarias An Hailemicael, 23, with a last known address on the 2400 block of Whitpain Hills Drive in Blue Bell, is wanted in connection with home invasions on Oct. 19, 2012 and Oct. 22, 2012.
A warrant for Hailemicael’s arrest was issued in December of 2012, and since then, Lansdale police said, he has been “actively fleeing apprehension.”
Authorities did not disclose
the nature of the new information, but said that anyone who knows Hailemicael’s whereabouts should immediately call the Lansdale Police Department Detective Unit at (215) 368-1801.
Hailemicael, who is described as a black male, 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighing 195 pounds, is considered armed and dangerous, police said.
According to Reporter archives, three men — Hailemicael, Anthony Thompson of Ambler and Salvatore Rocco of Lansdale — conspired to break into a home of a friend known to have “marijuana and cash,” police said.
Both home invasions occurred on the 700 block of Willow Street.
The first took place around 10 a.m. on Oct. 19 when two men — later identified as Thompson and Hailemicael — entered a man’s apartment. With Thompson holding an orange crowbar and Hailemicael pointing a black and silver handgun at the male resident, they asked if he knew the intended victim, according to court papers.
After the intruders determined they had the wrong residence, police said, they told him they were going to “rob you anyway.”
The intruders — who tied up the victim with shoelace — stole a widescreen TV, a game console, two laptops and a cellphone, and before leaving, Hailemicael allegedly pointed a gun at the victim’s head and said things would “end badly” for him if he called police.
Three days later, officers responded to another apartment in the same block for a similar home invasion report, where two males — later identified as Thompson and Hailemicael, according to police — had entered an apartment with a gun and tied up a female.
The victim woke up to discover two men standing over her bed, and one of the men was pointing a black and silver handgun at her head.
Hailemicael allegedly tied her hands and feet together and covered her mouth with green painter’s tape. Though the target was not home, the intrud- ers stole electronics, currency, an iPhone and other items from the apartment.
Both victims gave the same description of the suspects to police, and after the second home invasion the second victim told police someone was using her stolen iPhone, which investigators tracked to the 300 block of Railroad Avenue in the West Ambler section of Whitpain Township.
Thompson was taken into custody on Dec. 1, 2012; Rocco was arrested a few days later, on Dec. 4.
County court records show Thompson, 23, pleaded guilty to felony robbery and conspiracy charges last October and was sentenced to five to 10 years in state prison. Rocco, 24, remains free on his own recognizance while awaiting trial in the case, court records indicate.
Hailemicael is facing 70 felony and misdemeanor criminal counts in connection with the home invasions, including robbery, burglary, theft, aggravated assault, possession of a weapon, conspiracy and terroristic threats.