Towamencin attempted home invasion suspects head for trial
Two defendants waived their preliminary hearings in district court Tuesday, while a third failed to appear for his hearing
Several charges were withdrawn Tuesday against a man accused in a Towamencin attempted home invasion case that stemmed from a dispute over money, while an arrest warrant was expected to be issued against another defendant who failed to appear for his preliminary hearing in district court.
Troy Dylan Thurston, 20, of the 1400 block of Cherry Road, appeared before Lansdale District Judge Edward Levine and waived his preliminary hearing after prosecutors agreed to withdraw felony counts of attempted burglary, attempted criminal trespassing and fleeing law enforcement, as well as summary counts of criminal mischief and careless driving.
Thurston waived for trial two misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence and one misdemeanor count of loitering and prowling at night.
Thurston had been the primary suspect in the July incident, but further investigation after his arrest — which led to charges filed against three other people — indicated that Thurston had less involvement than originally believed by police, according to law enforcement sources and Thurston’s defense lawyer, Greg Gifford.
The incident occurred on the 1500 block of Sumneytown Pike shortly after 11 p.m. on July 27, when a man called 911 to report that four males had been hitting and trying to force open his front door, and while cops were en route he said that someone had shattered one of his windows, according to court documents.
As officers arrived, they saw a blue sedan and a dark-colored pickup truck speeding away from the scene, police said.
The resident told cops that after he saw the suspects trying to get into his home through the front door, he started locking all of his other doors and windows and, while looking out a window, saw them outside and observed about seven people standing in a nearby parking lot near their vehicles, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
He told police that when he called 911, several of the people started to return to his residence, climbed the back stairs and tried to force open his rear door — someone then shattered the top glass portion of the rear door, reached in and unlocked the deadbolt and began to make entry before fleeing the scene as cops arrived, records indicate.
Investigators saw blood near the rear door, leading them to surmise that whoever had broken the glass and tried to make entry had sustained a laceration, according to the affidavit.
The victim told police that a GMC pickup truck still parked in the nearby lot was involved in the incident; officers determined that the truck belonged to Troy Thurston, and the man “was able to identify one of (the suspects) as Troy,” the affidavit states.
While Towamencin officers were still at the scene of the attempted break-in and conducting their investigation, one of the officers thought he heard a vehicle door close, and after a minute someone inside Troy Thurston’s truck turned on the engine; cops shined their flashlights on the truck and yelled at the driver to stop, but the truck pulled onto Sumneytown Pike and sped off. A patrol officer ran to his vehicle and chased after the truck, which failed to yield but finally stopped near Rittenhouse Road, police said.
The officer called the driver, who was Troy Thurston, police said, and after advising him of his Miranda rights, Thurston agreed to speak with cops.
Thurston claimed he was merely driving back from a friend’s house, but while talking to him officers saw that his right hand was bleeding heavily and that there was blood on his shirt, pants and shoe, according to the affidavit.
When police asked him about the injury, Thurston claimed he was a chef and that he had cut his hand at work, but when cops asked him about his work uniform, he said he wore nonslip boots on the job, “which would not explain the blood on his shoes unless it was a recent injury,” the affidavit stated.
However, Gifford said at court Tuesday that during the investigation he provided police with paperwork showing that Thurston’s injury had, in fact, occurred at work.
Thurston, who insisted he didn’t see cops shining their flashlights at him or hear them yelling at him to stop when he fled earlier in his truck, also smelled of alcohol, had glassy eyes and was swaying slightly, so he was administered a breath test that indicated his blood alcohol concentration was .064 percent, court documents show.
Thurston displayed signs of impairment during field sobriety tests, police said; meanwhile, another officer brought the victim to the location where Thurston had been stopped and he identified Thurston as one of the individuals involved in the incident, according to the affidavit.
Meanwhile, Whitpain police went to Thurston’s residence in Whitpain that night and spotted two vehicles and several people there.
Charles Thurston, 22, and Morgan Marie Botto, 22, of the 1100 block of Fairview Avenue, were among those people, and police seized an aluminum baseball bat Charles Thurston had in his possession that had several fresh scratches on it.
Charles Thurston later provided a statement to police saying that he and others knew about money that been stolen from or owed to Botto, and that they all went to the victim’s residence to “confront him about the theft and possibly scare him into giving (the money) back,” according to court documents. Charles Thurston said he brought the bat to the scene of the incident but denied smashing the glass door, stating that it was Stephen Defrancesco, 27, of the 1700 block of Becker Road, who had done so, documents state.
Investigators later spoke to Defrancesco, who admitted that he “lost his temper” when the victim did not answer the door, and that he grabbed the baseball bat and smashed the glass, according to court documents.
During questioning by police, Botto said that she had been banging on the victim’s door and yelling at him to open it, but that she fled the area after the glass was smashed, court documents indicate.
Defrancesco, who was charged with third-degree misdemeanor loitering and prowling at night, as well as summary conspiracy to commit criminal mischief, failed to appear in court Tuesday for his hearing. Both charges were held for trial and a warrant for Defrancesco’s arrest was to be issued imminently, court personnel said.
Botto also appeared at court Tuesday without a lawyer and waived her preliminary hearing. She’s facing one count of third-degree misdemeanor loitering and prowling at night.
Charles Thurston previously had one count of third-degree misdemeanor loitering and prowling at night and one count of summary conspiracy to commit criminal mischief held for trial at a preliminary hearing, and is scheduled to be formally arraigned in county court on Oct. 12.
He’s behind bars at Montgomery County Correctional Facility in lieu of 10 percent of $1,000 bail, as well as multiple probation violation detainers currently blocking his release.
Troy Thurston and Botto are both free on their own recognizance while awaiting their November formal arraignments in Montgomery County court.
The incident occurred on the 1500 block of Sumneytown Pike shortly after 11 p.m. on July 27, when a man called 911 to report that four males had been hitting and trying to force open his front door, and while cops were en route he said that someone had shattered one of his windows, according to court documents.