Second arrest in home invasion
Jeffrey Sutch, 35, facing several criminal counts along with his brother, George Lau Bottum-Sutch, 27, for alleged incident
The second of two brothers accused in an alleged Towamencin home invasion last month in which the siblings assaulted and terrorized a man while mistakenly believing their girlfriends were inside the residence, according to police, has been taken into custody.
Jeffrey Sutch, 35, of Whitpain, was arraigned in district court on felony counts of burglary, criminal trespassing and conspiracy, misdemeanor counts of simple assault, terroristic threats and criminal mischief, and related summary offenses, then committed to Montgomery County Correctional Facility in lieu of $99,000 cash bail.
Sutch’s younger brother, 27-year-old George Lau Bottum-Sutch, of the 3100 block of Colony Lane in Plymouth Meeting, turned himself in last month and was arraigned on nine criminal counts — including felony counts of burglary, criminal trespassing and conspiracy, misdemeanor counts of simple assault, terroristic threats and criminal mischief, and related summary offenses — in connection with the alleged February incident. Bottum-Sutch is free after posting $10,000 cash bail, records show.
Towamencin police have said in an affidavit of probable cause that in the early morning hours
of Feb. 18, cops were summoned to a residence on the 800 block of Continental Drive for a reported burglary.
Arriving officers discovered that the front door of the home appeared to have been kicked open, with glass all over the ground.
The resident told police that he had been sleeping when he was awoken by the sounds of people inside his house, according to the affidavit.
When he went to the top of the stairs to investigate, two men — one of whom he recognized as Bottum-Sutch — starting yelling at him as they rushed up the stairs, the affidavit states.
The men pushed the victim back into his room, at which point he shut the door while the two intruders tried to force the door open, according to court documents. The resident said the two men then threatened to shoot him and burn the house down, the affidavit indicates. Concerned for his young son, who was in a nearby bedroom, the victim pushed his way out of the bedroom, knocking Bottum-Sutch and the other man back into the hallway, and the two men retreated down the stairs, swatting framed photos off the walls on their way out of the house.
The victim suffered a cut to his neck and a torn shirt during the assault, and told cops that the man who accompanied Bottum-Sutch may have been his brother, Jeffrey Sutch, according to the affidavit.
Later that morning, police contacted Bottum-Sutch and he voluntarily came to police headquarters.
During questioning, according to court documents, Bottum-Sutch said that the man with him was indeed his brother, and that Jeffrey Sutch believed his girlfriend was inside the victim’s home, and claimed to have seen a Ford Explorer that she was driving near the victim’s residence.
“The two brothers went to the residence to search for their girlfriends (who) they believed were in the company of the victim,” the affidavit states.
Bottum-Sutch said that it was his brother, Jeffrey Sutch, who kicked in the door, tried to force his way into the bedroom, and knocked the photos off the walls. He also admitted that neither of the women they were looking for were inside the home, according to court documents.
Additionally, Bottum-Sutch told police, Jeffrey Sutch called a friend of his to come to the victim’s residence and tow away a Ford Explorer he believed belonged to his girlfriend to Bottum-Sutch’s house, but that when the vehicle arrived at his home a few hours after the incident, he realized the vehicle did not belong to the woman and he instructed his brother and the tow-truck operator to immediately return the Ford to where they found it, according to the affidavit.
Sutch is due in Lansdale district court on March 16 for a preliminary hearing in the case. Bottum-Sutch was originally scheduled to appear for his preliminary hearing on March 3, but the proceedings were continued to March 27.