Delco man admits to burglary at King of Prussia Mall shop
A Delaware County man’s break-in at an eatery in the King of Prussia Mall food court ended with a trip to prison.
Stanley Bernard Williams, 35, of the 400 block of Spruce Street, Darby, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 2-to-5-years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of burglary in connection with the April 27, 2019, break-in at Nicoletta Pizzeria at the mall in Upper Merion.
Judge William R. Carpenter, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, also ordered Williams to pay
$2,251 in restitution to the restaurant, money, which according to police, was stolen from a safe.
Williams, who also listed an address along Girard Avenue in Philadelphia, was ordered by the judge to stay away from the King of Prussia Mall as a condition of the sentence.
An investigation began on April
28 when the manager of the pizzeria reported to police that sometime overnight an unknown subject entered a locked area of the restaurant, entered two locked safes and stole $2,251 in cash, according to the criminal complaint filed by Upper Merion Police Officer Michael Davis.
Employees reported they closed and locked the restaurant about 9:40 p.m. April 27. The safes were locked, the door was locked and the roll down gate was closed and locked at that time, the manager told police, according to court documents.
When the manager arrived for work on April 28 at 8:45 a.m. he noticed the roll down gate was closed but the padlock was not secured, according to the criminal complaint. The manager then found an open safe and cash missing, according to the arrest affidavit.
Mall security officials reviewed video surveillance with police and ultimately linked Williams to the break-in, according to the criminal complaint.
When police confronted Williams he admitted he was the subject depicted in the mall video surveillance and admitted to entering the restaurant at about 10:27 p.m. April 27 without management’s knowledge or permission and admitted to removing money from a safe, according to the arrest affidavit.
Authorities also reviewed video surveillance from inside the pizzeria to link Williams to the theft, according to court documents.
Other charges of criminal trespass, theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property were dismissed against Williams as part of the plea agreement.