Pennsburg man draws probation for stealing American flag

NORRISTOWN — A Pennsburg man’s theft of the Stars and Stripes has ended with his freedom being monitored by court officials.

Derrick Nicholas Knepp, 23, of the 900 block of Main Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to one year of probation after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of theft by unlawful taking in connection with the theft of an American flag from a borough home in November 2012. Judge William R. Carpenter, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, also ordered Knepp to complete 24 hours of community service.

An investigation of Knepp began about 2 a.m. Nov. 8, 2012, when Upper Perkiomen police were dispatched to the 500 block of Main Street after a resident there reported that intoxicated men stole a flag and its pole from a porch pillar of his home, according to the arrest affidavit.

As police arrived in the area they encountered Knepp and another unidentified man walking on Main Street about two blocks from the victim’s home. At that time, authorities observed Knepp waving an American flag over his head and later striking a street sign with the flag, accord- ing to the arrest affidavit.

“I approached Knepp and took custody of the American flag and its pole. While speaking with Knepp I could smell an odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath,” Upper Perkiomen Police Officer Joseph L. Adam wrote in the criminal complaint.

The victim of the theft subsequently identified the flag as the one that was stolen from his residence. The flag and its pole were valued at $75, court papers indicate.

Other charges of public mutilation of a flag, maliciously taking down a flag, criminal trespass, loitering and prowling at night, receiving stolen property and public drunkenness were dismissed against Knepp as part of the plea agreement.