Man gets jail for stealing packages

NORRISTOWN — A man accused of stealing packages from the outside of residences in Upper Gwynedd Township in December was sentenced to two years of probation and 24 hours of community service after pleading guilty to a second-degree misdemeanor theft charge in county court, records show.

Patrick Ryan Gragg, 21, of the 2200 block of Warner Road in Worcester Township, was apprehended by Upper Gwynedd police on Dec. 18 after offificers responded to the 200 block of Bradford Lane around 3: 40 p.m. for a report of a man taking packages from houses.

Offificers spotted the suspect, whom they later identifified as Gragg, and watched him as he walked up to the front doors of several houses; other witnesses claimed they saw him approaching houses and, in one instance, leaving with a package, police said.

Upper Gwynedd offificers attempted to stop Gragg after he allegedly got into a verbal spat with a witness who was reporting Gragg’s location to a 911 dispatcher, police said, but Gragg flfled on foot, only to be taken into custody a short time later after a Montgomery Township police K-9 unit and Lansdale police joined the chase.

Gragg failed to appear at District Judge Robert Sobeck’s Whitpain courtroom on March 18 for a preliminary hearing in the matter, prompting the judge to hold charges for trial. A bench warrant for Gragg’s arrest was issued on March 25, and he was soon taken into custody by authorities.

Gragg remains incarcerated at Montgomery County Correctional Facility after also pleading guilty earlier this year to a felony burglary charge in connection with his 2013 arrest by Franconia police — he was sentenced on April 10 to six to 23 months behind bars and fifive years of probation following his release, records indicate.

However, court records show that on June 12, a motion for parole was granted, and Gragg is expected to be released from jail on June 19.