Feb 25, 2013 2 min read

An Allegheny County man was arrested Monday on charges that he and another suspect tried to steal appliances from a South Strabane Township home under construction last month.

Jason Walter Moore, 34, of Braddock, was arraigned before District Judge Valarie Costanzo on charges of burglary, criminal trespass, conspiracy, loitering and prowling at night and possessing instruments of a crime.

Township police were called just before midnight Jan. 21 to the 1500 block of Lombard Circle for a report of suspicious activity. A witness told police he saw a pickup truck parked in a driveway at 1530 Lombard with the lights turned off. The caller told police he saw men using flashlights to circle the residence and also saw them enter the garage. The lights then went on in the house just before police arrived.

Moore and another man were found inside the truck. They told police they had been to The Meadows Racetrack & Casino and were on their way to Krispy Kreme when the lights quit working on their truck. The two men said they didn’t want to alarm neighbors, so they picked a house under construction as a place to work on the truck.

Police could see a dolly in the bed of the truck and flashlights. Officer Carmine Molinaro went in the house and found three new appliances in original packaging on the floor of the garage. No other items appeared to have been disturbed.

Detective Ken Torboli, who filed the charges, said one of the men had worked in the housing plan hanging drywall. Torboli said he would have known appliances were stored in the garage.

An additional arrest is pending.

Moore was placed in the Washington County jail on $20,000 bond. A preliminary hearing is set for March 5 before District Judge Jay Weller.