Handprint leads to arrest
A handprint left on a window inside a Mt. Pleasant Township home when a man fled from a residence after a break-in in December 2013 led to Tuesday’s arrest of the suspect on a warrant issued almost a year ago.
Jeremy M. Fullum, 31, was arraigned Tuesday before District Judge Traci McDonald Kemp on charges of burglary, criminal trespass, theft and criminal mischief.
The resident of the home on Chapman Road called state police after discovering the burglary on Dec. 21, 2013. She told police she was awakened that morning by her dog barking. Thinking it wanted to go outside, she walked through the living room of her home to let the dog out and noticed a backpack in the room. The woman told police she thought it belonged to her granddaughter.
After bringing the dog back inside after about 10 or 15 minutes, she walked back through the living room and noticed the backpack was gone. She then felt a draft and discovered a window open. She discovered her purse, containing identification and bank cards, had been stolen.
State police arrived and determined a burglar broke in through a basement window. A trooper in the state police forensics services unit was able to lift prints from inside the window the burglar used to make his escape.
Three of the four prints came back to Fullum and charges were filed against him last February.
Fullum had been in the State Correctional Institution-Pittsburgh after pleading guilty in Washington County Court on charges of burglary and theft stemming from an April 15, 2015, burglary in Mt. Pleasant.
McDonald Kemp set a $50,000 percentage bond and Fullum was placed in Washington County jail. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing before McDonald Kemp on Feb. 4.