Pair charged with stealing $100,000 worth of equipment in Peters Township
Two men charged with taking equipment, appliances and other items from residential construction sites in Peters, South Fayette and Cecil townships are in the Washington County Jail, each on $100,000 cash bond.
Richard Berry Neill, 29, of 179 Linden Road, North Strabane Township, and John I. Ivashchenko, 21, of 391 Bower Hill Road, Peters Township, were arrested earlier this month by Peters police after they were caught taking a piece of construction equipment from Ironwood Estates in Venetia, police said.
The men were not able to provide police with a legitimate reason for why they were in a new construction neighborhood when it was past midnight, according to police.
Both were arraigned Sept. 2 and released on $10,000 bond from the Washington County Jail. Additional information on the thefts was discovered however, and both were arraigned again Tuesday before District Judge James Ellis, who set bond for each man at $100,000.
Each is charged with criminal trespass, theft, receiving stolen property, criminal conspiracy, criminal trespass and criminal mischief. Neill also is charged with driving with a suspended or revoked license.
The men will have a preliminary hearing Sept. 27 before Ellis.
According to a new criminal complaint filed Tuesday, the men allegedly broke into homes under construction and stole building equipment, appliances and other items totaling more than $100,000 from April to September. The majority of the stolen items were taken to Neill’s Linden Road residence, the complaint states, and a search of the residence turned up numerous stolen items, along with a construction trailer taken from Villa Drive.
Peters police arrested the pair after they were spotted hauling a trailer with a Bobcat skid loader on it on Lelak Lane at 12:45 a.m. Sept. 2, according to the complaint. At the time of the arrest, a large, silver toolbox that had been reported stolen was in the bed of Ivashchenko’s pickup truck, police said.
Ivashchenko admitted to taking power tools and equipment from the Anthony Farms site, as well as sites in Cecil and South Fayette, according to court records.