Woman faces theft, burglary charges
Chartiers Township police obtained an arrest warrant for a Washington woman accused of burglarizing three homes and stealing items, including televisions, from two of the residences.
Police said it is apparently not the first time Casey Dawn Cole, 24, whose last known address was Grove Avenue, Washington, is suspected of breaking into homes and stealing televisions. She is also awaiting trial on three counts each of burglary and theft filed by Washington police for allegedly breaking into homes on Erie Street, Hart Avenue and Linn Avenue in July.
Township police Detective Sgt. Michael Filosi said Chief James Horvath saw she was arrested and noticed the similarity in the crimes. They also checked on her through a joint record management system shared by several police departments in the area.
“We started following her name,” Filosi added. “Her car also matched the description of one seen at the houses.”
Filosi said detectives also talked with her, and she admitted to her involvement in the crimes.
Cole is accused of breaking into homes on Lyons and Ross streets in July and into a third home on McClane Farm Road Aug. 15.
She reportedly entered the house on Lyons Street on July 18 and stole a 42-inch television valued at $3,500.
Two weeks later, she damaged a window screen while trying to enter a home on Ross. The homeowner spotted her standing on his front porch. He asked her if everything was OK, and she said she was looking for another woman. She then left in a sport utility vehicle. The homeowner discovered the screen had been cut. A fingerprint lifted from the window matched Cole’s.
Cole reportedly broke into the house on McClane Farm Aug. 15, by breaking a kitchen window. She reportedly stole a 36-inch television valued at $300, a Samsung tablet valued at $629 and four Visa gift cards valued at $800.
Filosi said Cole would take the stolen items to pawn shops in Washington and sell them. She would use the money to purchase drugs, he added.
Cole will be arraigned on the warrants when she is released from a rehabilitation facility where she is now being treated, Filosi said. She was charged with three counts each of burglary, criminal trespass, two counts of theft and receiving stolen property and one count of criminal mischief. Cole will be formally arraigned on the city charges Nov. 17.