ROARING SPRING - A suspect in a rash of Cove thefts from unlocked vehicles where cash, electronics and guns were stolen is in custody.
"One weapon has been recovered," Roaring Spring Police Chief Milton Fields said Wednesday after the arrest of Brett S. Pozgar, 27, of 726 Sugar St., Roaring Spring.
Pozgar is charged by Roaring Spring and state police with 89 theft-related counts, including felony weapons charges, stemming from what Fields said was a six-month investigation that began after the borough was hit with a string of thefts from unlocked vehicles beginning in late May.
Pozgar is accused of entering 30 vehicles in Roaring Spring as well as several in Taylor Township, Fields said.
Pozgar has an extensive criminal history, Fields noted, and his addiction to the anti-anxiety drug alprazolam is behind the alleged crime spree that culminated in the Dec. 19 theft of a Lorcin .22-caliber handgun from a vehicle on the 500 block of Walnut Street.
After the theft of two other handguns, a Ruger .357-caliber and a Hi-Point 9 mm, in late November in Roaring Spring, Fields and state police investigator Trooper Patrick Snyder discussed using the Blair County Crime Solvers to solicit information from the public and the gun thefts were deemed "Crime of the Week" on Nov. 30, court records show.
"We actually had a couple people who gave us some tidbits of information throughout the investigation we were able to use to piece everything together," Fields said.
According to Pozgar's arrest papers, a person stepped forward to tell police Pozgar tried to sell him the Ruger and Hi-Point handguns, an offer the informant turned down, and later Pozgar told the person he had sold one of the guns in East Freedom. A second source came forward and corroborated the story, police said.
Another person met with police on Jan. 24 and turned over the Ruger handgun taken Nov. 27 from a vehicle on the 300 block of Poplar Street as well as a Stihl leaf blower that was stolen Nov. 20 on the 700 block of Bloomfield Street.
"The other [stolen] items are still floating out there somewhere," Fields said.
In all, Pozgar allegedly stole about $446 in cash, three GPS units, CDs, a pair of Nikon binoculars, two iPods, a silver cup holder worth $40, change and cigarettes from the vehicles.
It was cigarette smoke that almost led to Pozgar's arrest in July, court records indicate.
Police noted that those who reported thefts also reported the smell of cigarette smoke in their vehicles and, while investigating a theft late July 20 on Double D Road in Taylor Township, Snyder came upon a man in the passenger side of an SUV parked on the 100 block of Frederick Road.
Snyder reported he could smell cigarette smoke through the open window of his police car and when the man saw Snyder, he fled around the back of the house and disappeared into a cornfield. Snyder woke the homeowners who inspected their vehicles and told Snyder they had been rummaged through but nothing looked to be missing apart from some loose change.
When interviewed by police on Feb. 2, Pozgar allegedly admitted to the thefts.
Pozgar was arraigned Thursday before Magisterial District Judge Craig Ormsby and jailed in Blair County Prison in lieu of bail.
