CLEARFIELD – A Clearfield man accused of stealing memorial markers from Clearfield Hospital waived his right to a preliminary hearing on Wednesday.
Matthew J. Hoyt, 32, is charged with theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property and desecration or sale of venerated property.
According to the affidavit of probable cause police were alerted by an employee of Novey’s on Jan. 2 that on Dec. 22 a woman had brought a 100 pounds of yellow brass plates to the scrap yard. The employee noted that the plates had names on them. He stated the woman was given a receipt for the items and a check for $430.
He also related that on Dec. 29 another woman brought in 229 pounds of yellow brass and was paid $585.
He told police that at some point he discovered that some of the plates had grind marks across the letters of some of the names, as if someone were trying to hide them.
He contacted the Lawrence Township Police Department, who in turn contacted the Clearfield Borough Police Department, and it was determined that the items were removed from Clearfield Hospital.
On Jan. 7 Officer Michael Titus of the Clearfield Borough Police Department contacted the first woman to turn the plates in to Novey’s. She related that on Dec. 7 Hoyt contacted her and asked her to take some scrap to Novey’s. She said she had done this in the past as Hoyt did not have a driver’s license.
She said that he brought some items from his basement and placed it in her car. She said she turned them in and received a check. She related that she cashed the check and gave the funds to Hoyt.
On Jan. 8 Titus met with the other woman. She reportedly told Titus that Hoyt had an agreement with her to give her money to pay taxes. She said that in Dec. 2007 Hoyt contacted her and asked her to pick up some scrap. She related that she had done this in the past and that she figured it was scrap from his job. She said he loaded four boxes into her vehicle. She told Titus that she took them to Novey’s, received a check, cashed it and used it to pay taxes.
On Jan. 8 Titus contacted a coworker of Hoyt’s. The coworker said he drove Hoyt to work everyday while they were doing work at Clearfield Hospital.
The man was asked about brass plates. He related that he never saw anyone take brass plates, but that between Nov. and Dec. of 2007 Hoyt passed him a plate and asked him if he thought it was yellow brass. He said that he told Hoyt he thought it was, and that the plate was returned to where it was taken from.
Titus spoke to Hoyt on three separate occasions. On Jan. 16 Hoyt reportedly denied taking the brass name plates. He said they were not the items he placed in the two women’s vehicles.
On March 3 Hoyt contacted Titus and allegedly told him that a month or so prior to Titus’s initial contact he and his coworker were going through some parts in the hospital’s storage area. He said he was looking at a plate when he heard someone coming. He said he threw the plate into a box of parts so it didn’t look like he was goofing off. He said he took the box and forgot about the plate until Titus brought it up on their first visit.
On June 18 Hoyt again contacted Titus and reportedly told him and gave a written statement that he took backpacks of the plates from the hospital. He told Titus that he wanted to make good with the hospital.
According to the complaint 193 memorial plates have been recovered; 92 are still missing.
