CLEARFIELD – Two men accused of breaking into a local elementary school were in Clearfield County Court to be sentenced on separate charges.
Allen Wayne Robison III, 30, and Samuel Dean Kovach, 25, both of 604 W. Front St., Clearfield, are charged with burglary, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, criminal conspiracy and criminal mischief in connection with a burglary at the Girard-Goshen Elementary School in September. They waved their rights to preliminary hearings Feb. 5 and remain in jail in lieu of $25,000 bail.
During plea and sentencing court, Robison’s probation was revoked because he committed new crimes. For terroristic threats, he was sentenced to one to three years in state prison. He also pleaded guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia and was given a consecutive 30 days to one year state prison sentence.
Kovach’s probation on a previous false reports charge was revoked for not complying with all laws and he was sentenced to one to two years in state prison. He pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. For this he was sentenced to 90 days to six months in prison. This sentence will run concurrent with his other sentence.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, Robison and Kovach were riding in a vehicle that was stopped by police Sept. 27. The stop was initiated to take Robison and Kovach into custody due to warrants for their probation violations. During the stop, the officers found drug paraphernalia on them. Officers could also see copper piping in plain view from the trunk, which was not latched. The pipes and the passengers smelled of fuel.
Earlier that same morning, someone entered the Girard-Goshen School and removed various copper pipes from the boiler room. A maintenance worker noticed a fuel alarm beeping when he entered the school and reported the theft.
The driver of the vehicle, Tessa Lee Robison, told police that Kovach and her brother asked her to drive them to Novey’s Recycling to cash in some scrap metal. She said she didn’t know where they got the copper, and they didn’t tell her. She admitted they always said the less she knew the better but she knew it was stolen.
When Kovach was interviewed by police, he admitted he and Robison went to the school and removed the pipes.