CLEARFIELD – An Osceola Mills man will be spending time in jail for the theft of more than $16,000 worth of items and a rifle.
Michael Alan Roberts, 25, 1285 Center Rd., Osceola Mills, pleaded guilty to felony counts of theft by unlawful taking in two cases.
He was sentenced to six months to two years less one day in jail and four years consecutive probation.
He was filed $1,000 plus costs and must pay more than $16,900 in restitution. He must also complete a drug and alcohol awareness program.
The charges stem from incidents in January and April of 2013 in Decatur Township.
According to the affidavit of probable cause in the fist case, the victim realized in March of 2013 that a rifle had been removed from her residence. The last time she remembered seeing it was in January of 2013 when she cleaned it and put it away. Police were able to trace possession of the gun to Roberts.
When he was questioned by police, Roberts confessed that he was at the victim’s residence at the end of January of 2013 while she wasn’t home. He entered the home and removed the rifle. He later sold it for $200.
According to the affidavit in the second case, the victim, Jerry Bush, contacted police in April of 2013 to report that he was missing a large amount of copper tubing from the garages on his property. Bush works on heating/cooling systems. The garages store various equipment and parts for his business.
An officer spoke with GC Scrap Yard who had reported that Roberts had made several trips to his yard with copper. When he was asked about the copper, Roberts admitted to taking the items from Bush’s garages and selling them as scrap metal.
