CLEARFIELD, Pa. — Prosecutors withdrew a burglary charge Wednesday against a Hyde woman accused of breaking through a wall into a neighbor’s apartment after she waived her right to a preliminary hearing.
Clearfield Regional Police charged Haley Nichole Couturiaux, 28, with felony criminal trespass and misdemeanor counts of defiant trespass, terroristic threats, simple assault and criminal mischief. Those charges now move to the Court of Common Pleas for further disposition.
Couturiaux remains incarcerated in the county jail, though the court reduced her bail from $25,000 to $10,000.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the victim called police to a Lawrence Township apartment complex May 1 to report Couturiaux was breaking down the wall between their apartments.
When officers arrived, they entered the victim’s apartment and found a 6-inch by 6-inch hole in the wall leading to Couturiaux’s residence. Through the hole, officers saw Couturiaux holding a hammer. She complied after police repeatedly ordered her to drop the tool.
The victim told officers that while breaking through the wall, Couturiaux threatened to kill the victim and her children. Police spoke with Couturiaux for 20 minutes before she opened her door and allowed officers inside.
Couturiaux explained that Clearfield County Children, Youth and Family Services employees took custody of her children earlier that day. However, she also claimed someone had stolen her children and demanded police find them. Couturiaux told officers she could hear her children whining inside the victim’s apartment.
“Couturiaux did not appear to be making sense with her conversation and would understand that CYS had taken custody of her children but then would accuse an unknown individual of stealing them,” an officer wrote in the report.
Police noted hammer damage to several other walls throughout the apartment.
