CLEARFIELD – After a half-day of testimony, Thomas J. Allison was found guilty on Wednesday by a jury of his peers on felony two felony conspiracy charges. Allison was found guilty of criminal conspiracy to commit burglary and criminal conspiracy to commit robbery.
The charges stem from an event that took place in which Allison took some part in breaking into an elderly woman’s home on Feb. 15, 2005 around 2 a.m. According to the woman, who is in her 80s, she was watching television late one night when she heard a noise from her upstairs area. She looked up and saw the feet of two people wearing black shoes.
The men were wearing white masks and one of them ordered the woman to hold a pillow over her face. The men then noticed the woman had pain medication, and ordered her to give them the rest. The woman gave them more of her pills, but not all of them. In all, the men got away with 16 OxyCodone tablets. The men also took an envelope full of $5 bills and a number of $1 bills as well.
The woman testified that the men tore her phone out of the wall and disabled her portable phone. After they left, she could not contact police from her own home and had to drive down the road to a neighbors.
The woman’s daughter testified that her mother called to tell her what happened. The daughter then went to her mother’s while the mother was being questioned by police. After police left, around 5:30 a.m., the daughter looked out the front bay window and saw a car pull up to a neighbor’s house. This was the home of Justin Craig, another person who was also arrested by police for his alleged part in this crime. Craig’s case has not been dealt with at the court level yet.
The daughter went over to ask what they were up to at that hour. She noticed that the dome light inside the car was on and two people were inside the car. As she got closer, the woman said that the dome light went off and the figures huddled down so as not to be seen. The daughter asked Craig to get his friends out of the car, and they eventually got out. One of the men was Russell Hurley III, who was placed into a state program for his part in the incident.
The daughter did not know Allison, but identified him at the trial as the person who was with Hurley.
While none of the evidence gathered from the crime scene linked Allison to the crime, one of the investigating officers had a conversation with Allison in which he mentioned very specific details about the crime.
According to Mike Morris, Lawrence Township Police officer, Allison told Morris that he wanted a deal similar to the ones the other two were supposedly getting. Morris said he warned Allison of his Miranda rights, but that Allison waived them. According to Morrison, Allison said that Hurley put the pillow over the woman’s face, and that they made masks out of T-shirt sleeves.
“I think the commonwealth has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that T.J. Allison committed these crimes,” argued Casey Bowers, Allison’s attorney.
F. Cortez “Chip” Bell, first assistant district attorney argued that even though the evidence did not link Allison to the crime did not mean he did not commit the crime.
Besides the two conspiracy charges, the jury found Allison guilty of receiving stolen property. Allison was found not guilty of burglary, robbery, criminal trespass, and theft by unlawful taking.