A vehicle‑burglary suspect sped out of the Hollywood Casino Morgantown parking lot in a stolen sedan early Saturday, striking two Main Street businesses in Caernarvon Township before abandoning the car and running away, police said.
Caernarvon officers, assisted by Robeson and Brecknock township police, searched the area after losing sight of the suspect around 1:30 a.m. Three cellphones believed to have been stolen from unlocked vehicles in the casino lot at Routes 10 and 23 were found next to the abandoned sedan.
Investigators later learned through Pennsylvania Department of Motor Vehicles records that the car had been reported stolen a few hours earlier in south Philadelphia.
Just before daybreak, a resident in the 3700 block of Main Street looked out his window while drinking coffee and saw a Black man wearing light‑colored camouflage shorts — matching the description of the suspect — enter his vehicle. The resident yelled to the man, who replied that he was homeless and looking for a place to sleep, investigators said.
With assistance from an Exeter Township police K‑9 team, officers found the suspect, Terrance Watson, 36, in a wooded area along Twin Valley Road. Watson, who has no permanent address, was taken into custody.
Watson was committed to Berks County Jail in lieu of $75,000 bail following arraignment Saturday night before District Judge Alvin B. Robinson in Reading Central Court. Caernarvon police charged him with receiving stolen property, theft, fleeing police, hit-and-run, driving without a license and related offenses.
How the pursuit began
Police said the investigation started when Hollywood Casino staff reported that two employees’ vehicles had been rummaged through and personal items, including wallets, were believed to have been stolen.
Officer William Kase and Cpl. William Smith responded. As Smith drove north on Route 10, he saw the suspect’s sedan heading south. He turned his patrol car around, got behind the vehicle and radioed dispatch that he was in pursuit. The car was traveling about 65 mph.
The sedan turned onto the 3100 block of Main Street, then down an alley between Nuse’s Deli and Clair’s Family Restaurant. It struck the curb in front of the deli, then hit the rear deck of that building and the side of the restaurant. As Smith closed in, Watson got out of the passenger side and ran.
Officers searched yards and outbuildings. A Robeson officer spoke with a night clerk at a nearby hotel who believed the suspect had briefly entered the lobby, but officers did not find him there.
Smith had the sedan impounded. A check with the motor vehicle department confirmed it had been reported stolen to Philadelphia police. The owner told investigators that she was alerted by security personnel that a man had entered her car, parked in the 600 block of Packer Avenue, and she saw it being driven away.