CLARION CO., Pa. (EYT) \u2014 A New Bethlehem man was sentenced to up to two years in prison yesterday after police say he broke into a Monroe Township home and was discovered in the basement by the homeowner.<\/p>\n
Court documents show that 28-year-old Cooper Wade Allen pleaded guilty on February 18 to one count of burglary, a first-degree felony. He was sentenced on Wednesday, March 25, to serve a minimum of 10 months and a maximum of two years in Clarion County Jail.<\/p>\n
Clarion County Public Defender Jacob Christopher Roberts, who represented Allen, argued for the defendant to be released on parole since Allen had already served 244 days of incarceration.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe meant no harm to the [victims],\u201d Roberts told the judge prior to sentencing. \u201cHe was dealing with matters that put him in a compromising situation. He was not there to harm anyone or steal anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, President Judge Sara Seidle-Patton, who handed down the sentence, disagreed with the defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven through it was not your intention, your actions did cause harm,\u201d she told Allen.<\/p>\n
As part of his sentence, Judge Seidle-Patton stipulated that Allen must complete a drug and alcohol assessment prior to being released from prison, and must follow through with any recommended treatment upon being paroled. Additionally, Allen must pay $6,824.53 in restitution, with $1,000 going to the victims and the remainder to Erie Insurance.<\/p>\n
He is also to have no contact with the victims, complete 75 hours of community service, and undergo a mental health assessment.<\/p>\n
As part of a plea agreement, the following charges against Allen were dropped by the prosecution:<\/p>\n
Criminal trespass \u2014 break into structure, Felony 2
\nCriminal mischief \u2014 damage to property, Summary
\nDisorderly conduct \u2014 hazardous or physically offensive condition, Summary<\/p>\n
The Clarion County District Attorney\u2019s Office prosecuted the case.<\/p>\n
Details of the case:<\/p>\n
According to a criminal complaint filed by Pennsylvania State Police Trooper John Herold, troopers were called to a residence on Railroad Street in Monroe Township, Clarion County, around 3:21 a.m. on July 24. A woman told police there was an unknown man in her basement.<\/p>\n
Upon arrival, Trooper Herold and another trooper approached the home. The woman reported that her husband was in the basement with the intruder. Herold entered through the main door while the second trooper entered through the basement access, the complaint states.<\/p>\n
Herold encountered the homeowner on the basement stairs, who directed him to a closed door. When Herold knocked, a man reportedly responded that he was unarmed and had left his pocketknife on the floor. Police say they opened the door and arrested the man, who identified himself as Cooper Wade Allen, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n
Allen was reportedly read his Miranda rights and agreed to speak with police.<\/p>\n
According to the complaint, Allen told troopers he believed he was being chased by unknown individuals and panicked. He reportedly said he tried to get into the house through a locked exterior door, then attempted to unlock an interior door using his ID card before eventually forcing it open.<\/p>\n
Police reported visible damage to the door frame and lock of the exterior door, as well as the deadbolt and lock of the interior door.<\/p>\n
Court records show that Allen was arraigned later that morning before Magisterial District Judge Timothy P. Schill, who set bail at $50,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLARION CO., Pa. (EYT) \u2014 A New Bethlehem man was sentenced to up to two years in prison…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,411,48743,61547,789],"class_list":{"0":"post-149822","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news","11":"tag-burglary","12":"tag-court-update","13":"tag-monroe-township","14":"tag-sentencing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}