Jenkintown man burglarizes a Glenside home, showers despite PFA against its owner, reports said

Upper Dublin Township Police responded to the 700 block of North Hills Avenue in Glenside to the call of a security alarm. While there, police also got a call of a “disturbance” at the same location.

According to reports, Eric Rocco Baker, 28, of the 100 block of Old York Road in Jenkintown, had a known protection from abuse (PFA), and was not permitted to be near the homeowner. However, police said he was seen by neighbors on the property on Oct. 12. Responding officers that day said that they found an unlocked rear door to the home, a door open to the detached garage, and a basement door that “had been forced open.” No one was found at the property, police said.

Police said that the homeowner was able to provide home security camera footage once she returned. She also told police, reports said, that the door to the garage was not open when she’d left earlier that day.

According to the reports, police said that they observed the following on security footage:

• 12:46 p.m.: Homeowner walks to her vehicle.
• 1 p.m.: Baker is seen in the driveway, wearing baggy light gray sweatpants and a dark T-shirt. His black Kia Rio is seen in the driveway.
• 1:05 p.m. Baker is seen in the garage, near a cabinet of paint supplies; a clear still shot of his face is taken by the cameras.
• 1:22 p.m.: Baker is seen on the rear patio of the home with no shirt on, but the same pants.
• 2:38 p.m.: Baker is seen wearing plaid, dark pajama pants belonging to the homeowner, a long-sleeved orange and gray collared sweatshirt, and a hat, walking toward the garage.
• 2:50 p.m.: Baker is seen outside the home, with the dog, and had pulled his vehicle into the garage.

As police were dispatched to the home at 2:45 p.m., but did not see him there, said reports.

At that time, police had the homeowner walk them through the residence, to determine if anything was out of place or missing, reports said. The baggy gray sweatpants seen in surveillance videos were found in the living room on the couch, police said. The homeowner said the plaid pajama pants he also was seen in on video came from a pile of clothes in Baker’s old bedroom, which had no furniture in it, said reports.

The homeowner showed police that an alarm panel on the rear patio door “had been ripped off the wall and was dangling from its cord,” said reports. The homeowner also noted that there was now just a rubber keypad protector on the couch, in a space where a Macbook laptop had been placed. Curtains in the front bay windows were found closed instead of open as they’d been, and that the dog’s collar was also stolen, said reports.

The homeowner said that the upstairs shower had been used in the home, and that a towel was laying on the toilet with a pair of men’s underwear on the floor, said reports. Additionally, used Q-tips and the Macbook was seen on the bathroom counter, which had not been there when the homeowner left, reports said.

Continuing through the house, the homeowner told police that the damage to the basement door was new, and that the frame had been broken into many pieces, said reports. Additionally, a pair of utility gloves was on the floor, not previously there when the homeowner left. The homeowner also began to get messages from friends and family explaining her Facebook account had been used to make messages to others, police said. The homeowner said that the only access to that account would have been via the Macbook found in the home.

Police said that, upon investigating the matter, they’d found Baker was not to be at the property nor have contact with the homeowner, and that he had been charged for violating that order previously.

According to reports, Baker approached the property as police continued to interview the owner, “acting erratically” and “screaming obscenities.” Police said they began to take Baker into custody, and that he continued “causing a commotion in the middle of the street,” forcing traffic to be stopped “in order to get him under control.” During the scuffle, police said Baker admitted showering in the home and stopping to see the dog.

On the following day, Oct. 13, the homeowner said that around 3:04 p.m., Baker called her saying “This is what you wanted” and “You will never see me again,” said reports.

Baker is charged with felony counts of Burglary of an overnight accommodation with no person present and Criminal Trespassing, breaking into a structure. He will also face misdemeanor counts of Criminal Mischief damaging property, Harassment, and two counts of Theft, as well as a summary offense of disorderly conduct.

Baker was released from county after Martin Baker, of North Wales, posted a $10,000 cash bail for him on Oct. 23. Baker is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 8 at 10 a.m. before Magisterial District Judge Douglas H. Lavenberg.

All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.