Credit: Andrew / Unsplash.com
The homeowner's grandson identified the burglar by a 'throat clearing' sound, police said.
Police responded to a call after residents hear someone throwing items at a window.
The Jenkintown Police Department was called out on Oct. 19 around 6:04 a.m. to the area of Rodman Avenue at Walnut Street within the Borough, as a resident said her grandson was home and locked in his bedroom after hearing someone near the home’s window, reports said. When police arrived, according to reports, they could hear windows breaking near the rear of the home but did not see anyone in the area.
According to police, the grandson was asked to come to the front door to speak with police. He told responders that he thought the potential intruder was his father, George Spotts. He said that he “could tell by how he clears his voice,” reports said.
The grandson said that he heard someone trying to enter the residence, banging outside on the door, and then heard footsteps in the residence, police said. He said that someone attempted to open his locked bedroom door, police said of the grandson, and then heard the owner’s bedroom door slam. The owner’s door was later found to be locked, but neither the grandson nor homeowner were sure if it had been previously, police reported.
Police said that, while the room was clear, a screen of a window had been left up and that there was a black jacket on the stairs inside that did not belong to anyone in the home. According to reports, police located George Manning Spotts, 41, of the 300 block of South Broad Street in Philadelphia, as they searched the surrounding areas, as he was located at the nearby train station.
Reports stated Spotts was “being evasive” and provided police with a false name. A wristband he was wearing said “George Spotts,” police said. Spotts told police, according to the reports, that he was homeless and that he was arrested the previous night in Philadelphia. He claimed he was released around 2 a.m., police said.
Since the grandson could hear the father clearing his throat, and because the grandmother (the homeowner) had a protection from abuse out on him, police took Spotts into custody, reports stated. Police said that, after examining the jacket left at the home, police found a piece of glass in the jacket. Spotts, reports stated, also had “cuts on his wrists.”
Spotts is facing a felony charge of burglary of overnight accommodations with a person present/bodily injury crime, as well as two misdemeanor charges including criminal mischief and defiant trespassing. He was held in county jail, unable to post a $5,000 monetary bond. He had a preliminary arraignment on Oct. 19 at 2:30 p.m. before Magisterial District Judge Edward C. Kropp Sr., as well as a preliminary hearing on Nov. 4 at 9 a.m. before Magisterial District Judge R. Emmett Madden.
His case was held for court, and a formal arraignment is scheduled for Dec. 18 at 9:30 a.m.
