Police in Butler Township say they caught a man and woman working together recently to steal copper piping from the former St. Catherine’s Hospital outside Ashland.
Shortly before 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 13, Butler Twp. police say they were conducting a check of the former hospital at 101 Broad St.. During that check on the property, they noticed a roll-up door at the former ambulance entrance was propped open.
That prompted officers to enter the building where they found several doors had been barricaded in the stairway closest to that open door. But the door to the fifth floor at the hospital was open.
Police then conducted a search of the fifth floor of the hospital building. During that sweep, they say they heard noises that sounded like pipes being struck together.
Following that noise, police say they then heard a saw and two distinct voices. Once again following that noise, police say they encountered a woman kneeling on the floor near several pieces of copper pipe. The pipe, police say, appeared to have been freshly cut.
The woman was detained and police say they then spotted a man in the hallway that they recognized as Francis Kehler IV, 26, of Ashland.
Initially, the woman identified herself as Kori McCabe but a search of a bag nearby revealed a medication bottle that indicated her name was actually Bianca McCabe, 23, of Ashland. That bag also contained several hypodermic needles, several wax paper packets, and a bag that contained what police believe was weed.
A further search of the bag turned up a small pill marked G3722 (Alprazolam) in a glassine baggie and a glass pipe with burnt residue on it. There was also a joint in the bag, police say.
Those wax paper packets contained a brownish residue, police also say.
Police say McCabe said she gave a false name because she was afraid. Kehler told police that he had permission to be in the hospital and was only cutting up pipe that had already been cut out of the building.
As police led McCabe and Kehler out of the building, they say they noticed a pile of cut copper stacked by the door. Kehler denied stacking the copper in that location and said someone else did it.
Police then say they contacted the caretaker of the hospital who did say that Kehler was permitted on the property to do landscaping work but didn’t have permission to be inside the building or to be removing any pipes.
A pair of bolt cutters, a battery-powered reciprocating saw, and several pipe cutters were also removed from the premises, police say, during a later sweep of the building.
McCabe and Kehler were each arraigned before District Magistrate Edward Tarantelli and remanded to Schuylkill County Prison.
McCabe is being held on $50,000 bail while Kehler’s bail was set at $25,000.
Charges of second-degree felony burglary and third-degree felony criminal trespass along with misdemeanors for theft by unlawful taking, theft of secondary metal, possession of an instrument of crime, providing false ID to police, drug possession and drug paraphernalia possession were filed against McCabe.
Kehler was charged with second-degree felony conspiracy to commit burglary, and third-degree felony conspiracy to commit criminal trespass along with misdemeanor conspiracy charges for theft by unlawful taking, theft of secondary metal, and possession of an instrument of crime.
Each have a preliminary hearing date before Tarantelli on Sept. 25.
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