A Schuylkill County man was jailed over the weekend on charges he broke into an apartment and stole several prescription pain pills.
Police in Saint Clair say they were called to an apartment building at 46 E. Bacon St. in Palo Alto at about 11 a.m. on Jan. 3 for a reported breaking-and-entering complaint. The caller said the downstairs tenant was inside his apartment because he could see him on his surveillance camera.
Saint Clair provides police coverage to Palo Alto.
En route to the scene, police say they were contacted by a tenant of the apartment that was broken into saying they were also headed to their apartment. Police say they met with the victims at the scene. They reportedly told police that a notification from their security camera showed them that the tenant in the apartment downstairs – identified as 66-year-old Robert Santillo – was inside their apartment.
Santillo was identified as the maintenance person for the apartment building, thus having keys to the apartments, because the property owner lives out of state. However, Santillo was reportedly never given permission to go into the victim’s apartment. The victim told police that Santillo was also inside his apartment on Dec. 31 at about 3:30 p.m.
While speaking with Santillo, police say he denied being in his neighbor’s apartment. At that time, the victim also told police that there were four prescription painkiller pills missing from his bottle. He was able to provide police with a photo of Santillo reportedly standing at the table where the pills were located and had counted them the previous night.
Santillo was taken into custody and transported back to the Saint Clair Police headquarters. There, he reportedly told police that he’d heard a smoke detector going off and went in the upstairs apartment to turn it off. He denied knowing anything about the prescription pain pills, however.
Police say they did make contact with the property owner who said that he’s repeatedly told Santillo not to go into any other apartments.
Santillo was charged with felony counts of burglary and criminal trespass along with misdemeanor counts of theft and receiving stolen property. He was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Anthony Kilker, who set bail at $25,000, and remanded to Schuylkill County Prison.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 13 before Senior Judge Edward Lewis (Port Carbon).
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