A Pottsville man is back in jail once again this year after people in one neighborhood say he was prowling around, looking into vehicles late one night this week.
Police say they were called to the 700 block of W. Norwegian St. at about 2 a.m. on Wednesday for a report of a suspicious-looking man wearing a hoodie and backpack looking into vehicles.
At the scene, police say they encountered Shawn Cicero Jr., 31, who has no established residence in Pottsville. Cicero reportedly told police he was “waiting to be picked up” at the time. However, over the course of the two days prior to this encounter, police say Cicero had been thrown out of several establishments in Pottsville, including the Family Dollar store, the Pottsville Hotel (formerly Ramada Inn), 7-Eleven, and Lehigh Valley Hospital-East’s bathroom, where he’d been caught bathing.
A resident in the 600 block of W. Norwegian St. reportedly told police that they saw Cicero prowling around where their vehicle had been parked, acting suspiciously. She said that vehicles in the area had been broken into recently and Cicero’s actions caused alarm.
Cicero was taken into custody and charged with misdemeanor counts of prowling at night and disorderly conduct. He was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Christian Lengel and is being held on $10,000 cash bail.
This is not Cicero’s first stint at Schuylkill County Prison in 2026 and he’s still facing charges from another alleged incident last month in the city. Cicero spent two days in jail, from March 10-11, after being sentenced to a week to a year for possession of drug paraphernalia in connection with an August 2025 incident in which he was alleged to have taken a small amount of cash from his ex’s purse and set it on fire as he walked away from her residence. More serious charges in that case, including one for felony robbery were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
As he was released from Schuylkill County Prison in that case, bail in a case from February of this year, in which he’s accused of pepper-spraying a woman in the face during a domestic dispute, was reduced from 10% of $5,000 to unsecured. Cicero was originally picked up on Feb. 7 on charges of simple assault, possessing an instrument of crime, and possession of drug paraphernalia and was originally being held on $10,000 cash bail, which was modified lower and then eventually changed to unsecured. The assault charge has since been dismissed at a preliminary hearing earlier this month but the other charges were held for Schuylkill County Court.
A preliminary hearing from this most recent case is currently scheduled for April 6 in Pottsville.
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