A Schuylkill County man is accused of porch piracy. He allegedly stole uniform clothing from a package … delivered to police at their station.
Police in Shenandoah say that on the afternoon of Dec. 7, it appeared as though someone had taken uniform clothing.
During the course of the investigation, an officer noticed that a box containing uniform clothing was out in front of the police station on W. Washington St. The box was destroyed and it appeared as though someone had rummaged through it.
Police Chief George Carado was contacted, who provided an itemized invoice of the items that should have been in the package. Missing were a long-sleeve shirt, two short-sleeve shirts, and a hat. The total cost of the missing items was $164.97.
Surveillance footage from the police station was used to identify a suspect in the porch piracy, Shawn Jessman, 33, of Shenandoah.
Jessman, police say, entered the parking lot of the police station in a black Nissan. He gets out of his vehicle and approaches the door on the western side of the station. He knocks on that door and there’s no answer so he goes to the south side of the building and knocks on the front door.
Police say when no one responded to any of his knocks, he spots a large box at the front door and kicks it. He then reaches in the box, pulls out a few items and then stuffs them under his sweatshirt.
Jessman, police say, then continues knocking on the front door with the uniform items under his sweatshirt. He then walks away when no one answers the door, taking the box with him. Police say his vehicle is seen leaving the parking lot after he puts the box inside through the driver’s side door. The hatch on his vehicle is open as he’s leaving the lot, police add.
Later that day, police say they received a call telling them to contact Jessman. Carado tells an officer that Jessman’s girlfriend will be stopping by to drop off the missing uniform items.
That does, indeed, happen but police say that one of the two short-sleeve shirts was missing. Police say they told Jessman’s girlfriend that if the second short-sleeve shirt wasn’t returned, they’d be filing charges.
A short time later, police say Jessman called and said he didn’t have the missing shirt. He said he took a photo of the invoice. Police weren’t buying it and said he had until 11 p.m. on Dec. 8 to return the other shirt or he’d be charged with theft.
Jessman reportedly asked if he could just pay the cost of the other shirt because he couldn’t find it. Police told him either they get the actual shirt or he gets charged.
Jessman reportedly returned the missing shirt on Dec. 13 so police have filed misdemeanor charges of theft and receiving stolen property against him.
This is not the first time Jessman has made headlines. In fact, several days prior to this incident, he is accused of threatening to blow up a mobile home outside Shenandoah while he was trying to evict people living there.
Read about that here:
And back in October, Jessman was in police custody twice in a day when he was questioned, and eventually charged with stealing from a storage unit. Later that day, he was found with drugs in his vehicle during a traffic stop.
Read more about those incidents here:
In this most recent case, Jessman is charged with misdemeanor counts of theft and receiving stolen property. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 5.
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