Authorities arrested the 26-year-old suspect when he tried to break into his parent's Bethlehem Township, Pa., home Wednesday morning, according to court records.
When a Bethlehem Township, Pa., man was caught breaking into a Palmer Township home by a 17-year-old resident, the intruder said he thought he was going to a surprise birthday party, court papers say.
Joseph Emmet Starace, 26, of the 2900 block of Hope Road, was confronted Aug. 23 by a 17-year-old living at home in the 2700 block of Fleetwood Avenue, court records say. Starace had just emerged from the home's basement after breaking in a screen window, court records say.
The 26-year-old told the teen he thought he was going to a surprise birthday party and then left the home through the front door, court papers say. The 17-year-old saw Starace's black mountain bike parked outside and watched Starace ride away on it, records say. The teen's mother recalled seeing a man with a black mountain bike drinking Gatorade on the sidewalk near their home as she was leaving, according to court records.
Police responded about 11:15 a.m. Wednesday to a burglary in the 2600 block of Farmhouse Court in Bethlehem Township, Pa., after witnesses reported a man who arrived on a bike was trying to break into the home. Authorities found Starace at the residence, police say, which belongs to his parents.
Court records indicate Starace did not have his parent's permission to be at the home and was in possession of burglary tools.
Starace denied any other burglaries during an initial police interview but later said he had entered the Palmer Township home and encountered the teenager inside, court record say. He said he resorted to burglary because he needed money for his mounting credit card debt.
Starace
was arraigned before on-call District Judge Jacqueline Taschner and
charged with two counts each of burglary and criminal trespassing. He
was sent to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $25,000 bail for the
Palmer Township case and $10,000 bail with a 10 percent option for
the Bethlehem Township case.