A Falls Township burglary in progress dispatch led to some intense moments for Police from three municipalities Sunday night at the ALP Supply House in Morrisville with a New Jersey man fond of having sweets with him was arrested with a big assist from Middletown Twp Police K-9 Jester.
Police, according to the probable cause, were dispatched Sunday night about five minutes to 9 pm to a burglary in progress at ALP Supply, 300 Ben Fairless Drive, Morrisville. Dispatch informed responding officers the property owner had video surveillance which showed the suspect’s movements providing 911 with the step by step movements of the would-be burglar.
As police arrived on scene sight of the suspect inside the building was lost, according to court records. Pulling up to the B side of the building and when police approached the front of the building (A side), they observed a broken window, two windows to the right of the front door. Incoming units and dispatch were notified about the broken window. The responding officer said he positioned himself to cover the A and D sides waiting for backup to arrive. No movement from either side of the building was seen at that point, court records show.
Credit: Jeff Bohen, Lower Bucks Source
Reinforcements arrived assisting with surrounding the building. One officer covered the B side, a second covered the C side and a Sgt covered the D side of the building. Officers from Tullytown PD and Middletown PD arrived and covered parts of the building, police said.
Sgt. Andrews from Middletown PD arrived with his K9 partner Jester. One officer climbed through the broken window and opened the front door for police to make entry. Andrews entered the building with his K9 Jester to perform a building search. As they were about to make entry, one of the officers called out that the suspect tried to exit the building on the D side and ran back into the building when he saw the police. Police were able to quickly verify with the property owner that he had not given permission for anyone to be on the property or inside the suppliers warehouse.
Entry into the building was made again while clearing air traffic with dispatch, the probable cause says.
K-9 Jester searched the downstairs area to the left with negative results. The building was comprised of a kitchen to the left with some offices, cubicles to the right and then a warehouse in the back. Once no one was located in the kitchen area, officers proceeded with caution to the warehouse area. Andrews and Jester searched the entire downstairs in which no one was located. Police noted a mezzanine area on the A side of the building and moved towards it. Access to the mezzanine was a set of metal stairs that were on wheels and could be moved to either side, police wrote in court papers. The mezzanine was long, about a 150 ft by 35 wide and was covered by boxes and other packing materials, officers noted in court records.
Jester was carried up the stairs by Andrews and officers followed with the K-9 heading straight to continue his search. A second another officer went to the right to check the corner, where there was a large roll of bubble wrap, blocking a corner of the mezzanine, said police. Walking down a narrow path, peeking behind the bubble wrap, the suspect was observed wearing a brown jacket standing, crouched down, behind the wrap. An officer yelled commands to the suspect drawing down on him with his firearm. Backing up slightly, police continued to issue commands with the lead officer noting in official records that he “could not see his whole body due to the narrow space he was operating from,” the probable cause says.
Continuing with the commands as Jester came back with Andrews and held the other narrow lane on the other side of the bubble wrap. When Andrews and Jester were in place, the first responding officer peeked around the bubble wrap again and observed the suspect holding a small knife in his right hand. Backed up for a second time and with a gun pointed at the suspect, he was ordered by police to drop the knife. The suspect put the knife down on top of some packing material saying “That was only for the dog”.
Police secured the knife and placed handcuffs on the suspect placing him into custody. He was immediately searched and found to have in his possession, three Twix bars, one Snickers bar, two packs Sunbursts, two cell phones, a charger and a set of Ford keys, the probable cause says. The suspect was identified as Ahlek Mitchell, 24, who through a records check was revealed to have a warrant out of NJ for failure to appear on a resisting arrest charge, said New Jersey authorities.
The company owner told police the Ford keys were inside the building and belonged to the company ALP Supply. They operated a company truck that was on scene in the parking lot, said police. A second set of Ford truck keys for a vehicle parked at the location were recovered in a second search of Mitchell, police said in court records.
Mitchell was arraigned 11:30 Sunday night by on-call Judge Wertman and charged with 11 felony burglary related offenses and a misdemeanor of possessing an instrument of crime. He was remanded to Bucks County Jail on 10 percent of $50,000.00 as he was unable to post bond.
Credit: MTPD
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