Crime & Safety
Alleged Palmer Thief Returns to Crime Scene -- His Home
Palmer Township man accused of trespass at family home months after he allegedly stole checks/jewelry from it.
When last in the news, 19-year-old Dakoda Jordan Whitman was charged with forging more than $1,150 in family checks and stealing more than $2,800 in items – mostly jewelry – from the family’s Palmer Township home.
The charges were filed in August. Whitman spent about two months in Northampton County Prison and was released in late October after posting $25,000 bail.
Whitman was back in the news Friday – and back in jail.
He was charged with defiant trespass for being at his family’s home on the 4000 block of Meadow Avenue. A condition of his bail was that he had to stay off the family property.
He was arraigned by District Judge Jackie Taschner of Palmer and committed to prison in lieu of $5,000 bail.
A criminal complaint said Whitman’s stepmother, Melissa Whitman, spotted him on the family property around 6:15 Friday morning.
The stepmother and a police officer who arrived about an hour later saw the young man leaving the property and walking east toward the township Community Pool.
When police approached him near the pool, he identified himself as Dakoda Whitman, the complaint said.
In the earlier case, Whitman was charged Aug. 26 with filling out $1,155 in family checks and forging his stepmother’s signature on them. He allegedly cashed them at two KNBT bank branches – in Palmer and Lower Nazareth Township -- and at the Weis Markets in Palmer.
He also was charged with taking $2,830 in family jewelry and video games and pawning or selling the items. The most valuable item was a $1,600 TAG Heuer watch, according to a criminal complaint.
Another item was a yellow gold wedding band valued at $500. Whitman’s father, Russell Whitman, said the band is engraved with the words, “You’re my hero.”
When the father told police he discovered family items missing, he also said he had contacted his son’s employer – an area Burger King. Store management told him that his son was “let go.”
Dakoda Whitman waived his preliminary hearing on Oct. 16 and 10 days later posted bail. His formal arraignment is scheduled for Thursday (Dec. 13) in county court.