Palmer Man Stole $6,000 from Boss's Tatamy Home

Richard Lovell kept insisting to police he did not take the $6,000 stolen from his boss’ house in Tatamy.

In fact, the man said, someone had stolen $700 from his wallet. Also, he wanted to get $3,000 and give it to his boss “because he felt bad.”

But a Tatamy police officer had his suspicions.

It seemed Lovell, who had recently moved into his boss’ home, “had more to tell but was holding something back,” Keith A. Snyder wrote in a criminal complaint.

Snyder took Lovell, 23, to the borough police station.

After prodding him with questions, Lovell later confessed to taking the money.

The reason?

“To pay off some people that were going to hurt his family,” the complaint says.

Snyder’s role in the case began Friday afternoon, when he arrived at the 37 Mill Brook Court home of  Lovell’s boss, James K. Brinkley, who told him he put a total of $9,000 in a small treasure chest on his bedroom dresser.

Brinkley took $3,000 to be used as a loan to someone, leaving $6,000 in the chest. He left the house at 10:30 a.m. Thursday and returned around 1 p.m. Friday – and the money was gone.

The only people in the house who knew about the money were Lovell and Brinkley’s son.

Lovell, whose address is listed as 4 Water Wheel Lane, Palmer Township – not far south of Brinkley’s home – had just moved into Brinkley's home and was working for him.

Lovell said someone had stolen $700 from his wallet. And he said he would contact his grandfather to get $3,000 for Brinkley.

Snyder talked to others in the house. No one knew about money being stolen. Brinkley’s son said no one had been in the bedroom.

The officer’s next move was to tell the people in the house they would have to come to the police station to be interviewed. And he said the first to be interviewed would be Lovell.

Lovell pointed the finger at another man. But the complaint says this man was not at the home when the money was stolen.

Lovell complied when Snyder asked him to waive his Miranda rights. The officer said Brinkley may not press charges if the money would be returned. Snyder pressed Lovell with questions. Finally, Lovell said he wanted to talk to Brinkley in private.

He told Brinkley he took the money “to pay off some people that were going to hurt his family.” And he later admitted to Snyder that he took the money. He said he took it when he got home from work around 1am Friday and before going out again around 1:30am.

Lovell was charged with theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property. He was arraigned later Friday by on-duty District Judge John Capobianco of Nazareth and committed to Northampton County Prison after failing to post $10,000 bail.