Palmer Police Nab Suspicious Person

A suspicious person charged with an assortment of crimes in Palmer Township is also wanted in New Jersey.

Palmer police charged Samuel Machey, 49, of 410 N. Greenwood Ave., after he was arrested Tuesday morning following an investigation for a suspicious person.

Sgt. Timothy Ruoff said that police responded at 2:52 a.m. Tuesday to the 2900 block of Hartley Avenue after receiving a report of a suspicious person.

Upon arriving, police found a work van parked in a driveway with its back doors open and several tool boxes at the end of the driveway, Ruoff said.

Officer Steve Steckel then spotted a 2003 Honda Accord 100 feet away and began talking to a female passenger when the suspect was walking toward him, spied the officer and ran away, Ruoff said.

"He took off running and there was a foot chase," Ruoff said.

With assistance from Wilson Borough police, Machey was apprehended in a wooded area around Hartley and Greenwood avenues, the police report states.

Machey was taken into custody and charged with:

• Theft of a vehicle.
• Loitering and prowling at nighttime.
• Possessing instruments of crime (a pointed screwdriver and pair of gloves)
  
• Receiving stolen property.
• Possession of a controlled substance: cocaine.

Ruoff said the suspect was also wanted on a bench warrant from Mercer County, N.J., as a fugitive from justice.

Police recovered four GPS units in a bag near the engine and a car stereo underneath the hood.

He was arraigned by District Justice Jacqueline Taschner and was being held on $25,000 bail in Northampton County Prison awaiting extradition.