A Franklin man is facing charges of prowling around a property on Old Mercer Road in Sandycreek Township and attempting to break into a house on the property where a teenage girl was home alone.
At about 6:45 p.m. Monday, a 13-year-old girl who was home alone saw Scott Stephenson, 47, entering a property in the 100 block of Old Mercer Road and heading toward the back door of the house were she was located; so she ran and locked the door, according to a criminal complaint filed by Franklin state police.
She watched Stephenson walk onto the porch and pick up a baseball bat, the complaint said.
After failing to enter through the back door, Stephenson picked up a plastic jug of apple juice on the porch and consumed it, the complaint said.
When police arrived, they took Stephenson into custody without incident near a set of sliding glass doors, the complaint said.
While at the scene, police were made aware that Stephenson had been unconscious on the floor of the 15th Street Kwik Fill earlier in the afternoon before going to the residence, but no on had called 911 to report the earlier event, the complaint said.
Stephenson has been charged with felony counts of burglary-overnight accommodation-person present and criminal trespass-enter structure as well as a misdemeanor count of theft by unlawful taking-movable property and a summary count of public drunkenness and similar misconduct.
He was arraigned Monday before District Judge Patrick Lowrey and placed in Venango County jail with bail denied due to Stephenson having active arrest warrants and bench warrants.
His preliminary hearing is scheduled at 1:30 p.m. June 7 in Central Court.
