A man charged with a series of thefts at convenience stores in Homer City, Blairsville and Lucernemines was apprehended by police on December 6th.
State police have now filed more charges against 44-year-old James Fitzgerald Higgins of Josephine. Troopers say that on November 24th, Higgins went to the Sheetz on Route 22 East in Burrell Township and allegedly stole five Slim Jim individual snack packages totaling $17.45. When he started to flee the scene in a red Volkswagen Beetle, he backed up and hit the leg of a Sheetz employee that had gone out to write down his license plate number.
In addition to this theft and reckless endangerment case, new charges against Higgins included a count of retail theft of alcoholic beverages and a sandwich from $12.28 at the Sheetz on 119 near Homer City on November 21st. Another count of retail theft was filed for a theft on November 24th at the same location, where he allegedly stole $15.78 worth of alcoholic beverages.
Higgins was previously charged in the theft of about $35 worth of gasoline from Venard’s Crossroads Convenience Store on Lucerne Road on November 27th, and the theft of two alcoholic beverages totaling $18.48 on December 1st at the Sheetz on Route 119 south near Lucernemines.
Higgins was taken into custody and placed in Indiana County Jail in lieu of $50,000 cash bail on the charges of reckless endangerment and theft from November 24th. A preliminary hearing on that case will be heard on December 17th before District Judge Susanne Steffee. Preliminary hearings have not been set yet for the other four cases.
