UPDATE: Jacob Alan Lawson entered guilty pleas to felony burglary and a misdemeanor count of possession of an instrument of crime. All other charges were not prosecuted. He was ordered to serve four years of probation.
WHAT WE PREVIOUSLY REPORTED
One of the suspects in the 2020 Christmas Season burglary of the Top Shelf Tobacco store will be in court today to enter his pleas.
Court documents say that Jacob Alan Lawson of Blairsville faces felony counts of burglary and criminal trespass, along with misdemeanor theft, possession of an instrument of crime and criminal mischief-tampering with property for the incident on December 24th of 2020. At the time, police said the alarm at the shop in the 800 block of Wayne Avenue went off around 5:50 AM. When officers arrived, no one was there but a window was found open. A second alarm went off an hour later. The owner of the shop gave police surveillance video that showed Lawson and co-conspirator 21-year-old Bailey Charles Edwards of Indiana in the store committing the burglary. The two were found in the area and taken into custody.
Edwards entered a guilty plea in July of last year to a burglary charge and was sentenced to one month to a day less than two years in Indiana County Jail and two years of probation.
Also entering pleas today in Indiana County Court are:
- John Naugle of Homer City, who is charged with possession of a controlled substance and of drug paraphernalia along with summary harassment for an incident on February 28th of 2021.
- Maddee Tribune of Philadelphia, who is charged with theft, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and harassment for an incident on May 6th of 2019.
