Donora man wanted in burglaries
DONORA – A Donora man is wanted in a series of burglaries involving the thefts of valuable jewelry and tools.
District Judge Mark Wilson signed two warrants Thursday for the arrest of William Robert Ryan Jr., 39, on charges of burglary, theft, trespassing, receiving stolen property and criminal mischief, court records show.
Police said Ryan had been wanted on a bench warrant for failure to appear in Washington County Court in a previous drug case, prompting officers to go to his 101 Fourth St. home about 6:15 p.m. Nov. 24.
Ryan is accused of having four stamp bags of heroin when officers found him that day in his bedroom. He later signed a two-page confession to stealing jewelry from an older woman in the borough and thousands of dollars of tools from his former employer, police said.
He is accused of kicking down the rear door to a house in the 900 block of McKean Avenue on Oct. 22 to steal two gold and diamond rings and one gold and emerald ring with a combined value of $4,750, court records show.
The rings were then sold to a pawn shop in Belle Vernon and melted down before police could recover them, the affidavit indicates.
Ryan is accused of entering the house twice and also stealing money from the woman, who told police she had been terrified to be in her house because of the burglaries.
Another criminal complaint accuses Ryan of using a key that had been stored on the outside of a box truck parked in the 100 block of Modisette Avenue about 8:40 a.m. Nov. 20 to get inside the vehicle to steal tools.
Most of the tools, owned by Shaffer Masonry, were sold by Ryan to other contractors in the area, according to his alleged confession.
Ryan told police he is a drug addict and stole the items to buy food and drugs, the record claims.
Police placed him in Washington County jail on the bench warrant. After pleading guilty to the other drug case, he was released Wednesday on probation, online court records show.