Murrysville police arrest 3 connected to thefts in Allegheny, Westmoreland counties
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The arrests of three people in Murrysville this week may help solve multiple crimes in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties.
Murrysville police searched a Wiestertown Road home, where they seized a quantity of crystal methamphetamine, smoking pipes, digital scales, a stolen handgun and multiple other stolen items, according to court papers.
Arrested on Tuesday were Amber Carner, 23, of Wiestertown Road; Robert Carpenter, 39, who was living at the residence; and Daniel P. Lipford, 33, of Cheswick.
All were charged by police with possession, manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance, theft, receiving stolen property and illegal possession of a stolen handgun in connection with the ongoing investigation.
Lipford, who also lived in Gibsonia, had just been released from the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh on Thursday on $5,000 bond after his Feb. 15 arrest by Indiana Township police on 18 counts related to multiple break-ins of vehicles there. He was charged that same day by Shaler police with driving under the influence of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance.
Officers from those communities contacted Murrysville police to tell them Lipford reported to investigators that he was storing many stolen items inside Carner’s Murrysville residence.
Also on Tuesday, according to court records, Swissvale police contacted Murrysville officers about an investigation of a vehicle theft in which Carpenter and Carner were implicated.
While watching the Wiestertown Road house as investigators obtained a search warrant, officers say they saw Carner and Lipford drive past in another SUV, park in Murrysville Community Park and then walk toward the house.
Murrysville Officer Daniel Cox said police stopped the pair and Lipford dropped an orange bag to the ground that he admitted contained multiple “stolen watches.” Police also seized a knapsack they say Carner was carrying that contained “a large sum of cash,” Cox wrote.
“Lipford said he won the money at the casino but had given it to Carner because he owed her money,” Cox said.
Police said $1,500 was in the bag.
Carpenter, who was still inside the home, was arrested after Carner allowed investigators inside. Investigators said Carpenter told them he had lived in California but was temporarily living with Carner.
Inside the house, Cox reported it smelled of marijuana and Carner admitted the trio was smoking “dabs,” also known as marijuana wax, Monday night using butane torches. Cox said the windows of the home were covered and security cameras were positioned around the residence.
Police say they recovered the stolen handgun, stolen computers, two robot vacuum cleaners, a purse, gift cards, credit cards and clothing that were believed to be stolen from vehicles in Murrysville in recent days. At least one of the laptops was stolen in Allegheny County, investigators reported.
Murrysville police Chief Thomas Seefeld said police are still investigating “where all the stolen items came from.”
“It’s an ongoing investigation,” he said.
After police took the trio to the station for questioning, investigators said Lipford tipped them that Carpenter and Carner were hiding a quantity of methamphetamine inside a hairspray bottle and hairbrush handle “inside of a couch,” Cox reported.
The meth, plus some Suboxone, were recovered “from the hidden compartments,” Cox said.
Lipford also told police he often drove Carpenter around “to commit vehicle thefts, but none of these were in Murrysville.”
The three were arraigned before District Judge Helen Kistler and ordered to the county jail after failing to post $35,000 bond each. Preliminary hearings are scheduled March 3 before Export District Judge Charles Conway.