A 31-year-old Tampa man faces trespassing, false alarm of fire and other charges after Palm Beach Police said he stole packages from the Basilica of St. Edward and Temple Emanu-El, according to court records.
Police took him into custody Sept. 1 on misdemeanor charges that also include larceny and loitering or prowling, and a felony charge of unarmed burglary of an unoccupied structure, according to court records. He remained at the Palm Beach County Jail on Sept. 8 with his bail set at $11,000, jail records show.
Police were called to the Basilica of St. Edward’s Parish Hall at 165 N. County Road just before 7:30 p.m. Sept. 1 when the fire alarm was activated, an arrest report said.
An officer walked around the hall and did not find any fire, smoke or damage, and Palm Beach Fire-Rescue personnel told the officer that someone had pulled a fire alarm at the front of the hall, the report said.
The fire alarm is in a place where a person would have to open a gate and go into another area, and Fire-Rescue officials told the officer they believed there was “malicious intent” to pull the alarm, the report said.
While at Parish Hall, Palm Beach Police received a call about a suspicious person who was walking with a white towel around Temple Emanu-El at 190 N. County Road, across the street from the hall, police said.
A person near the temple told police he saw the Tampa man run from the Parish Hall after the fire alarm went off, adding that he saw the man “‘lean’ onto the fire alarm prior to its activation,” the arrest report said.
The man told police that he went to the Parish Hall to deliver a newspaper but tripped on his shoelaces and accidentally pulled the fire alarm, according to the arrest report. Police said he still had the newspapers and there were no newspapers in the Parish Hall. A St. Edward employee told police that no one was allowed to deliver newspapers to the property and the man did not have permission to be there.
Police on Sept. 2 were called back to the Parish Hall by a church employee who told police that an Amazon package that was delivered the previous day was missing, according to an arrest report. The package held a rug valued at $19.99, the employee told police.
The employee told police that the Parish Hall’s surveillance footage showed the Tampa man open the package and then throw it into a trash can, the arrest report said. After seeing that footage, the employee checked the trash can and found the package, the report said.
Also on Sept. 2, police responded to a call from Temple Emanu-El, where an employee found a black backpack in a corner of the parking lot. Officers reviewed surveillance footage from the temple that showed the man put the backpack there the previous day, an arrest report said.
The surveillance footage also showed the man holding a package, the report said.
An employee at the temple told police that the package, which was missing, had belonged to her and it contained a black purse and wallet worth $189, the arrest report said.
The man has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges and has not yet filed a plea for the felony charge, court records show. He is being represented by the Palm Beach County Public Defender’s office, which as a policy does not comment on open cases.
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach Police: Man pulled church fire alarm, stole packages from church, temple
Reporting by Kristina Webb, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
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