Bates charged in shop burglaries
State police early Wednesday morning arrested a man accused of breaking into his parents’ Butler pizza shop and stealing nearly $1,000.
Shane M. Bates, 24, was caught on an arrest warrant about 2:45 a.m. in New Castle
Several hours later, District Judge Sue Haggerty arraigned Bates, who has no known address, on a felony charge of burglary and a misdemeanor charge of theft. He is in the Butler County Prison on $50,000 bail.
Bates on consecutive nights last month allegedly broke into Pizza Joe’s on North Main Street. His parents, Jeffrey and Kari Eberhardt of Center Township, own the business.
The Eberhardts on June 2 notified police after they discovered money missing from the store’s cash register drawer at the business. The couple also reported six burglar alarms that went off in May.
At first they suspected that the alarms were false alarms. But when they reviewed the video from the store’s security system, they noticed at least two of the alarms were from burglaries.
And the owners immediately recognized the suspect — their son.
The footage, according to court documents, showed Bates enter the front door and “run directly back to the alarm key pad and disable the alarm” while the business was closed.
Police said the video showed him taking money from the cash register. In all, he allegedly stole a combined $960 from the break-ins May 30 and 31.
Bates’ preliminary hearing is 2 p.m. Monday before District Judge William Fullerton.
