Breaking into wife's home brings prison term
A Portersville man was sentenced to state prison in Butler County Court Thursday, after being charged in two break-in incidents at his wife's home.
Bruce A. Locke, 46, was sentenced to 2 to 4 years in a state correctional facility by Judge William Shaffer.
He was also ordered to pay court costs.
Locke pleaded guilty Jan. 16 to two felony counts of criminal trespass.
He was initially charged with felony burglary after an incident Aug. 23 and felony criminal trespass after an incident Aug. 24. The second criminal trespass charge was later added to the Aug. 23 incident, and the remaining charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
In the Aug. 23 incident, Butler police filed charges after they said he broke into the Heim Avenue home of his wife, who has a protection from abuse order that bars Locke from the home, according to court documents.
The woman told officers that she was sleeping upstairs at about 4 a.m. when she awoke to Locke standing over her, police said. They went onto the front porch where, documents said, “he kept asking her why she left him and also why she got a PFA.”
She told him to leave several times, but he refused, and when police arrived Locke ran through the backyard.
When the woman went back into her house, she noticed a window on the side of her house had been forced open, police said.
Locke was charged the following day after another trespass incident at the home, when police said he again broke in while the woman was sleeping on the couch around 6 p.m.
When she awoke, Locke was in the home, and again ran when officers got there. He was later caught and charged.
Officers inspected the house and found a broken lock on a window and a torn screen, police said.
