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Man accused of stealing from his hospitalized mother

A homeless Butler County man was arrested and arraigned during the weekend on charges filed in December which accuse him of using his hospitalized mother’s debit card and forging her signature for those purchases.

Donald Burk was arraigned Friday night by District Judge Sue Haggerty, and placed in Butler County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bond.

State police Dec. 10 filed charges against Burk, including felony counts of forgery, identity theft, unauthorized device access and theft, as well as one misdemeanor count of tampering with records.

According to charging documents, Burk’s mother called police Nov. 18 a few days after being released from a hospital, where she had been for about two weeks. She told officers that her son had dropped her off at the hospital and kept her car, inside of which was her purse containing her debit card.

Police said after reviewing bank statements, $3,524 had been used without his mother’s permission. Police said they also have security footage of Burk making purchases at stores and using ATMs.

“During that time, Burk had possession of (his mother’s) purse and debit card,” police said. “Some transactions also required a signature in which Burk forged (his mother’s) name.”

In this case, Burk is scheduled to appear June 28 before District Judge Lewis Stoughton; however, Burk also has two other pending criminal cases.

Both cases are listed as inactive and carry bench warrants for Burk’s arrest for failing to appear in court. Burk had been released on his own recognizance for one case and issued a nonmonetary bond in the other.

On July 7, police arrested and charged Burk, who was then a Petrolia resident, with a first-offense DUI, related to a disturbance call to the Big Butler Fairgrounds in Franklin Township. Police said a breath test that night showed Burk's blood-alcohol content was 0.173%. In Pennsylvania, a level of 0.08% is considered intoxicated.

And on Aug. 26, Burk was charged with terroristic threats and harassment, after police said Burk threatened another arrested person in the back of a police cruiser. Police said the two were arrested at separate incidents but shared the cruiser’s back seat, and Burk began threatening to “bury” and “rape” the other man.

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