District Court: Case of California Man Charged with Walmart Thefts Waived to Court

A California man charged with stealing thousands of dollars worth of items from the waived a Jan. 13 preliminary hearing before . 

Christopher Huellen, 28, of North Beachwood Drive, Los Angeles, is charged with two counts of retail theft, two counts of receiving stolen property, one count of conspiracy and five counts of defiant trespass after Cranberry police detectives investigated a series of August thefts at the Walmart.

Police said that on Aug. 3, Huellen and an unknown accomplice left the store with 19 external hard dives valued at $1,353. Later that day, Huellen pawned nine Seagate external hard drives at Ninja Entertainment in Pittsburgh. On Aug. 4, Huellen pawned another 10 Seagate external hard drives at the same entertainment store. Police said the serial numbers on the hard drives were able to be traced to the Cranberry Walmart.

On Aug. 6, Huellen and his unknown accomplice took a Blu-ray player from Walmart without paying for it, police said. On Aug. 30, Cranberry police officers were called to Walmart after a report that Huellen was in the store. Video surveillance showed Huellen concealing 12 pre-paid cell phones in an empty fan box and placing it on a shelf inside the store, presumably for him or an accomplice to buy at a later time, police said. Huellen already had left the area when officers arrived at the store.

Huellen also is charged with retail theft and two counts of defiant trespass from two incidents in September. On Sept. 3, Huellen left Walmart with five cell phones and two hard drives without paying for them, according to the criminal complaint that Cranberry police filed. The total value of the merchandise was $294.66.

On Sept 10, Walmart's video surveillance showed Huellen concealing six hard drives in an open lamp box. He was seen tearing five 32GB flash drives off security pegs. He later left the store without paying for the the flash drives. Later that day, Huellen took the lamp box concealing the stolen phones to the cash register and paid for the lamp but not the phones hidden inside the box. According to the criminal complaint, the total value of merchandise was $937.75.

Huellen is scheduled to be formally arraigned Feb. 21 before Butler County Common Pleas Judge Timothy McCune

The following people were charged and waived their scheduled Jan. 13 and Jan. 20 preliminary hearings before District Judge David Kovach in Cranberry.

Theft

• Latosha Lynn Murrell, 34, of Lorenz Avenue in Pittsburgh, charged with criminal conspiracy, retail theft and receiving stolen property. Cranberry Police said surveillance footage taken last Feb. 20 inside the WalMart store on Route 19 showed Murrell placing merchandise inside plastic Walmart-brand bags. Murrell and another man also removed two boxes of Sony-brand Xplod speakers from the store’s shelves. They then removed the speakers from one box and concealed them in the other box. The empty box was returned to the shelf. Police said Murrell also selected numerous items from the store’s grocery area and placed them in the white plastic bags. Murrell then bypassed the cash registers and left the store without paying for the items, police said. According to the criminal complaint, the total value of merchandise was $279.86.
• Tiffany Panza, 27, of Pittsburgh, charged with 17 counts of forgery, three counts of identity theft, one count of receiving stolen property and 17 counts of access device fraud. Cranberry Township police reported Panza received a stolen wallet, checkbook and driver’s license belonging to a Beaver County woman. On Dec. 14 and Dec. 15, Panza attempted to use the woman’s identity by signing the other’s woman name to checks, police said. Panza also used the Beaver County woman’s driver’s license when she attempted to pass the forged checks, police said.
• Cranberry police charged Jeffrey Alan Haslett, 28, of Pittsburgh with 17 counts of criminal conspiracy, 17 counts of criminal attempt, theft and receiving stolen property. Police said Haslett conspired with Panza to commit forgery, identity theft and access device fraud. Police said Haslett stole the wallet containing the checkbook and driver’s license of the Beaver County woman and gave it to Panzo to use.

DUI

• David Barnett, 48, of Shallowwood Circle in Cranberry, charged with driving under the influence, driving under the influence at the highest rate of alcohol, reckless driving, disregarding traffic lanes and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle. Cranberry police stopped Barnett at about 5 p.m. Nov. 24 after he was seen driving erratically on Route 19 before turning onto Rochester Road. Police said Barnett did not initially pull over when a patrolling officer activated his lights and sirens. Barnett's blood-alcohol level was 0.357 percent, above the state’s legal limit of 0.08 percent.
• John Walter Rekasie Sr., 51, of Central Avenue in North Versailles, charged with driving under the influence, driving under the influence at the high rate of alcohol and failure to use turning movements and required signals. Cranberry police stopped Rekasie at about 1 a.m. Dec. 8 along Route 19 after a report of an intoxicated driver in the area. Police said his blood-alcohol level was 0.158 percent, above the state’s legal limit of 0.08 percent.
• Mark E. Winters, 39, of Blue Ridge Drive in Cranberry, charged with driving under the influence, driving under the influence at the highest rate of alcohol, reckless driving, speeding and other traffic violations. Cranberry Police reported Winters drove away from an officer who tried to pull him over on Freedom Road at about midnight Dec. 4. Winters also drove in excess of 50 mph in the Blue Ridge neighborhood, which has a posted speed limited of 25 mph, before pulling over the car he was driving in front of his home in the neighborhood. Police said his blood-alcohol level was 0.193 percent, above the state’s legal limit of 0.08 percent.
• Wayne Griffen, 57, of Walnut Grove in Baden, charged with driving under the influence and driving under the influence at the highest rate of alcohol. Cranberry police were called to a two-vehicle accident involving a pickup truck driven by Griffin at about 5 p.m. Sept. 22 on Route 19 near the intersection with Glen Eden Road. Police said Griffen’s blood-alcohol level was 0.135 percent, above the state’s legal limit of 0.08 percent.

Assault

• Sean Michal O’Brien, 30, of Royal Oak Court in Cranberry, charged with simple assault and harassment. Cranberry Township police reported they were called to O’Brien’s home on Dec. 24 for a physical altercation between him and his fiancée.

Held for Court

• Tara Marie Wolfe, 31, of Constitution Boulevard in New Kensington, was held for court at a scheduled Jan. 13 preliminary hearing before Kovach. She is charged with prostitution, promoting prostitution, criminal use of a cell phone and possessing instruments of crime. During an investigation into suspected prostitution activities in Butler County, Cranberry detectives called Wolfe on her cell phone, which was advertised on the website backpages.com. The site openly solicits sexual active in exchange for payment. An undercover office arranged to meet Wolfe Nov. 30 in a hotel room on Route 19 in Cranberry. Wolfe agreed to engage in sexual activities with the undercover officer for $300. She also had a condom with her.