EMPORIUM (EC) — Two Elk County residents have been charged with several crimes after unlawfully entering a Shippen Township home and threatening several occupants.
Police were called to investigate an alleged burglary at a house on Old West Creek Road on Feb. 15, wherein victims reported three men entered the home and threatened them with bodily harm.
An affidavit of probable cause on file at Magisterial District Judge Barry Brown’s office in Emporium indicates two unknown and one known individual entered the structure, proceeded to one of the home’s bedrooms, and “threatened bodily harm upon the victims if he would not make good on his debt of $425 to his friend.”
One of the victims told police he was resting in his bed after returning from the hospital, and that the known individual was a past friend of his who was not welcome in his home. That victim did also confirm owing money to one of the defendants, 26-year-old Matthew John Meholic of St. Marys, and identified him as one of the intruders. One of the other two men, Michael Paul Knepp, 40, of Dagus Mines, was identified through a Facebook photograph, according to the affidavit.
Police documents also state that St. Marys City Police provided them with Meholic’s phone number so that Emporium officers could contact the alleged perpetrator. When the number was called, Knepp answered the phone and told officers that he had been with Meholic when they confronted and threatened the victim over the debt, according to police. Knepp later allegedly told police the men knocked on the door and entered without being invited.
The duo has been charged with felony burglary and criminal trespass, along with a misdemeanor count of simple assault and a summary harassment offense.
Each have been released on $25,000 provided through a bail bondsman. Preliminary hearings had been scheduled for March 2, but were continued until 9:30 and 10 a.m. March 23. Meholic is being represented by attorney Bradley Kraus, while Knepp will be counseled by Public Defender Tabia Cole.
