Welcome to True Crime Tuesday! I like to occasionally cover cases that may not receive as widespread media attention as homicides...and today is one such case.
As you may have guess based on the title of this post, it involves some burglary, property damage, and critical government infrastructure.
Just last week, on Wednesday, August 5th, at approximately 10:00 am, Kevin Waller (24, Philadelphia) was at his ex-girlfriend's residence just a few miles away from York City, Pennsylvania. It is unclear what he was doing there, but Northeastern Regional Police were dispatched to the ex-girlfriend's residence for a report of a "psychiatric problem". Upon arrival, Officer George of the NERPD made contact with Mr. Waller and had him gather his things and vacate the premises. Waller's ex-girlfriend was fearful that Waller would return, and therefore the officer remained in the vicinity. Sure enough, Waller did return at approximately 12:00 pm, at which time Officer George arrested Waller for trespassing.
Waller was arraigned at approximately 1:30 pm, taken to Central Booking (in York City), and released on $10,000 unsecured bail by approximately 3:00 pm. His official charge was a third-degree misdemeanor charge of defiant trespass after actual communication.
Upon his release at 3:00 pm, it is also alleged that Waller then committed the act of burglary when breaking into a residence at 128 S. George Street in York City. Information related to this was discovered the following day at approximately 12:00 pm.
At approximately 9:00 pm on Wednesday, a woman called 911 after seeing someone break into the City of York's City Hall building. She described seeing a man that was "shirtless" but had a "face covering" on. Police arrived to find exterior and interior doors damaged. Once inside, police found Waller in a hallway "shirtless" and wearing a "face covering", holding a fire extinguisher and "several laptop bags". He was arrested, and charged with two felonies of the second degree related to trespassing/burglary, as well as one felony of the third degree of criminal mischief related to the damage he caused. His bail was set at $100,000, and being unable to post that, he is still incarcerated in the York County Prison as of August 11th.
The extent of the damage inside was smashed doors, glass, offices, computers/servers. It is suspected that Waller utilized the fire extinguisher to create the physical damage. There is also reports that some "flooding" and "chemicals" were used on electronic infrastructure, creating further damage.
The damage to servers created issues for the city (and county offices) related to Internet and phones being down. Access to information was limited, as well as certain web page functions such as online bill pay. As a result of the extensive damage, City Hall was closed to the public on Thursday and Friday. Total damages are not fully known, as an adjuster was going to come and assess the scene, but estimates are at approximately $350,000.
[Photo of entrance to York City Hall after damage. Photo credit: Scott Fisher]
Waller's recorded criminal history prior to this one-day spree, included a charge/conviction of a summary offense of harassment- subject other to physical contact on September 21, 2019. It is unclear, but my belief is that this is also related to the ex-girlfriend as it occurred in the same township as he was arrested for the August 5th incident and the nature of the charge.
Motives?
Waller may have been experiencing some emotional problems related to his girlfriend, which resulted in the reported incident there. This theory would be further supported if the incident in 2019 involved the same relationship. The break-in he is reported to have committed at 128 S. George St, it is unclear of his connection to that location. He was not charged as of yet with the theft of any property from that location. As for the incident reported at City Hall, perhaps Waller felt angry toward the City, government, law enforcement, authority figures after just having been arraigned on the other charge. People reading this may think that he was acting erratic at the time of the City Hall incident based on the fact that he was not wearing a shirt. However, he was wearing a face covering, and either for purposes of reducing virus transmission or concealing his identity (or both), Waller seems to have some forethought that his reported actions were unlawful, especially if he was doing so with intent to conceal his identity.
What's next?
Waller has a preliminary hearing set for August 17 for the charges related to the burglaries and City Hall incident. His preliminary hearing for the trespassing offense from earlier on the 5th is set for September 3. Once both hearings are held, if enough evidence is presented to suggest that the case proceed to the county courthouse for trial, or Waller "waives" his rights to the hearings and it proceeds, formal arraignment will occur likely within a month or so. After that, a trial date will be set and he can either plead guilty or no contest, with or without plea bargaining, or proceed with a trial. If found guilty, Waller could face time incarcerated as well as a large sum restitution to pay for the damages. Any victims in the case, which would include the City of York, could present victim impact statements at the time he is sentenced (again if found or pleads guilty), to discuss how the case has affected them.
Thank you for reading, as always! If you liked reading this post, and are interested in others, please subscribe on my blog website to receive posts in your email. You can also follow Neurolawgical on Facebook and Instagram for links to the posts and other content. Please feel free to connect and talk with me on those platforms as well as email neurolawgical@gmail.com. I'm always looking to interact and get suggestions or answer questions.
[Sources: UJS PA Online Court Docket System: Cases-MJ-19311-NT-0000281-2019, MJ-19311-CR-0000201-2020, MJ-19104-CR-0000191-2020; Logan Hullinger York Dispatch "Police: York City Hall break-in last of three-location spree" August 8, 2020; Teresa Boeckel and Jasmine Vaughn-Hall of the York Daily Record "Good news for York City Hall, but building remains closed" August 6, 2020, Pennsylvania Statewide Automated Victim Information and Notification system PA DOC.]