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James George Murphy of Langhorne, Pa., is being held on $51,000 bail charged with eight counts of burglary and 10 counts of theft in connection with a string of break-ins – including burglaries at two schools – that took place earlier this month, police said. He also was charged with one count of possession of a controlled dangerous substance, less than 50 grams of marijuana.
Mr. Murphy, 30, was apprehended by police on Whitehead Road shortly after 3 p.m. July 4, after the minister at the Slackwood Presbyterian Church asked him to leave the church on Brunswick Pike.
Mr. Murphy allegedly entered the church, where he was confronted by the Rev. Lyman Fletcher. The minister talked to him for a few minutes and then asked him to leave, police said. The minister called police and pointed out the direction that Mr. Murphy was walking.
Mr. Murphy allegedly broke into the Slackwood Elementary School on Princeton Pike twice – one time between June 30 and July 2, and again on July 2.
The first time, he allegedly took 18 rolls of stamps and $115 in cash from the Slackwood Elementary School principal’s office, and $30 in coins from a juice machine. The break-in was discovered by police, who noticed a broken window in one of the classrooms.
In the second break-in at the school, Mr. Murphy took a 19-inch RCA color TV set, a VCR and a stereo CD player, police said. The items were valued at $1,050. He gained entry through a first-floor window.
At the Ben Franklin Elementary School on Princeton Pike, Mr. Murphy allegedly stole two walkie-talkies, a cordless telephone, a laptop computer, a VCR, stamps and $30 in loose change. The items were valued at $2,775. He broke a window in the front of the school to get inside, police said. The break-in occurred between July 3 and July 4.
On July 2, he allegedly broke into Sam’s Deli at 2230 Princeton Pike. He broke a window to get inside the restaurant, where he stole $370 from a cash register and $10 worth of disposable cigarette lighters, police said.
Mr. Murphy allegedly attempted to break into a Princeton Pike residence on July 3. He tried to get inside by breaking a basement window, but the audible burglar alarm scared him off, police said.
He allegedly entered the Stewart’s Root Beer stand on Brunswick Pike between July 3 and July 4. He took $30 from the cash register and $10 each from two change dispensers carried by the waiters, police said. He also took a ring and a wristwatch, worth a combined $1,400, from a shelf in the kitchen, police said.
Mr. Murphy was charged with one count each of burglary and theft after he broke into a car parked at the Lawrence Shopping Center July 3 and stole a camera and change worth a combined $30, police said. The car belonged to Filippa Carnevale of Princeton Pike.
Mr. Murphy is being held in the Mercer County Corrections Center.
