View atop the Septa Parking Garage.
A man and woman from Brooklyn have been charged with multiple crimes after attempting to purchase two high-end bicycles from Pedaller Bike Shop in Lansdale on Aug. 30.
Ashley Powell, 29, female, and Rosmark Palen, 29, male, have been charged with two felony counts of identity theft, two felony counts of theft by unlawful taking-movable property, two felony counts of access devise counterfeit and multiple other felony charges.
According to police reports, the store had received a phone call on Aug. 29 asking if two specific and expensive bicycles were in stock. The employee informed the caller that they did have them in stock, but the bikes would not be available for pick up until the following day. Soon after, the employee received an order through Paypal for the same bicycles. but the following morning, the vendor received an email informing them the card had been stolen, the report states.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, when Powell and Palen arrived in the store to pick up the purchased bicycles the following day, the clerk notified police. The suspects then left the store and reportedly got into a U-Haul van, at which point officers arrived and asked them to step out.
Police say that upon inspection of the van, they located two credit cards—each of which was found to be fraudulent—as well as a New York State Identification Card not belonging to either suspect.
Both Powell and Palen were arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Ed Levine on Aug. 31, and remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility after failing to post $80,000 cash bail. They later were released after posting bail on Sept. 3. Both will be formally arraigned on Nov. 7.
(Editor's note: All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. Should the defendant choose to issue a public statement, or is later found not guilty or has the charges dropped, we will update this article accordingly.)
