An Upper Gwynedd man is in custody at the Bucks County Correctional Facility after DNA testing allegedly linked him to the theft of a trailer filled with merchandise from the Hilltown Walmart.
Timothy Morvin, 38, has been charged with two felony counts of theft by unlawful taking and one felony count of receiving stolen property, in connection with the January 2022 incident. He’s currently being held in lieu of 10% of $200,000 cash bail, court records show.
Hilltown Township Police were dispatched to the Walmart on Bethlehem Pike on Jan. 19, 2022, for a report of a 2007 Hyundai semi-trailer that had been stolen from the rear of the building the prior evening. The trailer reportedly contained $74,705.56 of merchandise, and it was later found abandoned on North Fifth Street in Philadelphia with all its contents missing, police said.
Security footage from the scene showed a white truck tractor arrive to the store at 9:46 p.m. on Jan. 16, 2022, at which time the tractor backed up to the trailer, hitched the trailer, then drove away southbound on Bethlehem Pike, according to police. Investigators later learned that the truck tractor had been stolen from a location in West Rockhill Township and, like the trailer, it was later found abandoned in Philadelphia approximately 1.1 miles from where the trailer was recovered, police said.
According to the criminal complaint, police investigating the initial theft of the truck tractor spoke with a man who said he, along with a woman, met with Morvin on Jan. 16 at the Burlington Coat Factory in the Hilltown Crossings Shopping Center. The man said Morvin was driving the stolen truck tractor at the time, and added that Morvin later hitched the stolen trailer to the stolen truck and drove it to Philadelphia, where they unloaded the merchandise from the trailer, the report states.
Investigators later spoke with the woman, who said she and the man were contacted by Morvin to meet at Burlington Coat Factory, where she observed Morvin driving the stolen truck tractor, police said. The woman said she was then forced into the cab of the truck, at which point Morvin allegedly hitched it to the trailer and drove to Philadelphia.
Surveillance footage from Burlington Coat Factory corroborated the man and woman’s account of events, as well as locating a second suspect that hasn’t been identified, according to charging documents. The man and woman’s names are being withheld as they have not been charged in connection with the investigation.
In late August of this year, investigators received the results of testing performed on a DNA sample that was recovered from the stolen truck tractor in comparison to a sample secured from Morvin via a search warrant. Investigators said the results showed the DNA recovered from the stolen vehicle was a match to Morvin, and charges were subsequently filed on Sept. 21.
Morvin was taken into custody on Sept. 25 and arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Gary Gambardella. His next court appearance is a preliminary hearing on Nov. 9 at 1:30 p.m. in front of Magisterial District Judge Regina Armitage.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using police reports, court records and the affidavit of probable cause.
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