Courts. (Credit: Flickr/Creative Commons)
The defendant was charged a day before the alleged burglary with assault and terroristic threats
A former Upper Gwynedd man remains jailed on $2 million cash bail after waiving numerous charges lodged against him by Upper Gwynedd Police at a preliminary hearing this month stemming from two separate arrests involving a burglary and threatening to have a person killed.
Robert George Blue, 65, of Asbury Avenue, Ocean City, New Jersey, waived five felony charges Dec. 19 in connection with a burglary of a home on Nov. 15, where he allegedly left an axe on a pillow, wrote threats on a mirror in nail polish, and stole a jewelry box and cash.
On the same day, he also waived charges filed against him in a separate incident from Nov. 14 by Upper Gwynedd Police.
Blue is set to be arraigned in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court on Jan. 29 on felony charges of burglary, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, stalking repeatedly to cause fear, and criminal trespassing, and misdemeanor counts of terroristic threats, simple assault, criminal mischief, harassment by communicating repeatedly during inconvenient hours, defiant trespassing and harassment via lewd and threatening messages, from the Nov. 15 incident, per court records.
He will also be arraigned on misdemeanor charges of simple assault, terroristic threats and harassment from the Nov. 14 incident, police said.
On Nov. 15, police responded to a home on Crest Road for a burglary involving a stolen jewelry box and stolen money, per the complaint.
An axe was found on the victim’s pillow and a threatening message – “F--- You” – was written on the mirror, police allege.
A day before, the victim responded to Upper Gwynedd police headquarters to report Blue had been threatening to choke the victim and hire someone to kill them, police allege. The same day, police filed charges against Blue with simple assault, terroristic threats and harassment, police said.
On the morning of Nov. 15, Ocean City Police took custody of Blue at his home at 10 a.m. on those charges, per the affidavit.
On Nov. 15, police processed the scene of the burglary, in which the victim left the home at 6:45 p.m. the day prior and returned home at 10 a.m. to find it burglarized, police said.
There were no signs of forced entry and Blue has access to the house, police said.
In one bedroom, police found a large felling axe on the bed, with the head resting on the right pillow. A bottle of nail polish was poured over the bed, pillow and axe and the bottle was left on the bed, police said.
Police said the victim recognized the axe as belonging to Blue, who would store it in the garage of the residence on a hook on the wall. The mirror on the dresser had the derogatory message written in nail polish and a jewelry box with $3,000 in jewelry was missing from the house, police said.
An envelope with $800 in cash was also missing from a bedroom drawer, police said.
A handprint in pink nail polish was found on the handrail of the stairs between the first and second floors, which matched the color used in the message on the mirror, police allege.
A certified fingerprint examiner compared the print to an arrest of Blue in 2023 and found the print matched, police said.
Police used resources to find video showing Blue’s 2016 black Toyota Corolla leaving Ocean City, NJ on Nov. 15 at 1:10 a.m., then appearing again near the Walt Whitman Bridge at 2:12 a.m. headed into Pennsylvania, and then observed leaving New Jersey at 4:03 a.m., police said. Investigators allege this was inside the time that the victim was not at the residence.
Blue’s car was allegedly viewed in Plymouth Township at 3:37 a.m., traveling toward New Jersey. Police said Blue called several neighbors and family friends asking them to check and see if the victim was home, prior to entering Pennsylvania.
A search warrant was obtained for Blue’s car and a single charm bracelet was found in the trunk under the mat, which the victim confirmed as belonging to them, police said. Police also found $770 in cash in Blue’s glovebox, per the affidavit.
A search warrant was obtained for Blue’s Ocean City home and two tissues were found in the bathroom trashcan that had pink residue matching nail polish used at the crime scene, investigators allege. In the cabinet of the sink next to the trashcan was a bottle of acetone nail polish remover, police said.
Furthermore, police found numerous text messages from the victim’s phone, which allegedly showed life-threatening and derogatory messages and 18 missed calls from Blue, per the complaint.
Charges were then filed by police on Nov. 28 and Blue was arraigned on all charges in both cases the next day, per court records. Bail was set at $500,000 cash in the Nov. 14 arrest and $2 million cash bail in the Nov. 15 arrest, per court documents.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
