Patrick Carpenter, 29, of Lansdale, taken in September 2023.
The Lansdale man was previously convicted for child pornography.
A convicted sex offender pleaded no contest in Montgomery County court last month to a 2014 burglary on East Fourth Street in Lansdale, according to court records.
Patrick Carpenter, 29, of the 100 block of East Second Street, Lansdale, pleaded no contest to criminal trespassing by breaking into a structure and received two years’ probation from Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Risa Vetri Ferman on May 9, stemming from a July 21, 2014 Lansdale burglary.
Carpenter was not prosecuted on charges of felony burglary and misdemeanor receiving stolen property and theft by unlawful taking, per court records. He was represented by public defender Patricia E. Cassidy.
Carpenter was initially charged in September 2023 with felony counts of burglary and trespassing, along with misdemeanor counts of theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property, after DNA taken from a pair of knives found at the scene were found to be a match to a sample provided by Carpenter, police said.
The initial investigation began on July 21, 2014, when Lansdale Police were dispatched to the unit block of East Fourth Street for a report of an early-morning burglary. The homeowner told police that her dog started barking around 2:50 a.m. and when she went downstairs, she noticed her purse was no longer where she left it. The woman told police she located her purse in an enclosed back porch and noticed that a window had been opened, and investigators said the window had a broken hinge and believed someone with prior knowledge of the broken window had used it to gain access to the home.
The woman reported to police that $150 to $200 in cash had been stolen from her purse.
Investigators found a plastic lawn chair on the ground outside of the window, along with shoe prints and a six-inch steak knife, according to the criminal complaint. Two knives were recovered from the scene, including the six-inch steak knife outside near the chair, which the woman didn’t recognize, and a wood-handled kitchen knife, which was found on the kitchen floor and belonged to her, according to police.
Both knives were sent to the Pennsylvania State Police Bethlehem Regional Laboratory on July 25, 2014, for a blood analysis, police said. The case then went cold for nine years, until investigators received a DNA analysis in July 2023 from the Pennsylvania State Police Forensic DNA Division indicating a positive match had been made between blood tested from the knives and a previous sample belonging to Carpenter, police said.
Investigators then requested a reference sample from Carpenter, which also resulted in a DNA match, according to police.
No explanation was provided within the affidavit of probable cause explaining the nine-year delay in processing the blood samples from the 2014 incident.
Carpenter had just been released from county jail prior to his September 2023 arrest after being sentenced to 377 days of time served and probation stemming from an August 2019 burglary and assault along the 700 block of West Third Street in Lansdale.
While on bail for those charges in April 2021, Carpenter was also arrested on child pornography charges, which he pleaded guilty to in May 2023 and was sentenced to 60-days-to-12-months in county jail, followed by probation.
In March 2022, Carpenter pleaded guilty to felony criminal trespassing and misdemeanor simple assault in connection with the August 2019 arrest, as well as two felony counts of possession of child pornography stemming from the April 2021 arrest. All other charges were withdrawn at sentencing, which was deferred pending a pre-sentencing investigation, according to court records.
Details from August 2019 Arrest
According to the criminal complaint, Lansdale Police responded to the 700 block of West Third Street at 12:29 a.m. on Aug. 1, 2019, for a report of a burglary in progress. The caller advised police that a man had entered her home through a window and proceeded to attack her son in the kitchen.
Upon arrival, police encountered the suspect — identified as then-25-year-old Patrick Carpenter — subdued on the floor by the homeowner’s son. Carpenter was then immediately taken into custody.
The son told police that he had just gotten home and was in his kitchen when he suddenly saw Carpenter standing in the room. The report states that, without speaking, Carpenter attacked him, punching him at least eight time with a closed fist in the head, and causing wounds to the son’s cheeks, lip, elbow and chest. Carpenter then attempted to flee through a window, but the son was able to wrestle him to the floor and subdue him until police arrived, according to the report.
During a search of Carpenter, the report states that police found marijuana, drug paraphernalia, a pair of scissors and a small purple flashlight. Additional investigation revealed that Carpenter had cut through a side screen to gain entry to the home, according to the report.
Details from April 2021 Arrest
Between Nov. 21, 2020, and Dec. 28, 2020, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received four cyber-tips from Google and Yahoo regarding nearly 300 images and videos of suspected child pornography being uploaded from local email accounts, investigators said. The files reportedly depicted underage boys and girls — including some who were prepubescent — both posing and being sexually abused by adults, according to the criminal complaint.
All of the cyber-tips were eventually traced to Carpenter’s home along the 100 block of East Second Street, the report states. On March 11, 2021, a search warrant was executed on his home, with police recovering a pair of digital tablets, according to the complaint.
On one tablet, police said they discovered a variety of pornography, but none that would be classified as child pornography, the report states. However, on the second tablet, investigators discovered 45 videos and 129 images of child pornography, the report states.
Additionally, the email address registered to the second tablet was tied to a cyber-tip from Facebook dated July 4, 2019, regarding a user account that had uploaded child pornography to the social media site, according to the complaint.
When questioned by police, Carpenter stated that he was unfamiliar with the email accounts and added that he doesn’t use the internet much, according to the complaint.
