Lansdale Police. Photo by James Short.
Police connected a man to the breaking and entering of Rita's Water Ice in Lansdale.
Detectives with Lansdale Police allege they connected a man to a burglary at Rita’s Water Ice earlier this month after a bag of liquid custard labeled “Rita’s” and the clothes seen on the suspect in surveillance footage were found inside a stolen car during a search warrant.
Marlon Ramon Avila, 39, who does not have a listed address and is formerly from Colorado Springs, CO, was charged with felony counts of burglary and criminal trespassing, and misdemeanor charges of theft and receiving stolen property, according to charging documents.
Authorities said they were able to arrest and charge Avila through the assistance of an off-duty Lower Providence Township Police officer.
On Oct. 5, at 8:44 a.m., police responded to a report of a breaking and entering at the 214 N. Broad St. Rita’s Water Ice location, and upon arrival, the owner reported $300 was missing from two cash drawers and a safe with $400 in it was unbolted from a desk, police said.
Via surveillance footage, police found that employees accidentally left the door ajar from the night before, per the affidavit.
At 2:07 a.m. Oct. 5, surveillance footage shows a man, who police allege as Avila, enter the store with a mask covering his face. Footage shows Avila in the safe room, removing cash from a register drawer, before he covers the camera with a sticker, police said.
Surveillance allegedly shows Avila in the interior rear of the store, where he takes down his mask, revealing his entire face, police said. He places the safe and liquid custard into a cardboard box and puts all the change from the register drawers into his pockets, per the complaint.
Exterior surveillance footage shows Avila walking with the box behind 216 N. Broad St., wearing a black sweatshirt with a red hood, a red-brimmed hat with a circle sticker and circular emblem on front, a black scarf, black and white-checkered pants, and tattoos on his right wrist, police said.
Later in the day of the burglary, at 10:06 a.m., police are called to C&J Automotive, 750 N. Cannon Ave., Lansdale, for a report of a stolen vehicle, per the affidavit.
An off-duty Lower Providence officer saw a blue Toyota RAV4, with a missing spare wheel, in the parking lot of the auto garage, and recognized it as stolen out of Worcester Township. Lansdale Police confirmed it was stolen upon arrival, and identified Avila as the driver, police said.
Read more on the stolen vehicle incident and related charges against Avila here.
A search warrant on the RAV4 located the hat, the checkered pants, the bag of liquid custard, a black scarf, and a bag of loose and rolled coins, police said.
Avila remains in Montgomery County jail on $10,077 cash bail, which includes a parole/probation detainer, per court records. He faces a preliminary hearing on both separate arrests on Nov. 6 at 11:45 a.m. before Magisterial District Judge Ed Levine.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
