Limerick man allegedly told police he had no idea how he got onto the property after leaving Creekside Carbaret, climbing fence
At a preliminary hearing Tuesday, a Limerick man originally accused of leaving a Hatfield Township strip club, hopping a fence at a wastewater treatment plant, stealing a municipal work truck and joyriding it around the property while intoxicated and carrying a THC vape cartridge, had three felonies withdrawn and numerous DUI charges held for county court.
William Franklin Hordis III, 38, of the 5300 block of Drawbridge Court, had a felony charge each of burglary, receiving stolen property and theft withdrawn at the hearing, but other charges were held for Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, including felony criminal trespassing, six misdemeanor counts of DUI, misdemeanor counts of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia; and a summary count of defiant trespass.
Hatfield Police were dispatched around 9:49 p.m. Nov. 1, 2025, to the Hatfield Township Municipal Authority’s main wastewater treatment plant on Advance Lane for a report of an intoxicated man who had “hopped the fence,” gotten into a vehicle and was driving it around the fenced property, the affidavit said. The property is under constant video surveillance, police said.
When officers arrived, the gates were closed and the facility was fully enclosed by fencing posted with “authorized vehicles only” and “no trespassing” signs warning that trespassers would be prosecuted. An authority employee told police a co-worker radioed that an unknown man was driving a work vehicle inside the secured plant, and the employee then saw the man driving a 2013 silver GMC Sierra authority truck, valued at $70,000, around one of the aeration tanks.
The employee said he ordered the driver to stop and get out, and the man waved, shut off the truck and exited; the employee said the man was not an authority worker and was not authorized to operate their vehicles, police said.
Police found Hordis sitting nearby. He told officers he had been at Creekside Cabaret on Advance Lane with friends and did not know how he ended up on the authority property, according to the affidavit. Next to him, officers observed a vape cartridge containing what they believed to be liquid THC, police said.
Police reported smelling alcohol on Hordis and noted slurred speech; field sobriety tests showed signs of impairment, and he was taken into custody for DUI and related offenses at about 10:11 p.m., the document said.
Officers transported Hordis to Jefferson Lansdale Hospital, where blood was drawn for DUI testing at 10:50 p.m., according to the affidavit.
He is free on $5,000 unsecured bail. Formal arraignment is set for May 20. He is represented by defense attorney Steven Fisher Fairlie.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
