Crime & Safety

Crime Blotter: Suspected Church Burglar Charged With Stealing Gift Cards from Target

Joshua Garbowsky, 18, is charged with theft from Target while he was employed by the store, police said.

An 18-year-old man arrested in several church burglary cases in Penn Township has been charged with stealing Target gift cards while he was an employee at the Richland Township store, police said.

Joshua Matthew Garbowsky, 18, of Jeannette was charged March 8 with stealing gift cards and placing $1,600 in cash on them while he worked at the Richland Township store, according to a police report from Northern Regional Police Department.

The 2010 Penn-Trafford graduate also is charged in Westmoreland County with burglarizing churches in Penn Township. He is scheduled for a March 22 preliminary hearing for the church break-in cases before Magisterial District Judge Helen M. Kistler.

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In the Target gift cards case, a preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 25 before Magisterial District Judge Regis Welsh Jr.

Garbowski allegedly loaded the gift cards when no guests were present by selecting “cash payment” on the register, the report said.

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Some  were Target gift cards while others were Visa prepaid gift cards, according to the report.

“Each Target gift card was redeemed at McCandless and Butler Targets,” the police report stated, adding that on one transaction Garbowsky used his employee discount.

“Garbowsky has purchased numerous electronics items with the gift cards including an iPad, iPad accessories, iTunes cards, Monster FM iPod adapter, and six Xbox 360 games,” police reported.

The Visa prepaid gift cards were used at various gas stations and stores in the Gibsonia area, the report stated.

Construction Equipment Damaged

Workers at two construction sites arrived for work Monday, March 7, to find their companies’ equipment had been damaged over the weekend.

 A Joseph B. Fay Co. employee reported the windshield of a Mack water truck had been smashed with a rock, police said. The truck was parked on Graham Road at a Pennsylvania Turnpike construction site.

Heavy equipment at a construction site in the Lake MacLeod residential development was also vandalized, police said.

An employee from Helbig Construction Co. of Ambridge found the windows smashed from rocks that were still inside the Kobelco excavator and John Deere skid steer loader, police said. The equipment was parked at a 317 MacFadden Drive construction site.


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