A Ligonier Township man has been jailed for violating parole after he was charged with breaking into vehicles in Prince Gallitzin State Park in Cambria County and using credit cars pilfered from them.
Ronald S. Fetterman Jr., 43, , of 56 Old Lincoln Highway West, also is a suspect in similar vehicle break-ins in Linn Run State Park in Ligonier Township, according to complaints filed before District Judge Mary Ann Zanghi in Mineral Point, Cambria.
On Sept. 14, Prince Gallitzin park officers received complaints that someone smashed out a window of a 2001 Dodge Durango while the occupants were on the lake, and that a Chevrolet Suburban was entered after a window was broken, Prince Gallitzin Ranger Joseph Eckenrod said in a probable cause affidavit.
Purses containing wallets and credit cards were removed from under the seats in both vehicles, according to the affidavit.
Eckenrod alleges that someone began using the credit cards a day later at a Sheetz in Nanty Glo and again at a Dollar General Store in East Taylor, also in Cambria. A surveillance tape at the Sheetz shows the car filled with gas on the stolen card was registered to Fetterman, who sometimes stays at a Johnstown residence, according to Eckenrod.
Gallitzin rangers heard about similarities to break-ins at Linn Run and contacted officials there. Fetterman has not been charged with any of the Linn Run incidents, according to court records.
Linn Run officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Late last month, park rangers executed a search warrant on Fetterman's Ligonier home and vehicle and discovered a pry bar and hammer in the front seat area. Also confiscated were several receipts from various stores, where the stolen credit cards allegedly were used.
Authorities questioned a Bolivar woman, a friend of Fetterman's who was with him at the time of the Gallitzin break-ins. She told park officials she was not aware of the break-ins, but she was with him when he allegedly used the credit cards to buy $20 worth of gas at Sheetz and $146 worth of items at Dollar General.
Among the items Fetterman charged to the stolen credit card was "a black rose" he gave to Edgerton, Eckenrod said in the affidavit.
Edgerton told park rangers Fetterman also attempted to use a stolen credit card at a Dollar General in Seward, but he was declined.
Fetterman was on parole from a 2003 robbery conviction where he was sentenced to five years in prison. He is charged with forgery, access device fraud, theft, receiving stolen property and criminal mischief in connection with the Cambria incident.
A preliminary hearing before Zanghi has not been scheduled.
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