Nov 15, 2024
A Philadelphia man is under arrest on charges of stealing a forklift from a Tinicum warehouse, doing donuts, crashing into vehicles then robbing a Wawa in Ridley before running into the doors of a church Thursday night. Tinicum Township police charged William Martin, 39, of the 1000 block of Race Street with two counts of burglary, five counts of theft and five counts of receiving stolen property. According to court documents filed by Tinicum Officer Sean Ryan, Martin’s crime spree began when he entered the Denny’s restaurant on Industrial Highway shortly after 5 p.m. and stole a woman’s wallet and a laptop belonging to the restaurant. The victim told police that a male with facial tattoos and wearing muddy clothing went into an employee-only area and took her wallet from her handbag. He then went down the street to a warehouse in the unit block of West Powhattan Avenue, accessed an unlocked bay door and entered the facility. Surveillance video showed Martin inside the unoccupied facility owned by Esstech Manufacturers. He is seen grabbing fire extinguishers from the wall and randomly spraying them around. He then ripped wires from computer servers and took a forklift from inside the building. He was seen driving west on Powhattan Avenue. Behind the building police found Martin’s wet and muddy clothing. About 6:11 p.m. police received a call in the area of the Clarion Hotel for an accident involving a forklift. A woman told police a man was doing donuts in the middle of the roadway. He lost control and the forklift went into the windshield of her SUV. Around the same time police in Ridley began to receive reports of a forklift doing donuts along the Industrial Highway near Sellers Avenue. They arrived to find it crashed into an unoccupied shuttle bus in the Springhill Suites parking lot. A few minutes later police learned the forklift was a mile away, headed to the Wawa on East Chester Pike near Taylor Hospital. Store employees said that Martin removed several bottles of Gatorade from the coolers and then went behind the counter and took three packs of cigarettes before leaving. He was last seen hauling down East Chester Pike in the forklift. Minutes later an Eddystone officer found the unoccupied forklift driven into the side doors of the Rehobeth Afaan Oromoo Church in the 600 block of East Chester Pike. Inside police found fire extinguishers sprayed around the altar. Martin was in a pew, and next to him was a bottle of Gatorade and the stolen laptop. He also had the stolen wallet and cigarettes. Court records indicate Martin was arraigned before District Justice Harry J. Karapalides who set bail at 10 percent of $250,000, which he was unable to post. He was taken to Delaware County Prison to await a Nov. 25 preliminary hearing in front of District Justice Mary Hopper.
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