Lansford man facing charges

Harry McLaughlin, 27, of 44 Jones St., Lansford, faces charges from an incident which took place on Sept. 30 at 3:30 p.m. Charges of burglary, criminal trespass, forgery, theft by unlawful taking, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of a controlled substance were filed by Lansford Officer Joshua Tom. Mclaughlin was arraigned before District Judge Joseph Homanko, of Weatherly, and was jailed. Charges are also pending against Patricia Keyes.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, here's what happened:

At about 3:30 p. m. Sept. 30, Tom and Officer Brian Horos received a complaint while in the Harleysville Bank from a 74-year-old borough resident who said her neighbor, McLaughlin, had entered her home earlier that day and asked to use the phone. The woman was upstairs at the time, getting dressed, when he came into the house.

He left, but then she heard him come back in. He yelled up to her that he was getting a soda and then left again. The woman went into the bank, where it was brought to her attention that McLaughlin had come into the bank and cashed a personal check from the woman in the amount of $500. The check was made out to McLaughlin and signed by the woman.

The woman told police that at no time had she given him a check or cash. She said she had come into the bank because she was missing two bank cards and two check books.

The woman told police and bank staff that the writing on the check Mclaughlin cashed was not hers and that her signature had been forged.

At about 4:30 p.m., the officers came into contact with McLaughlin and his girlfriend, Patricia Keyes. Upon arresting McLaughlin, police asked him if he had anything illegal on his person. He told them he had a needle in his right front jacket pocket. Police took the needle and a purple container with unlabeled pills.

Keyes submitted to a pat-down, and Horos found in her pants pocket another personal check from the victim, this one too made out to McLaughlin.