Greensburg police arrest 2 in Christmas Eve burglary case after tip from Somerset County

When Windber police this month nabbed two Johnstown men on charges of stealing firearms out of storage units in the small Somerset County borough, little did they know their case would be the gift Greensburg police needed to solve a Christmas Eve pawn shop burglary.

City police used a tip from their counterparts to charge Thomas E. Hall, 23, and William Burgess Campbell Jr., 21, in connection with the Dec. 24 burglary at the Pawn and Jewelry Exchange on East Pittsburgh Street. Around 4 a.m., someone broke in and stole about $11,000 in jewelry, an Apple Smart watch, knives, laptop computers, a silver coin,computer tablets and video game consoles, police said.

Ashley Nicklaus, owner of the pawn shop, declined comment.

Greensburg Det. Justin Scalzo reported in court documents that he received a call from Windber police on Feb. 9 indicating he might be interested in questioning Hall and Campbell in connection with the pawn shop burglary.

According to Scalzo, Cpl. David Balderas reported he had just arrested the pair, who used a dark blue Chrysler 300 M caught on security video fleeing storage units in Windber after a burglary. The same vehicle reportedly was used in the Greensburg incident.

In a Feb. 10 interview at the Johnstown police station, Campbell admitted to assisting Hall in the burglary but downplayed his own role. Campbell told Scalzo and Det. Charles Irvin of the Greensburg Police Department that he called Hall for a ride to Johnstown “around Christmas time” from a friend’s home in Portage, Cambria County.

According to court documents, Campbell said Hall picked him up early on the morning of Dec. 24 and drove to Hall’s parents’ home in Johnstown, where Hall retrieved multiple backpacks, bolt cutters and a pry bar before driving about 40 miles west to Greensburg. Campbell claimed to detectives that “Hall would not tell him where they were going.”

They pulled into the parking lot of the Stereo Connection, across East Pittsburgh Street from the pawn shop. There, Campbell said, Hall threatened him.

“(Hall) told Campbell if he did not help him, he would leave him stranded in Greensburg,” Scalzo said in court papers.

Scalzo reported that Campbell told detectives Hall knocked out power to the pawn shop and then Hall used the pry bar to open a door to the basement.

During the burglary, Campbell told detectives, he acted as a lookout while Hall rummaged through the store and smashed out the glass in the jewelry case as he filled the backpacks with items, according to court papers.

Eventually, Campbell said he saw a city patrol car pull into the parking lot and Hall and Campbell fled out a garage door, ran across East Pittsburgh Street and entered Hall’s car. Given the amount of electronics the two were carrying as they fled, Campbell told detectives, they dumped a few of the items in a nearby garbage bin.

Scalzo said he also called Hall’s girlfriend, who said she did not authorize Hall to use the car. The woman said Hall told her he wanted to rob a “jewelry store” and was doing multiple internet searches to pick a location.

The woman told detectives she believed Hall pawned the jewelry in Indiana County for “around $5,000.”

Detectives confirmed an Indiana pawn shop paid Hall $5,080 for jewelry on Dec. 27.

Hall, who had been in the Cambria County Prison in connection with his arrest this month for a Jan. 22 burglary in Scalp Level, was scheduled to be arraigned before Greensburg District Judge Chris Flanigan. Campbell is free on unsecured bail in the Windber theft. He is awaiting arraignment on the Greensburg complaints.

Both Hall and Campbell are charged with burglary, criminal conspiracy, receiving stolen property and theft.