Troopers accuse Mt. Pleasant area man of multiple burglaries

A former employee of a Donegal Township event center is accused of repeatedly burglarizing the facility since he was fired this month.

Donald “Duck” Bailey, 61, is accused of stealing a utility terrain vehicle, alcohol and scratch-off lottery tickets from the Stonehenge Lodge since being terminated April 13, state police said.

Troopers this week arrested Bailey after receiving a tip that he was spotted the day before outside the Champion Food and Fuel store in Saltlick, Fayette County, where he frequents, according to court documents. Troopers were reportedly watching as Bailey drove into the store parking lot off Route 381, planning to sell multiple items he allegedly stole in the burglaries and he was taken into custody, Trooper James McKenzie said.

Bailey arrived around noon Tuesday aboard a John Deere Gator UTV that was stolen the same day he was fired from a maintenance shed on the lodge’s property on Austin Boulevard, McKenzie wrote in court papers. The vehicle identification number on the UTV Bailey was riding matched the stolen one, police said.

Troopers also seized a firearm from Bailey and are investigating ownership, McKenzie reported.

In a separate complaint, Trooper Jesse Niehenke said the lodge manager reported that five $20 scratch-off lottery tickets that were gifted to a bride-to-be during a recent wedding shower at the lodge were stolen along with alcoholic beverages.

The manager “provided a security video of the incident and was able to identify the person who stole the … items as Bailey. Bailey was observed (in the video) taking the lottery tickets and filling two grocery bags with alcoholic beverages from the refrigerator,” Niehenke wrote in court papers.

Bailey had been fired a week earlier and was in the process of being evicted from a trailer home on the property, the manager told police.

Bailey was arraigned on multiple complaints of burglary, receiving stolen property and two counts of theft. He also was cited for disorderly conduct, according to court dockets.

Lodge officials could not be reached for comment.

Bailey, who provided authorities home addresses in Mt. Pleasant and Acme, was ordered held without bail in the county jail by Ligonier District Judge Denise Thiel. A preliminary hearing is scheduled April 29.

Bailey has an extensive criminal record including DUI, thefts and robberies in Fayette, Somerset and Westmoreland counties dating back into the 1990s, according to court records. In 2004, he was sentenced to consecutive 7- to 20-year sentences for a string of armed holdups, including an East Huntingdon convenience store and a New Stanton beer distributor, according to court records.

Bailey did not have an attorney listed in court documents.