Patrick Buchnowski
pbuchnowski@tribdem.com
JOHNSTOWN —
A 17-year-old Adams Township youth who was caught late Wednesday after authorities said he went on a three-state crime spree is being charged in Cambria County as a juvenile, authorities said.
His 17-year-old accomplice from Meyersdale is charged in Somerset County with theft, receiving stolen property and two counts of criminal mischief.
It’s unclear whether he will be charged as an adult.
“That will be up to the district attorney and the juvenile probation department,” Somerset-based state Trooper Scott Myers said.
Both are in the custody of juvenile authorities.
Troopers found the Meyersdale youth along a biking trail just south of Johnny Popper Road in Summit Township early Thursday.
“We started receiving 911 calls spotting him in the Meyersdale area,” Summit Township Officer in Charge Nathan Claycomb said.
“He was actually walking down the biking trail.”
He was taken into custody without incident, Claycomb said.
The Adams Township youth was found hiding inside a home in the
700 block of Highland Avenue in the city’s Moxham section.
At one point he was believed to be armed with a .38-caliber handgun taken from a truck that was stolen near the Johnstown airport in Richland Township. City police said when they found the youth he was unarmed.
Charges are pending against a resident at the home, police said.
The teens are believed to be responsible for stealing more than a dozen vehicles in Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia since they fled a juvenile detention center in Ebensburg Friday or Saturday.
Their capture ends a tense manhunt during which police warned residents to lock their homes and cars and the Forest Hills School District ordered a lockdown.
“It is a relief, especially for the school, as well as the township residents,” Adams Township police Chief Kirk Moss said.
