CLARION BOROUGH, Pa. (EYT) — Charges have been filed against a local man who was reportedly caught with a stolen vehicle in downtown Clarion late last week.
Court documents indicate the Clarion-based State Police filed criminal charges against 40-year-old Richard Shawn Bowser, of Clarion.
According to a criminal complaint, around 11:30 a.m. on Friday, November 5, Clarion-based State Police responded to a parking lot in the rear of a business on Main Street in Clarion after the business owner reported a white Buick sedan was illegally parked in the lot.
The complaint indicates police found Richard Bowser inside the vehicle, removing items from it and disposing of them in a dumpster.
Police then checked the registration of the vehicle and discovered it had been reported stolen from a residence in Monroe Township on Thursday, November 4.
According to the complaint, Bowser told police he was detailing the vehicle for someone, but he didn’t know who the owner of the vehicle was.
The Troop C Forensics Services Unit was then called to the scene to process the vehicle, and the victim was also called to the scene to identify items from the vehicle.
Police subsequently seized a motorcycle helmet, a green welding coat with Bowser’s name on it, a welding hat, a white bandanna, a blue zip binder with paperwork for Bowser in it, black sunglasses, a black welding hammer, brown sunglasses, a fuse box, and an orange Sharpie from inside the vehicle — all items which the victim stated were not his and had not been in the vehicle when he last saw it.
According to the complaint, police then recovered a blue jacket, a flannel jacket, a guitar stand, several packs of guitar strings, and an owner’s manual for the vehicle from the dumpster, which Bowser had removed from the vehicle and thrown away. The victim reported those items had all been inside his vehicle.
Police also spoke to the victim’s son who indicated he had received a phone call from a person who identified himself as Richard Bowser around 5:50 a.m. on November 4. The victim’s son told police Bowser had told him that he was “the first one on the list” and asked where he was. He responded that he was at home and Bowser then asked for his address.
Bowser was arraigned in front of Magisterial District Judge Jarah Lee Heeter at 9:45 p.m. on November 5 on the following charge:
– Receiving Stolen Property, Felony 3
Unable to post $15,000.00 monetary bail, he was lodged in the Clarion County Jail.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. on Tuesday, November 16, with Magisterial District Judge Duane L. Quinn presiding.
