Police Blotter

Fraud investigated

State police at Denton Hill are investigating an incident of fraud which victimized a Genesee man last month.

Someone either used a debit card or a checking account number belonging to Douglas Collins, 74, of Genesee to make two purchases without his consent.

Sign stolen

A theft at the East Fork Sportsmen's Club is being probed by troopers at Denton Hill. Thieves took a three foot by five foot sign from along the south berm of the East Fork Road. The sign is valued at $400.

One-vehicle crash

A Galeton driver escaped with minor injuries in a onevehicle crash Wednesday morning on the Fox Hill Road, just south of Loucks Mills Road in Ulysses.

State police said Lonnie Foltz was headed north when his Ford Ranger went off the road while negotiating a left-hand curve. The truck went through a barbed wire fence, traveled down an embankment and rolled over, coming to rest on its roof.

Drug charges

An Emporium woman escaped injury, but a bear she struck with her vehicle didn't fare so well. While driving along Rt. 155 on Saturday night, Nov. 3, in Shippen Township (Prospect Park), Cheryl Slusarick, 49, struck a large black bear that had come onto the roadway. The seriously injured animal climbed a nearby tree. A Pa. State Police trooper from Emporium had to shoot the bear to relieve it of its suffering.

A Johnsonburg man faces drug charges and a count of driving under the influence of alcohol after being stopped for a traffic violation last Thursday night in Fox Township, Elk County.

Brett A. Cicuzza, 27, is charged with possession of heroin with the intent to deliver. He is being held in Elk County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Stolen checks

A Ulysses woman was arrested after she allegedly stole two checks and cashed one.

Sometime between Oct. 1 and Oct. 18, Wendy L. Robinson, 26, allegedly entered a residence owned by Edith A. Barker and Charles R. Barker on School Street, Ulysses, and stole two personal checks. Robinson then forged a signature and cashed one of the checks for $400, according to state police from Denton Hill.

Robinson was arraigned before District Judge Delores Bristol in Galeton and released on bail.

Chain saw taken

The theft of a chainsaw from a Bingham Township residence last weekend remains under investigation by state police at Denton Hill.

Police say the tool, an orange Stihl with an 18-inch bar, was taken from the front porch of the Lawrence Thompson home on the Hickox-Ulysses Road and is valued at $110.

Truck hits deer

A Coudersport couple escaped injury Sunday afternoon when their pickup truck struck a deer that bounded onto Pa. Rt. 44, about one and one-half miles north of the borough.

State police from Denton Hill said Franklin Furman was headed north when the whitetail came onto the road in Eulalia Township. He was unable to avoid the animal. Damage to the truck was moderate. Both Furman and his wife, Kathlyn, were wearing seat belts.

House burglary

Someone broke into an unoccupied house along Rt. 872, south of Coudersport, sometime late last week.

According to police, the burglary occurred at the Eulalia Township home owned by Jeffrey Miller of Grandbury, Texas, between Thursday and Saturday. Police were unable to determine if any items were stolen and are continuing their investigation.

Lawnmower rider hit

A Port Allegany woman is in fair condition in a Buffalo, N.Y., hospital after the lawnmower she was driving was struck by a van Tuesday morning on U.S. Route 6.

Wilma VanSickles was flown by medical helicopter for moderate injuries to Erie County Medical Center, according to Kane-based state police. VanSickles, 76, was mowing her yard when the riding mower entered the eastbound lane of Route 6, less than a mile west of Port Allegany Borough, where it was struck by a van driven by Jane Dugan, 56, of Roulette.

Sportsmen's club charged

Pa. Liquor Control Board officials say charges are pending against the Austin- Costello Sportsmen's Club for operating an unlicensed establishment.

State troopers served a search warrant on the club Friday afternoon following a yearlong investigation. They confiscated 45 gallons of beer, four liters of liquor and some $322 in cash.

Phone lines vandalized

State police from Denton Hill are looking for the vandals who tampered with the phone lines at the home of Timothy Tuttle on the Harrison Fox Hill Road in Harrison Valley sometime over the past few weeks.

Two telephone lines were disconnected near the house. Lines also were cut at a nearby telephone pole, causing an interruption in service.

Store victimized

State police from Denton Hill investigated a couple of incidents victimizing Valley Hardware on the Ice Mine Road, near Sweden Valley.

Authorities claim Mary Knight of Coudersport wrote a bad check to the business in September for $116. A known individual whose name was not released by police is suspected of failing to return a Bostich coil roofing nail gun he rented in late October. The tool is valued at $300.