Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era

Suspect in home invasion caught

nOne of two people sought in home-invasion robberies in Manheim Borough and Clay Township.

Police have charged a man in connection with an armed home-invasion robbery in Clay Township on Monday and continue to investigate a second that occurred Wednesday in Manheim Borough.

Northern Lancaster County Regional police Chief David Steffen said Wednesday evening that David Figueroa, 25, had been arrested without incident and charged in connection with the Clay Township robbery. The charges include theft by unlawful taking or disposition, violation of the Uniform Firearms Act (convicted felon not to possess a firearm) and unlawful restraint.

A search continued for a second suspect, police said.

Shortly before 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, a masked robber carrying a rifle invaded a home in the first block of West Ferdinand Street in Manheim, according to county radio dispatches. He held up a resident and stole a 2006 Nissan Sentra.

In Monday's incident, police were called at 4:30 a.m. to a house in the 1400 block of Furnace Hills Road in Clay Township.

The caller said two intruders had forced their way into the home through a back door, Steffen said. One was armed with a short-barrel shotgun and the other with some kind of wooden mallet.

The homeowners were sleeping in an upstairs bedroom and their 22-year-old son was asleep on a couch on the first floor, police said. The parents did not wake up during the robbery.

The intruders woke the son and pointed a shotgun at his face, Steffen said. They forced him to lie on the floor and restrained him by tying his hands with a nylon belt that was in the home.

The robbers then took, among other items, an Xbox 360 gaming system, a Turtle Beach headset, a cellphone, a wallet and cash from the room, police said.

The robbers fled in a truck with a loud exhaust system, police said.

The son was restrained for about 15 minutes before his father freed him.

One of the suspects in that robbery was described as a white man age 25 to 30, 5 feet 10 inches tall, with brown eyebrows, Steffen said. He wore a green bandanna mask, gloves and a blue jumpsuit.

The other suspect was described as a white man age 25 to 30, 6 feet tall, wearing a bandanna mask, gloves and a blue jumpsuit, Steffen said.

After that robbery, Northern Regional police conducted interviews and recovered stolen property along a Clay Township road Monday, Steffen said.

Investigators on Tuesday conducted surveillance at a suspect's residence, resulting in further probable cause for issuance of a search warrant, police said.

They got the warrant, and on Wednesday at 9:40 a.m. searched a trailer in the 200 block of West Burkholder Road in Clay Township, Steffen said. Police found items linked to Monday's robbery, including a jumpsuit, a bandanna and numerous firearms.

They also found evidence linked to Wednesday's home-invasion robbery in Manheim, Steffen said.

Northern Regional police and Manheim Borough police continue to investigate the home invasions.

Staff Writer Larry Alexander contributed to this report.

rrobinson@lnpnews.com