CLIFFORD, Pa.-
A 72-year-old Reading man was jailed on charges that he committed home invasions in far northeastern Pennsylvania in which other septuagenarians were struck on the head with a hammer and bound with rope and handcuffs.
In the Susquehanna County home invasions, police accused James Edward Farley, of Reading, of striking and tying up Charlie Tyler, 71, of Auburn Township, on Sunday, taking about $500 in cash and two rifles, and striking and tying up Rolland Loomis, 75, of Bridgewater Township, on Oct. 27, taking about $2,800 in cash, according to a criminal complaint.
Farley was arrested Wednesday in Reading and arraigned Thursday before Magisterial District Judge Gene Franklin on two counts each of burglary, robbery, aggravated assault, theft, receiving stolen property and possessing instruments of crime. He was lodged in the Susquehanna County prison in lieu of $400,000 bond. It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney. A preliminary hearing was scheduled Dec. 18 before District Judge Jeffrey Hollister in Montrose.
One witness, Larry Brace, said Farley had showed him a nylon duffel bag containing handcuffs, zip ties, a ball peen hammer, a steel punch and a stun gun and told him, “I’m a robber. That’s what I do.”
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Information from: The Scranton Times,
