Warminster Contractor Accused of Theft from Feasterville Home, Police Say

A Warminster contractor has been charged with felony theft after police say he broke into a Lower Southampton home he had been renovating and stole a purse containing cash and debit cards and a lockbox with hundreds of dollars in loose coins.

Ian Schneider, 42, of Tennyson Drive in Warminster, turned himself in to Lower Southampton officers on April 26 and charged with four felonies, including burglary, criminal trespass and receiving stolen property. Unable to post bond on $40,000 bail, Schneider remains in Bucks County prison.

Lower Southampton police were called to a home on Colonial Avenue in Feasterville at midnight on April 22 after a neighbor saw someone leave the side entrance carrying an object, police say.

The homeowners did not initially discover anything missing, but called back at 10 a.m. later that morning to report a missing purse that held approximately $200 in cash, plus debit and credit cards, according to the report.

The owners told the officers that they also keep a lockbox with dollar coins in the den, but renovations to the sunroom left the house a bit cluttered. After extensive searching, the lockbox could not be located, police say.

Officers contacted National Penn Bank of Newtown, which issued one of the debit cards, and were told that two withdrawal attempts were made at 1:30 a.m. on April 22 at the Sunoco gas station in Warminster but denied because the PIN did not match.

Lower Southampton police acquired video surveillance from the gas station and showed it to the victims, who identified the person in the video as Ian Schneider, the man who had been performing the renovations to their sunroom.

Officers made contact with Schneider via telephone on April 24, who told police that he had deposited the coins from the lockbox in the Coinstar machine at the Warminster Giant supermarket and received $328 in cash. A representative from Coinstar confirmed the transaction took place at approximately 2:30 p.m. on April 23.

Officers met Coinstar representatives at the Warminster Giant on April 25 and retrieved 80 nickels and 1,114 quarters from the bin for evidence, plus video surveillance of Schneider at the machine, police say.

Schneider turned himself into authorities the next day and was taken to the Northampton Police Department, where he was arraigned via video by District Judge Dan Finello, according to the report.