The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

October 26, 2009

UPDATE: Woman sentenced to probation in countywide burglary case

By Matt Snyder

SHARON — A Sharon woman involved in a theft ring where stolen items from 10 house burglaries in Mercer County were found in a Hermitage storage unit got probation on Monday.

Tara N. Rice, 26, of 600 McClure Ave., Sharon, was sentenced to 4 years’ probation by Common Pleas Judge Christopher J. St. John. She also had a sentence of 1 1/2 to 5 years in prison suspended, so that a mess up on her probation could put her behind bars for up to half a decade.

Ms. Rice pleaded guilty to a felony charge of receiving stolen property Sept. 8 and agreed to testify against her boyfriend, Nicholas C. Ace, 26, of Kennerdell, who was charged with the same offenses she was.

Ace pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property last month too, and both he and Ms. Rice will have to testify against Christopher E. Rush, 22, New Castle.

On Oct. 9 last year, police searched a Hermitage storage unit and found coins, baseball cards, jewelry, and electronic and computer equipment taken in 10 burglaries in Sharon, Sharpsville, and Coolspring, Delaware, Jefferson, Springfield, Pymatuning and Lackawannock townships, police said.

Rush led police to the unit after they arrested him the day before in Wilmington Township on a suspicious person complaint. Rush had more than $1,500 and collectible coins that he’d stolen a day earlier from a home in Delaware Township, police said.

However, Rush challenged the validity of that arrest in a suppression motion, and Mercer County Common Pleas Judge Thomas R. Dobson ruled police had no reason to stop Rush’s car.

Unless an appeal is won, prosecutors cannot use evidence from the car or Rush’s statements to police.

Ace and Ms. Rice told police they got all the stolen items from Rush and agreed to keep them in the storage unit until they could be sold, police said.

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