NORRISTOWN >> A Montgomery County jury has convicted a Boyertown man of burglary and drug-related charges after he broke into an Upper Pottsgrove township residence, surprising the owner who was home.
Nikolajs Villafane, 27, of the 100 block of North Walnut Street, was convicted of charges of burglary, criminal trespass, possession of an instrument of crime, criminal mischief and possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia in connection with an August 2016 incident. The jury delivered the verdict after a two-day trial before Judge Garrett D. Page.
Page deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete a background investigative report about Villafane, who will have to undergo drug, alcohol and mental health evaluations.
The judge remanded Villafane to the county jail without bail to await sentencing. Villafane faces a possible maximum sentence of 22 to 44 years in prison on the charges. However, state sentencing guidelines could allow for a lesser sentence.
An investigation of Villafane began about 11:50 p.m. Aug. 16, 2016, after a Sageview Drive resident reported a burglary in progress at her Upper Pottsgrove home.
“I learned the victim was in her bedroom on the second floor about to go to sleep. She heard a loud crash sound coming from downstairs and went to investigate the noise,” Upper Pottsgrove Police Officer Sean Farrell alleged in the arrest affidavit, adding the woman came face to face with a male who had illegally entered her home.
The suspect, later determined to be Villafane, allegedly claimed to the woman that he had seen someone break into her house and all he was doing was trying to stop an intruder. The victim called 911 and Villafane fled from the home, police said.
The woman did not report anything missing, adding from the time she heard the noise in her home and when she confronted the suspect “it was only a minute or so,” according to the criminal complaint.
Investigators determined Villafane used a large rock, “an instrument of crime,” to smash a glass door in order to gain entry into the home, court papers indicate. Villafane, according to court documents, also once lived on Sageview Drive.
A short time after the report was made, police observed Villafane, who matched the description provided by the victim, on a bicycle “leaving the area very quickly,” according to the criminal complaint. When confronted by police, Villafane allegedly uttered, “I was at the lady’s house but I was borrowing twenty dollars, I did not break into her house, go ask her and she will tell you.”
During a pat down, police discovered a syringe and two small, clear bags inside Villafane’s pocket. Tests on the substance inside bags showed a positive reaction for heroin, according to the arrest affidavit.
Police also found Villafane possessing a $20 bill.
The victim told police that the same male who broke into her home had knocked on her front door earlier in the evening and asked for money for a cab. The woman did not know Villafane.
“The victim said she did not feel comfortable with him asking her for money but didn’t know how to get him to leave so she gave him twenty dollars and he left,” Farrell wrote in the criminal complaint.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Scott Frame. Defense lawyer Brie R. Halfond represented Villafane at trial.
