DNA leads to mans arrest in Georges home invasion

State police said DNA evidence led to the arrest of a Waltersburg man accused of breaking into an 89-year-old womans home in Georges Township, cutting her phone lines and taking her medical alert necklace, before stealing her purse.

Charles Edward Thomas, 26, of 952 Bolden Road, and another, unidentified man, broke into Leona Sausmans Walnut Hill Road home around 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 13, 2013, according to a complaint filed in the matter.

Sausman told police that she was awakened by one of the man standing beside her bed, demanding money and jewelry, and rummaging through her personal items. One of the men also pointed a handgun at her, police said. Sausman tried to activate her medical alert necklace, but one of the men pulled it off of her neck and smacked her in the face, Trooper James Garlick said in the complaint filed against Thomas.

Sausman told the men her purse was in the other room, Garlick said, and the men left her room. When she felt they had left her home, Sausman got out of her bed, into a wheelchair, police said.

When she made her way into her living room, Sausman was unable to call for help because her phone lines had been cut, according to court papers.

A home health care worker came found Sausman when they to her home around 9 a.m.

Police said the men took Sausmans purse, which had $740, her wallet and blank checks in it.

When police were called to the home, they took a sample of blood from the inside of the screen door and sent it to the state police laboratory for analysis. On Dec. 5, 2014, the results came back, and police applied for a search warrant to get DNA samples from Thomas to compare to the DNA results.

The DNA from the blood gathered at Sausmans home matched Thomas DNA, police said.

Thomas faces charges of robbery, burglary, theft and conspiracy to commit each. He was arraigned Monday by Magisterial District Judge Randy Abraham and is in the Fayette County Prison in lieu of $75,000 bond.

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DNA leads to mans arrest in Georges home invasion