MARYLAND COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM FIREHOUSEThe Herald-Mail ONLINEFriday January 28, 2005
Two charged with stealing bingo proceeds, computerby RICHARD F. BELISLE


waynesboro@herald-mail.com


BLUE RIDGE SUMMIT, Pa. - A Sabillasville, Md., man and his live-in girlfriend face multiple charges following thefts from proceeds of bingo games at the Blue Ridge Mountain Volunteer Fire Co., court records said.


According to affidavits of probable cause on file in District Justice Larry Pentz's office, Brice David Klingensmith, 19, and Shawna M. Ballantine, 21, both of 16872 Buck Lane Road, were members of the fire department. Both worked the bingo games, court records said.



Both were charged with theft, criminal conspiracy, burglary, criminal trespass, possession of instruments of crime (screwdrivers), filing a false police report and receiving stolen property.


Preliminary hearings for Klingensmith and Ballantine are scheduled for March 8 in Central Court in Chambersburg, Pa. Both are free on $15,000 bond.


They are charged with taking money from the profits of the bingo games on nine occasions between Aug. 15, 2004, and Oct. 24, 2004, court records said.


The total reported missing was more than $3,200, court records said.


Klingensmith and Ballantine also are charged with breaking in to the firehouse and stealing some computer equipment, court records said. Police found the equipment in the defendants' residence, court records said.


Both told police in signed statements that they took the money to buy clothes, food, gas for their car, to make a car payment and to pay fines from a case involving money Klingensmith had stolen from a Wal-Mart store, court records said.


At one point on the night the burglary occurred, Klingensmith and Ballantine told police they saw a suspicious man leave the rear of the firehouse and get into an large sport utility vehicle. The story proved to be false, court records said.


John Fleagle, chief of the Blue Ridge Summit Fire Department, told investigators that he suspected that money was being taken from the bingo receipts, court records said.