by Harrison Jones
A Berwick Township man is facing numerous charges related to a 2023 Adams County home invasion and assault, according to court documents that were recently filed.
Steven Hall, 37, of Race Track Road in Berwick Township, faces felony charges related to robbery involving serious injury, aggravated assault, burglary, robbery involving the threat of injury, and misdemeanor charges of theft by unlawful taking related to a June 30, 2023 home invasion on Kinneman Road in Berwick Township, Adams County, just south of Abbottstown, according to charging documents filed by Pennsylvania State Police on Nov. 26, 2024.
Unable to post $100,000 bail, Hall was confined in Adams County Prison on Nov. 26, 2024, awaiting trial.
Hall had previously pled guilty in 2009 to two felony charges related to 2008 burglaries, court records show.
Affidavit describes horrific home invasion
According to the affidavit of probable cause filed against Hall by Pennsylvania State Police, officers were called to a home on the 100 block of Kinneman Road in Berwick township around 5:43 a.m. on June 30, 2023.
When police arrived, they would find two elderly victims beaten with a hammer, the documents relate.
The male victim told police that he had been sleeping on a chair in his living room while the female victim was asleep in a bedroom, documents state.
He was awoken that morning, the affidavit states, by the female victim, while an unknown male subject was holding onto her robe. The male subject, the victim told police, was wearing a black stocking over his head as well as gloves, charging documents state.
"He wants money," the female victim said to the male victim, according to the affidavit, while the unknown male held a hammer over the female victim's head.
The assailant told the male victim to stand up, and upon standing up, the male victim attempted to strike the assailant with his cane, the affidavit states, leading the assailant to strike the female victim with the hammer.
During the scuffle, the assailant struck the male victim with the hammer, according to the affidavit.
The assailant and the female victim went into the kitchen of the home to get her purse, where the male victim described that she was on the ground and the assailant was "hammering her," the charging documents said.
A .22 long rifle was in the corner of the kitchen, the male victim told officers, and the assailant grabbed the rifle and threatened the victims with it, demanding they go to the basement and open a safe, the affidavit states.
The victims told the assailant that there was no money in the safe, and he threw the rifle down the stairs and shut the door, according to the affidavit.
The assailant then took prescription medication from the kitchen counter, and proceeded to strike the telephone and computer with a hammer to disable them, threatening to kill the victims if they called police, charging documents state.
After striking both victims and rummaging through the female victim's purse, the assailant made both victims lay on their stomachs as he departed the house, the affidavit states.
Throughout the incident, the assailant made multiple comments to the victims about "just having gotten out of prison and was not afraid to go back," as well as that he had watched the victim's home "for a while" and that he "knew that they had money" due to selling cars at the address, the affidavit relates.
In the affidavit, investigators describe the sight of "a large pool of blood in the foyer," the male victim's broken cane, and damage to belongings.
In the rear of the house, investigators found an opened window with its screen removed, which they believed was the entry point for the assailant, according to the affidavit.
The elderly female victim was seriously injured in the assault, and was hospitalized for an "extended period," the affidavit states, including needing her jaw wired shut.
Investigation leads to Hall
Several days after the home invasion, groundskeepers working at the nearby Bridges Golf Course contacted Pennsylvania State Police after finding a sweatshirt on the grounds of the golf course, the affidavit states.
One of the employees told officers that on June 30, 2024, she had found a sweatshirt on the golf course, near the sixth hole, which is nearest to the Lincoln Speedway, according to the affidavit.
Inside the sweatshirt, the employee found two watches, they told police.
The employee said she contacted police upon hearing about the home invasion, and provided officers with the sweat shirt and watches. The employee said that she had washed the sweatshirt prior to learning about the home invasion, according to the affidavit.
The victims were able to confirm that the two watches belonged to them, the affidavit states.
Through investigative efforts and tips, Hall was developed as a suspect in the robbery, with police noting he lived on Race Track Road less than a mile from the home invasion and the golf course, according to the affidavit.
Police were informed by multiple individuals that Hall's mother had spoken about Hall committing the robbery on Kinneman in 2023, the affidavit states, but throughout the course of multiple interview attempts, Hall's mother did not admit to this.
On Oct. 3, 2024, Abbottstown Police Department contacted state police and shared that on Sept. 19, 2024, police had conducted a traffic stop where Hall had provided officers with false identification, according to the affidavit.
Court records show that Hall was charged with misdemeanor counts of identity theft, falsely incriminating another, and falsely reporting identification to a law enforcement officer in relation to this traffic stop.
During the stop, Hall had falsely given officers the identification of his half brother, the affidavit states.
Separately, Adams County detectives were investigating drug activity at Hall's Race Track Road home, according to the affidavit, and had conducted two "successful" trash pulls from the home.
In relation to the alleged drug activity, Hall faces a felony charge of possession with the intent to distribute, along with misdemeanor charges of possession of controlled substances, according to charges filed on Nov. 25, 2024. In that case, Hall was unable to post $20,000 bail.
On Nov. 25, 2024, police executed a search warrant at Hall's Race Track Road home, where Hall was taken into custody for outstanding warrants, charging documents state.
During the search, police conducted an interview with Hall's mother, where she told officers that Hall had come home on the morning of June 30, 2024, the affidavit states.
After a neighbor came to Hall's home to tell his mother about the robbery, upon closing the door, Hall told his mother "I did it," she claimed, according to the affidavit.
Hall had told his mother that "they thought I was a black guy" because he had used her nylon stockings to conceal his face, the affidavit states.
Later, Hall's mother told officers that Hall told her that he had entered through a back window of the home, and had stolen cash, gold watches, and prescription medication, according to the affidavit, before burying his sweatshirt in the woods near the race track.
A preliminary hearing for Hall is scheduled for Dec. 4, 2024.
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Man charged in brutal 2023 Berwick Twp. home invasion: Elderly victims beaten with hammer
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