Man allegedly tries to break into medical helicopter: Pottsville, Pennsylvania

A Pottsville man who allegedly attempted to break into a medical helicopter while it was parked at a helipad in Pottsville early Saturday is in prison and facing federal charges, city police said Monday.

"The aircraft was inspected. It's fine. It's not damaged at all. From what I understand, all he did was raid the refrigerator," Matthew Burns, a media representative with Lehigh Valley Health Network, Allentown, said Monday.

Christopher Wayne Camodeca, 23, is being charged with stealing food from the office of Lehigh Valley MedEvac 7 at 512 N. 14th St., along with food, a wallet and a set of car keys from a home at 1398 Laurel Blvd. owned by William Phillips, police said.

Camodeca was arraigned by on-call Magisterial District Judge Anthony J. Kilker, Shenandoah, and charged with two counts each of felony burglary, criminal trespass, theft and receiving stolen property, and one count each of loitering and prowling at night and public drunkenness, police said.

Camodeca was placed in the Schuylkill County Prison in lieu of $25,000 bail, police said.

Lehigh Valley leases MedEvac 7 from Air Methods, a medical helicopter company based in Englewood, Colo. Lehigh Valley also leases the helipad in Pottsville from Mazzuca Enterprises.

At 3:52 a.m. Saturday, police were dispatched to 512 N. 14th St., the helipad, for a report of a man attempting to enter the helicopter, police said.

"This gentleman tried to raid the refrigerator at the headquarters there. Other than food, nothing else was taken," Burns said.

Police said the man fled on foot but they had a description from a witness and took Camodeca into custody in the 1300 block of Mount Hope Avenue. As the investigation continued, police discovered Camodeca had broken into Phillips' residence on Laurel Boulevard.

Story and Comments/Reaction:   http://republicanherald.com