Bethlehem Twp. Man Blames Theft on Heroin Habit, Police Say

A Bethlehem Township man told police he stole $250 in Xbox Controllers from a township Kmart to keep his two-bag-a-day heroin habit going, court records say.

Michael Robert Wodyka, 24, of 3272 Regal Road is charged with stealing five of the video game controllers from the Kmart at 3843 Nazareth Pike (Route 191) around noon Aug. 21.

Surveillance video shows Wodyka allegedly stealing items from the Kmart on Aug. 21 and on three other days, but he was charged only with the Aug. 21 incident, the records say.

A criminal complaint filed by township Patrolman William Stanton said a loss-prevention officer at the Kmart told police on Aug. 21 that a man later identified as Wodyka had stolen the five Xbox Controllers and that the incident was captured on surveillance video.

The surveillance officer called police around 5 p.m. Wednesday to say the same man stole four Nintendo Wii controllers and was about to leave the store. Police took Wodyka into custody in front of the store. At police headquarters, he reportedly admitted to stealing items and to his heroin dependency.

The criminal complaint says Wodyka was seen on surveillance video stealing items on the following days: Aug. 21 around noon, Aug. 23 around 11:45am, Sept. 5 around noon and Wednesday around 5pm.

He was charged with retail theft, possessing instruments of crime – he was found to have a small brown pocket knife for cutting security tags off the controllers – and receiving stolen property. The charges are for the Aug. 21 incident.

He was arraigned Wednesday night by on-duty District Judge Diane Marakovits of Northampton and released on $2,500 unsecured bail.