State police charge Erie County man in more gun, vehicle thefts in 2019 burglaries

An Erie County man charged in 2019 with stealing vehicles and guns in three burglaries in Erie and Greene Township is now accused of committing another string of gun and vehicle thefts during the same time period.

Pennsylvania State Police criminal investigators on Monday filed two new criminal complaints against Christopher A. Ellsworth, 36, accusing him of committing a series of burglaries and thefts in Waterford Township between March 6, 2019, and March 16, 2019.

Information was not available Tuesday on why it had taken three years for state police to file the charges in these cases.

Troopers accuse Ellsworth in one of the complaints of forcibly entering residences in the 13100 and 13300 blocks of Route 19. Household items, tools and hunting items, including a .50-caliber muzzleloader, were stolen from one residence. Two garages were entered and multiple vehicles were damaged at a second residence. A garage was entered and multiple tools and a Chevrolet Malibu were taken from the third residence, troopers wrote in the affidavit filed with the complaint.

The muzzleloader was sold to a local gun shop and the vehicle was later recovered on Dewey Road in LeBoeuf Township, according to investigators.

In the second complaint, troopers charged Ellsworth in burglaries that happened at residences in the 1300 block of Union Road, the 24300 block of Rockdale Road and the 25700 block of Mackey Hill Road. Items including firearms, a compound bow, an all-terrain vehicle, jewelry, electronics and a Ford Explorer were reported stolen in the burglaries, troopers wrote in the affidavit.

The ATV and the Ford Explorer were later found abandoned, according to investigators.

Ellsworth later admitted to committing some of the crimes when troopers interviewed him, according to information in both criminal complaints.

State police and Erie police charged Ellsworth in March 2019 with committing burglaries in Erie and Greene Township on March 21, 2019.

Man charged in Erie, Greene theftsAuthorities have charged a man in three residential burglaries in which two vehicles, tools and some guns were reported

Erie police accused him of breaking into an East 35th Street residence and stealing a shotgun, two rifles, power tools and a Chevrolet Corvette that state police later recovered in a field.

State police accused Ellsworth of breaking into residences on Wattsburg Road and stealing tools and a Ford F-150 truck that troopers later found crashed, authorities reported at the time.

Ellsworth was sentenced in February 2020 to serve 11 ⅟₂ to 23 months in prison in the state police case and two years, six months to five years in prison in the Erie police case, according to online court docket information.

Summit Township District Judge Brian McGowan arraigned Ellsworth on the two new sets of charges on Monday afternoon and set bond at $50,000 on each case.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie County crime: Man charged with stealing more guns, vehicles in 2019