Three charged after attempted break-in at Dickson City police impound lot

Sep. 18—Three people were arrested, two of them at gunpoint, after an officer thwarted an attempted break-in early Monday at a police impound lot in Dickson City, borough police said.

Two men, Jahsiah Nefanta Laborde, 26, and Gamel Stacey McFarland, 30, face burglary and other charges in the incident at Johnson's Towing, 1024 Scranton-Carbondale Highway, police said.

The third suspect, Tracy Malte Sewah, 24, is charged with loitering and prowling at night and other offenses, police said.

McFarland and Sewah were taken into custody at the towing business, police said. Laborde fled and was later nabbed outside Walmart on Commerce Boulevard.

In a criminal complaint, borough police said Laborde is a suspect in a separate case last week in which a man fled on foot after a traffic stop in which multiple firearms were recovered from a vehicle. The vehicle was impounded after the stop and secured in the police impound lot at Johnson's, police said.

According to the complaint, borough Patrolman Matthew Gallagher was on patrol Monday around 12:05 a.m. when he spotted a man, later identified as Laborde, trying to get into a closed and locked gate of the impound lot.

After the man ran when Gallagher stopped and activated his emergency lights, the officer used his patrol car to block a black sedan parked nearby with a male driver and a female passenger inside, police said.

Gallagher held the pair, identified as McFarland and Sewah, at gunpoint until additional officers arrived, police said. They were then taken into custody.

McFarland, 926 Mount Vernon Ave., Scranton, told police he had agreed to give the second man, whom he knew as "Sia," a ride to the tow lot in exchange for gas money, the complaint said. He identified Sewah as Sia's girlfriend.

Sewah, 910 Prospect Ave., Scranton, told police she really didn't know the man who fled and did not know why he came to the tow lot, saying she was just along for the ride and thought they were going to a nearby hotel, according to the complaint.

In the meantime, another borough officer detained Laborde, 1403 Adams Ave., Dunmore, after finding a man matching the description of the individual who fled from Gallagher outside Walmart, police said. The man tried to pull away from the officer before he was taken to the ground and handcuffed.

Officers recovered marijuana from a bag of Sewah's belongings during their search of McFarland's car, police said.

All three suspects were arraigned before Magisterial District George Seig, who ordered Laborde and McFarland held in the Lackawanna County Prison when they could not post bail of $40,000 and $30,000, respectively. Sewah was released on $10,000 unsecured bail.

Their preliminary hearings are scheduled Sept. 27 at 11:30 a.m.

Contact the writer:

dsingleton@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9132.