Railroad cops charge Girardville woman for receiving sign stolen years ago
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL FILE - A Reading and Northern Railroad Police vehicle in Mahanoy City in 2017.
GIRARDVILLE – A Preston Avenue woman is facing criminal mischief and receiving stolen property charges related to a sign stolen from the railroad several years ago.
Charges were filed Thursday against Christine Kilkenny, 45, of the unit block of Preston Avenue, by Patrolman Angel Brazdzionis of the Reading and Northern Railroad Police Department.
According to court documents, Brazdzionis and two other railroad police officers were in Girardville on Sept. 29 assisting the Girardville Police Department with a potentially wanted suspect.
While in the area, patrolling the railroad’s Mahanoy and Shamokin Branch, which goes through Girardville at Preston Avenue, Brazdzionis saw a yellow No Trespassing sign on the front door of Kilkenny’s home.
On Nov. 11, while patrolling the area, he spotted the sign again and noticed it had the exact same letting, writing, and colors of signs utilized by the Port Clinton-based shortline railroad.
Comparing the sign on Kilkenny’s home to the railroad’s sign at the Line Street crossing, he noticed that the only difference was that Kilkenny’s appeared to have the lower portion cut off. That portion contains contact information for the railroad’s police force.
After taking photos of both signs, Brazdzionis contacted Kilkenny and asked about the sign. She told the officer that she had asked a friend to get her a no trespassing sign a few years ago. The friend delivered about two weeks later, giving her the yellow sign.
Brazdzionis asked about the friend and how he could contact him. Kilkenny said the friend died “a while back.”
The officer then told Kilkenny the sign was an exact match of the railroad’s signage but appeared to have the police contact info cut off. She told the officer she had no idea it was theirs and had never had a no trespassing sign before, let alone a house to display one at.
Brazdzionis told Kilkenny that not knowing it had been stolen from their property did not make it legal to keep. At that point, the patrolman read Kilkenny her Miranda rights and asked her to provide a written statement about how she obtained and kept the sign.
The sign was then removed and taken to the railroad’s police department in an evidence box.
Kilkenny is facing misdemeanor receiving stolen property and summary criminal mischief charges.
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