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Footprints Lead Police To Burglary Suspect

MONESSEN (KDKA) - A 29-year-old Westmoreland County man is in jail, charged with burglary and receiving stolen property after Monessen police arrested him in connection with a break-in.

It happened at the PNA Club on Knox Avenue in Monessen.

The suspect, identified as James Cowart, lives next door the club.

Police caught up with him by tracking his footprints, which they say led from a broken club window to his own back porch.

Lorryli Caldwell, the manager of PNA, told KDKA Thursday night that she believed Cowart was "dumb, real dumb, dumber than a box of rocks."

Greg Harmon, a PNA member who helped clean up the broken glass after the burglary, said, "I [saw] the footprints, I mean, how dumb can you be?" He added: "You live right beside the PNA."

Caldwell said a 32-inch, flat-screen television was taken off of a wall stand inside the club and the wires were ripped off.

The TV and a club cash register were found in Cowart's house. They've been returned.

However, a cash box, containing about $50 worth of small change, is still missing.

Cowart is being held in the Westmoreland County Jail on $25,000 bail.

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