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Police Arrest "Yard Sale" Theft Suspects In Butler County

FAIRVIEW TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- They said they were looking for yard sales, but police say a Butler County couple was actually looking to steal.

"I was eating supper on the back porch and saw them walking down the road carrying a basketball hoop and didn't know who they were," Fowler said.

Fowler lives at on Oak Road in Fairview Township.

"I never gave it any more thought when she came back to the porch and said, 'Are you having a garage sale?' And I said no, and she said, 'Okay,' and basically left," Fowler said.

Police say the couple hit up three victims, another house on the same street, and a third victim at an unknown location. The thefts took place on Tuesday.

Police say the Little Tikes basketball hoop was stolen from a home down the road.

"She was carrying the pole and had wheels on it, wheeling it down the road, carrying the backboard and some other things in his arms," Fowler said.

Fowler thinks all of his items are back where they belong.

"They took stuff out of my garage, but didn't steal it. It was not where it should have been, it was up by my house, so I don't know if they were staging or what," Fowler said.

Police tracked down both the man and woman, William Harris and Brandy Williams, hiding in a corn field nearby. They also found prescription drugs on them.

Police say they found two pill bottles on Williams. One was improperly packaged and did not belong to her. This string of thefts, police say, wasn't the first for the pair.

"Subsequent to that, there is more information on these two individuals traveling around, checking car doors and seeing which ones were unlocked," Trooper Dan Kesten, with the Pennsylvania State Police Butler Barracks, said.

Police urge the public to be cautious of any strangers that may approach you.

"You don't see that every day," Fowler said.

Williams and Harris were arraigned and released on unsecured bond.

KDKA knocked on the couple's door but no one answered. They face multiple charges.

Their preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 11 at 1 p.m.

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