Stabbed man was intruder

September 26, 2008 08:38 am

— MIFFLINBURG — A Mifflinburg man who claimed he had been beaten and stabbed in Centre County was beaten and stabbed — but in Union County, while burglarizing the home of a West Buffalo Township resident, police report.
State police at Milton have issued a warrant for the arrest of Mark Allen Hannah, 41, of 530 Walnut St., on charges of burglary, criminal trespass and criminal attempt for entering a Lindsey Lane house between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. Sept. 12.
While state police at Milton earlier reported that the home of Carson Sampsell, 20, of 320 Lindsey Lane, was burglarized at that same time and date, and their descriptions of both incidents are nearly identical, they were not available to confirm the link late Thursday night.
Milton state police earlier reported that Sampsell and his friends discovered the intruder — wearing a garbage bag on his torso, with the arms and neck cut out — when they returned to his house.
Sampsell got a knife from the kitchen and his friends grabbed golf clubs, police said.
The intruder, who had been heard in a bedroom, entered the kitchen and one of Sampsell’s friends struck the man with a golf club, causing him to stagger.
According to the second report, Hannah was struck by a golf club near his head or neck. When the resident saw Hannah reach toward his waistband, the resident stabbed him three times in the back, police said. Both men then went outside, where Hannah fell. Hannah told the resident that he was a DEA agent and that the resident was under arrest, then fled into nearby fields.
Hannah either drove a vehicle to the Lindsey Lane residence or was a passenger in a vehicle that dropped him off near the house, police said. He entered the house through a side door, went upstairs and into a bedroom.
He was searching for things to steal, police said.
Hannah told police he was beaten over the head and stabbed near the 400 block of East Beaver and East College avenues in State College on Sept. 12.
Hannah reported he drove to State College with his wife around 11:15 p.m. to help a friend with car trouble. He said he was attacked while searching for his friend near the 400 block of East Beaver and East College avenues.
He could not give police a description of the attackers, and video surveillance of the area could not confirm his account.
Hannah had been listed in critical condition at Altoona Regional Hospital. A spokeswoman on Thursday night said he was no longer a patient there.
May break-in
Two people have been arrested in a May 22 break-in at Sampsell’s house, during which one of four intruders pointed a gun at Sampsell and pulled the trigger, but the weapon did not fire, police said.
Robert Schreffler, 22, of Williamsport, was arrested and arraigned by District Judge Leo Armbruster in Lewisburg on charges of attempted murder, criminal conspiracy and aggravated assault. Police did not say whether Schreffler handled the gun, or whether the gun was loaded or recovered.
Joseph Williams, 19, of Glenside, Montgomery County, was apprehended in June near Philadelphia.
The four are accused of burglarizing Sampsell’s home looking for drugs and money, police reported.
The four men broke into Sampsell’s home by unlocking a screen door through a dog door, a criminal complaint said.
Earlier break-in
Schreffler had burglarized Sampsell’s home a few weeks earlier and had stolen firearms, police said. Two of the guns were used in the May 22 break-in and assault.
Once inside the home, the four men broke down Sampsell’s locked bedroom door and one of them began hitting him in the head and face as many as 11 times with a firearm, police said.
Sampsell freed himself and reached for a gun in his bed.
One of the alleged attackers fired his weapon and then pointed it at Sampsell and pulled the trigger, but it misfired. The men fled the home, leaving the guns at the scene.