Community Corner

Man Taken Into Custody For 12-Year-Old Warrant

Whitpain Police took Jeffrey S. Panzeter into custody on Jan. 18. Over 12 years ago, he stole 41 guns from Xtra Space Storage in Montgomery Township as part of a massive "crime spree."

Jeffrey S. Panzeter, 46, of the Deck Motel in the 600 block of DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell, was taken into custody at 1:13 a.m. on Jan. 18, according to Whitpain Township Police Department recent reports.

Panzeter was taken in on an outstanding Montgomery County warrant for a probation violation 12 years ago, police said.

"Panzeter was stopped after an officer at DeKalb and Skippack pikes ran a check on his vehicle and was aware of the warrant, and he was turned over to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department, police said," according to a report in the Times Herald.

Find out what's happening in Montgomeryville-Lansdalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Panzeter was arrested, according to an article in the Morning Call, back in 2002. At the time, the article states, Panzeter was living in Hatfield. He was found guilty of multiple gun thefts.

The former business owner of a heating and air conditioning service company was sentenced to nine to 23 months in Montgomery County Courts in May 2002 after being found guilty of stealing 41 firearms from a self-storage facility in Montgomery Township.

Find out what's happening in Montgomeryville-Lansdalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The prosecution called his acts a "crime spree."

"As much as I'd like to dispute it, that's what it was," Panzeter told then Montgomery County Judge Gerald Corso, according to the Morning Call article. "It's the God's honest truth."

Panzeter stole the 41 weapons from a unit from Xtra Space Self Storage, in Montgomery Township, back in 2000.

According to the 2002 article, Panzeter was addicted to heroin at the time of his crimes.

"Panzeter's other crimes were stealing $300 in cash and jewelry from the home of one of his heating and air-conditioning company's clients, drug possession and a summary charge that resulted from a domestic dispute," said the article.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here