Law and Order Porter County

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Updated: March 9, 2012 8:16AM

PORTAGE

Custody exchange breaks down

Samuel Peddycoart, 25, of Crown Point, faces two felony charges after he allegedly went uninvited into his ex-girlfriend’s home and fought her when she tried to push him outside. The two met Monday at the Hobart Wal-Mart for a child custody exchange. Peddycoart got into the 24-year-old woman’s vehicle but refused to get out when she did not want to talk, so she drove home and called his father to come get him, both Peddycoart and the woman told police. However, Peddycoart reportedly followed the woman into her apartment, in the 6500 block of Lighthouse in Portage, because he had decided to take their child back home with him, he told police. As he tried to take the 5-year-old from the woman’s arms, the victim tried to push him out the door, hitting him repeatedly in the face and biting him in the arm. The woman’s upper arm and wrist also were injured in the fight, which stopped at about 6:45 p.m. when police arrived in response to a neighbor’s call.

Peddycoart is charged with residential entry and domestic battery.

Traffic stop leads
to theft arrests

Three young men were arrested on felony charges after allegedly shoplifting three bottles of hard liquor from the Wal-Mart at 6656 U.S. 6 in Portage.

Police pulled over the three at about 11:25 p.m. Monday because the driver failed to use his turn signals at U.S. 6 and Pan Am Drive and the vehicle did not have a license plate. Police found the alcohol and two of the suspects eventually admitted to stealing it. Store surveillance video showed Skyler Smith, 19, of rural Valparaiso, and Jacob Kender, 18, of South Haven, stealing the bottles with the knowledge of Jeffrey Rogers, 18, of South Haven, and two females who had left in a different vehicle.

Smith and Kender are charged with felony theft and Rogers is charged with felony possession of stolen property. All three are charged with underage possession of alcohol, a misdemeanor, and Kender also is charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

CHESTERTON

Vehicle damaged in theft of headlights

The headlights of a 2012 Buick Verano were reported stolen overnight Sunday from Connors Pontiac-Buick Inc., at 701 E. Porter Ave. The headlight assemblies and damage to the vehicle’s hood make for a total estimated damage of $7,000, according to the police report.

Men caught with heroin in vehicle

Two men were arrested on narcotics charges after one failed to obey a stop sign at 15th Street and Broadway. Police pulled over the silver Grand Prix at about 12:55 p.m. Tuesday and believed driver Christian Norville, 19, of Chesterton was impaired. The officer also recognized the passenger, Matthew Stephens, 20, also of Chesterton, from previous incidents involving narcotics. After the drug dog, Kahr, alerted to a substance, police found two rocks of heroin in the vehicle.

Although Norville had no alcohol in his system, he failed field sobriety tests and was arrested for impaired driving, police said. He also is charged with felony possession of a narcotic, felony maintaining of a common nuisance and misdemeanor underage possession of alcohol. Stephens was arrested for felony possession of a narcotic, felony possession of a hypodermic needle, and misdemeanor visiting a common nuisance.

VALPARAISO

Driver may have witnessed battery

Gerald Smith III, 22, was arrested for domestic battery for allegedly slapping an 18-year-old woman in the chest during an argument. The incident reportedly took place sometime Monday at their home, in the 3000 block of Gleneagles Boulevard. When the woman took photos of the handprint, Smith left. She said Smith previously punched her on Feb. 3 when they were in a vehicle at Sturdy Road and U.S. 30; another driver confronted Smith about hitting a woman but no one made a police report.

When Smith turned himself in to police at about 4:10 p.m., he said the woman has a history of battering him and the handprint from this morning was from him defending himself from her slaps.

Copper wire stolen from Menards

Two spools of copper wire, worth $2,751.24, were discovered stolen at about 11:15 a.m. Monday from Menards, 351 Silhavy Road. Managers then located a damaged area of the exterior wooden fence, with tools lying next to it and which someone could have fit through, according to the police report.