Easton Man Charged in Metal Theft Scheme

An Easton man is part of a trio of people accused of stealing materials from a Bethlehem Township fence maker and selling the goods to a scrap metal company in Hellertown for far less than the material was worth, according to court records.

The suspects received a little more than $300 for the material, police say. The material actually is worth about $3,100, the fence company owner says.

According to arrest warrants, Matthew Scartoli, 23, of 104 S. Third St., Easton, and Justin Theodore Slack, 22, of 1451 Iron St., Bethlehem, allegedly made several trips to the Arbor Fence Co., 2125 Williams Ave., where they would steal the materials.

Then, Stephanie Roth, 19, of 3061 Westminster Road, Bethlehem, would allegedly drive the two men and the stolen material in her pickup truck to , a scrap metal yard at 1320 Whitaker St. in Hellertown.

On Thursday, a representative of the scrap metal yard called Hellertown police to report a suspicion that someone was selling stolen materials to the company. Two days earlier, the owner of Arbor Fence reported that materials had been stolen from his yard.

The court papers allege that Slack, Scartoli and Roth made five separate trips to H. Blinderman between Nov. 1 and Thursday and received a little more than $300 for more than 500 pounds of materials, including aluminum extrusions, mixed aluminum and black aluminum fencing.

The owner of Arbor Fence said the materials stolen are worth about $3,100.

Scartoli and Slack were each charged with three counts of theft. Roth was charged with criminal conspiracy.

Scartoli and Roth were both released on unsecured bail. Slack was committed to Northampton County Prison following arraignments at the office of District Judge Joseph Barner.