Couple Pleads Guilty to Abington Home Invasion

A Blue Bell couple pleaded guilty to crimes relating to two armed home invasions and robberies in Abington and Whitemarsh in December of 2011, according to the Times Herald.

William James Guess, 33, of Blue Bell, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit robbery, one count of retail theft and one count of possession of cocaine; his wife, Jeana Axelroth, 30, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit robbery, according to court records.

According to the Times Herald, prosecutors said the two were “puppeteers in the conspiracy, pulling the strings behind the scene.”

According to the affidavit, in December 2011, police were called to the 100 block of Houston Avenue in the North Hills section of Abington with reports of an armed home invasion robbery. The homeowner told police that Axelroth, an acquaintance of the homeowner, was planning to come to his house to borrow money from him.

According to the story, two men later entered the house; one of them pointed a handgun at the victim and said, "don't move." Following a struggle, the victim ran out of the house.

And, two days later, a homeowner on the 2000 block of Spring Mill Road in the Lafayette hill reported that at 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 4, 2011, two men entered his home, one armed with a handgun, according to police.

The men held the victim at gunpoint while they stole two Apple computers, a safe, a watch, $50 in cash, a cell phone and credit cards, as well as his BMW.

Upon investigation, police found that Askia Muhammad and Cornelius Roddick, both of Philadelphia, worked with Guess and Axelroth to commit the crimes.

Guess was sentenced to one and a half to seven years in prison and ordered to pay $6,555 in restitution; Axelroth was sentenced to 11 and a half to 23 months in prison.

Click here to read more on this story from the Times Herald.