The following was provided courtesy of the Newtown Township Police Department.

Newtown Township

February 25

Scam

At approximately 4:30 p.m., a resident of Newtown Township called police to report receiving a call informing her that she was a winner of the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes.  The resident was told that she would receive a $1.5 million dollars as well as a car.  The caller didn’t ask for any personal information or cash in exchange for the prize, but did tell the resident that someone would stop by her house to give her the prizes.  The resident was advised that the call was a scam, and if she received more calls to terminate them and it is highly unlikely that anyone will show up at her house.

February 28

Dispute

Shortly after 1:00 a.m., police were dispatched to Trumbull Court for a report of a dispute involving a taxi driver and a resident.  The driver told police that he has picked up the resident in Philadelphia and transported to the address in Newtown as asked, then the passenger refused to pay for the trip.  The responding officer was able to assist in sorting out the dispute over the fare by explaining to the passenger that by refusing to pay the fare it would be considered a theft of service and he could face criminal charges.  The resident paid the driver without further incident.

DUI

Police initiated a traffic stop on the Newtown Bypass near Campus Drive around 10:20 p.m., after observing the vehicle being driven in an unsafe manner.  The driver was identified as 21-year-old Christian Ryan Deppenschmidt, of Vermillion Drive in Levittown.  While speaking to Deppenschmidt the officer detected a very strong odor of an alcoholic beverage, and formed the opinion that the Deppenschmidt was under the influence of alcohol to a degree which rendered him incapable of safe driving.  Deppenschmidt was transported to St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown to have blood drawn to be submitted for analysis.  Charges of DUI are pending the lab results.