LEWISTOWN — A 33-year-old Derry Township man, who might have thought he hit the jackpot after stealing large sums of cash from the owner of Skills machines over the past 30 days, finds himself in the Mifflin County Correctional Facility in Lewistown after an extensive investigation by the Lewistown Police Department.

A release issued by the Lewistown Police Department on Friday details the police investigation of Cole Garrett Smith, who allegedly stole $350,000 over multiple thefts from the victim.

At 1:27 p.m. on Dec. 8, Lewistown Police Department officers received a phone call from a resident on the south side of the borough, reporting they have several businesses that deal in large sums of cash servicing Skills machines, loading ATMs and other similar entrepreneurial ventures, the report said. Around Nov. 12, the resident noticed about $40,000 was missing from a location where they stored cash, police said.

On Dec. 2, the resident’s wife noticed duct tape on a window and reported hearing what sounded like someone inside the building around the same time, the report said, and about a week later the wife noticed a hole in a window.

Police said after the resident checked, they noticed at least $150,000 in cash was missing, which was mostly bundles of $20 bills rubber banded together in stacks of $1,000. The resident began reviewing surveillance cameras and observed a male subject walking around the property at 1:30 a.m. on the same date, the report said. The residents saw the male on camera access his property from a neighbor’s yard by using a ladder to scale a fence and tamper with a basement window that was later found to be damaged, the report said.

The resident asked a close friend and local business owner to review the video surveillance, and they identified the male on the footage to be Smith, one of his employees, the report said.

Around this time, the friend received a phone call from a nearby car dealership asking to verify Smith’s employment as Smith was at the dealership attempting to purchase a $55,000 truck, the report said. Smith told a salesperson that he was going to pay $50,000 in $20 bills, the report said, and Smith worked as a laborer performing seasonal work and had not reportedly worked during the previous two weeks.

Officers immediately went to the car dealership and located Smith as he got into his vehicle, the report said, and Smith put a $1,000 deposit down paid in $20 bills. He denied having any large sums of cash on him or in his vehicle, the report said, and Smith denied making statements that he was going to pay for the truck using a large sum of cash.

Officers said they observed a large amount of cash inside Smith’s jacket pocket and retrieved $3,600, including $1,000 in $20 bills wrapped in a rubber band. Smith claimed that he has been gambling over the last four months with the victim in this crime at casinos and that this stack of cash was proceeds from a lucky streak of gambling, the report said.

Smith showed officers photos on his phone of him hitting slot machine jackpots of $17,000 and $15,000 on the same night around Nov. 26-27, the report said. The victim came to the scene and confronted Smith’s statement, police said, and the victim is very familiar with gambling and reported that the casino payouts are typically made with $100 bills, not $20 bills.

The registered owner of the vehicle Smith was driving gave officers permission to search the truck, where they found more than $50,000 in cash in the vehicle, including a large quantity of $20 bills in a shoe box, the report said. Officers also said they located a black jacket, black ski mask, and gloves that appeared to be worn by the subject in the surveillance photos as well as retrieved duct tape that matched tape applied to the victim’s window.

With the victim stating there was still a large sum of cash missing, detectives went to Smith’s residence on Highland Avenue. Officers transported Smith to the Lewistown Police Department where he provided information regarding the victim having large sums of cash, the report said. Smith also maintained that he started going to casinos with the victim a few months ago and knew that the victim was very successful and often won large sums of money, the report said.

Smith claimed that a male, whom he did not wish to name because the subject was wanted in multiple states, initially broke into the victim’s residence after Smith provided this person information about the victim’s cash supply, the report said. Smith claimed this other person also committed the burglary on Dec. 8 and supplied him with half of the money which Smith said was about $55,000.

Detectives spoke with residents where Smith resides and they provided consent to search a shared basement as well Smith’s apartment, which was consented to by a co-habitant, the report said. Detectives located about $120,000 in a shoebox concealed in a crawl space in the basement, the report said, and most of it was bundles of $20s.

Smith said he had a few thousand dollars in his apartment and retracted a statement about there being cash in his basement, the report said.

When confronted with the new information police had discovered. Smith admitted to breaking into the residence on Dec. 8 and taking $170,000, police said. Smith denied being responsible for the first burglary. Smith told police that after the burglary on Dec. 8, he drove to the casino and he spent $8,000 to $20,000, the report said, and he had a W-2G form in his truck indicating he cashed out at just over $4,000 on that date.

Smith was adamant that his previous gambling was from a lucky streak where he won $27,000 around Nov. 26-27, 2025. Smith was lodged in the Mifflin County Correctional Facility in Lewistown on Dec. 8 and charged with burglary and receiving stolen property with a valuation of $150,000 stolen. State parole issued a detainer for Cole Smith preventing him from posting bail and being released.

Detectives and officers continued investigating this incident in the following days as the victim provided additional video which shows Smith was inside the building for a few minutes indicating that he had prior knowledge of where the cash was stored.

Detectives were also able to pull video from the firehouse near Smith’s residence which showed his vehicle returning to his residence a short time after he departed the victim’s property which contradicts statements provided by Smith, the report said.

Officers requested help from the Pennsylvania State Police, Bureau of Gaming Enforcement, to obtain additional information about Smith’s earnings and spending at the casino, the report said. A preliminary estimate indicated that Smith spent $180,000 in a few weeks at the casino including $91,000 in one day.

This would make the total spent by Smith and the amount recovered from his vehicle and residence around $350,000, which is about the same as the loss initially reported by the victim.

As police continue their investigation, it’s likely that the original charges will be amended or refiled to reflect additional information gathered following Smith’s initial arrest.