A 36-year-old York Township woman has been sentenced to one and a half to five years in state prison after a bizarre chain of events that began with her picking peppers from a stranger's garden and ended with troopers finding two stolen handguns, suspected methamphetamine and a partially consumed bottle of alcohol inside the stolen car she was driving. Kimberly Schwartz was found guilty on July 20 of a lengthy list of charges stemming from the August 2025 incident in Strasburg Township, Lancaster County.
According to the Office of Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams, Schwartz pleaded guilty to driving a stolen car containing multiple stolen firearms onto a Strasburg Township residence. As reported by Fox43, Schwartz began picking peppers from the residence in August 2025 and left in her vehicle without paying for them. A separate account from Daily Voice fills in more detail on how the encounter unfolded on the ground.
How the Pepper Theft Unraveled
Per a Lancaster County District Attorney statement relayed by Daily Voice, the incident happened around 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, August 21, 2025, on the 900 block of Strasburg Pike. Schwartz pulled into the victim's driveway, entered an attached garage to grab a five-gallon bucket, and began harvesting peppers from the garden. When the resident offered to sell her the produce, the same account notes, Schwartz instead drove off without paying.
The victim's quick thinking proved decisive. Police received photos of the vehicle from the scene shortly after the call, and the outlet's report indicates Pennsylvania State Police troopers located Schwartz in a nearby Strasburg Township parking lot within an hour, matching her and the car to the photograph the victim had taken.
Resisting Arrest and a Refused Chemical Test
Troopers displayed erratic behavior concerns about Schwartz almost immediately, according to police accounts. During her arrest, the same reporting details, Schwartz repeatedly unbuckled her seatbelt, refused to walk, and pulled away from troopers, forcing officers to place her in a caged police vehicle for transport. She was ultimately found guilty of resisting arrest and false identification to a law enforcement officer, Fox43 reports, after initially giving a false name.
Troopers believed Schwartz was under the influence of alcohol and a controlled substance, according to police, and uncovered suspected methamphetamine in her possession along with a partially consumed bottle of alcohol inside the stolen vehicle. She refused a chemical test following her apprehension. At the time of her arrest, per the District Attorney's statement, Schwartz was operating the stolen vehicle with a driver's license already suspended due to a prior DUI conviction.
Firearms Charges Add Felony Weight
Beyond the stolen car itself, Schwartz was found guilty of two counts of firearms not to be carried without a license after troopers discovered two stolen semi-automatic handguns inside the vehicle. Under Pennsylvania's concealed-carry statute, 18 Pa.C.S. § 6106, carrying or transporting a firearm in a vehicle without a valid license to carry is graded as a third-degree felony punishable by up to seven years in state prison when the person is legally ineligible for a permit, according to legal documentation published by DiCindio Law.
Schwartz was also found guilty of three counts of receiving stolen property, one count of burglary, one count of agricultural vandalism, one count of driving under the influence, one count of possession of a controlled substance, and seven summary offenses. Pennsylvania's agricultural vandalism law, 18 Pa.C.S. § 3309, covers damage or defacement of agricultural property or crops and can range from a second- or third-degree misdemeanor up to a third-degree felony if the pecuniary loss exceeds $5,000, according to statutory analysis published by The McShane Firm.
Court Record and Sentencing
Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Erika Boyer filed the original criminal charges, and Magisterial District Judge William Benner sent the case to county court after Schwartz waived her preliminary hearing on September 18, 2025, Daily Voice reported. She was detained in Lancaster County Prison on $50,000 bail following that hearing. District Attorney Heather Adams formally announced Schwartz's guilty plea and state prison sentence on July 21, according to court records published on CRIMEWATCH by her office.
Schwartz was ultimately sentenced to one and a half to five years in state prison. Strasburg Township sits in a heavily agricultural stretch of Lancaster County containing dozens of active family farms and preserved farmland, according to the Lancaster Farmland Trust, underscoring why a seemingly small produce theft carries specific legal protections under state law in a region built around working farms.
