Woman charged for tampering with evidence in gun store attempted robbery

Muncy, Pa. — A Muncy woman has been arrested after police say she destroyed evidence related to the attempted robbery.

During an interview with police, Nikki Burrows, 42, allegedly covered for her daughter by lying and later destroying video from a Ring camera at her home.

According to a police affidavit, officers relayed the following narrative:

On Sept. 27, police were called to a home on the 400 block of Market Street in Muncy at 8 a.m. A resident reported her vehicle, a black 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander, was stolen from an alleyway behind her home. Muncy Borough police canvassed the area and found the vehicle a block away, parked in a yard. The vehicle's owner said there was a black and orange baseball bat in the vehicle that did not belong to her.

Earlier on Sept. 27, around 1:30 a.m., an attempted burglary took place at R&J Welch Firearms on 1462 John Brady Drive, Muncy. Video surveillance revealed a black SUV consistent with the stolen Mitsubishi Outlander pulled up to the firearms store, and two people headed toward the store.

"One individual is seen carrying a black and orange baseball bat," wrote Trooper Josiah Reiner. The bat was also consistent with the bat found in the stolen vehicle. "The individuals attempted to break into the store and failed," Reiner wrote, due to the iron bars over the store's windows.

The two people fled in the stolen vehicle in the direction of Muncy Borough.

Using footage from two neighborhood surveillance cameras, police could see the vehicle returned to the neighborhood and parked a few doors down from where it was stolen. Police visited the nearby residence of Nikki Burrows, a person already known to authorities because she was previously questioned about a rash of juvenile shootings and other related criminal activity within the last few months.

During a police interview in her home on Sept. 28, she told Trooper Matthew Miller that "she allows her daughter to bring these individuals to her house because it is a safe place for them to stay." She reported that her daughter had turned off the WiFi at the house and left around midnight with her boyfriend, returning "in the early morning hours," at which time she turned the WiFi back on. The WiFi being turned off caused the Ring camera to stop collecting footage, she explained to police.

Police followed up with a second interview the next day, but received a different story. "It was clear from Trooper Miller's interactions with N. Burrows that she was being deceptive as she provided different accounts of what took place on September 26, 2024, in regard to her daughter and her daughter's friends whereabouts," Reiner wrote.

A third interview, this time with another witness in Burrows' home, revealed that Burrows had lied regarding the Ring video and that she deleted the records after her conversation with police. The witness was able to describe the two individuals in the home that evening, both wearing black clothing and hooded sweatshirts, the same clothing worn by the individuals at the gun store.

Investigators issued a search warrant for the Ring camera footage and found portions had been deleted, consistent with what the witness had reported.

Officers charged Burrows with a felony count of hindering the apprehension, prosecution, conviction, or punishment of another and conceal or destroy evidence of a crime. She's also facing a misdemeanor charge of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.

Burrows received unsecured bail in the amount of $25,000 and faces a preliminary hearing on Nov. 15.