A Hereford Township man was charged with aggravated assault and related offenses after he threatened a man with an ax and damaged a vehicle with a smaller ax on Oct. 14.

                Police said Herbert Charles Boyer, 51, of Township Road, threw an 18-inch ax at another person "like a tomahawk" and used a 12-inch ax to cause $1,350 damage to a vehicle during the incident.

                According to court records, state troopers responded to the unit block of St. Peters Road in Hereford at 3:10 p.m. on Oct. 14. A contractor told authorities Boyer came to a residence the contractor is renovating and started yelling and screaming that the contractor was "done for." Boyer then attempted to hit the contractor with the 18-inch ax, but the contractor kicked the door shut and locked it, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

                Boyer struck the brand new door with the ax, breaking the glass pane on the upper part of the window. He then stepped off the porch and began yelling again, the affidavit states.

                The contractor opened the front door, and Boyer threw the ax toward him. The contractor jumped out of the way and the ax landed approximately 20-feet inside the residence and stuck in the drywall, police said.

                According to police, Boyer removed a smaller ax from his vehicle and proceeded to hit a 1995 Chevrolet Tahoe he believed belonged to the contractor. Boyer struck the windshield, passenger's side window and front headlight of the vehicle, which was registered to the home owner.

                Boyer also threatened to kill a third person who came down off scaffolding at the scene to help protect the contractor, police said.  He then left the scene in his Dodge Durango.

                Boyer, a former resident of East Greenville, was taken into custody in the borough by the Upper Perk Police District around 6:40 p.m. Oct. 16. Initially, local officers located the suspect – who was wanted by the state police for aggravated assault – at the EZ Shoppe Gas Station, according to Corporal Jamie Lavin. He said local officers continued to surveil Boyer for a period of time before stopping his vehicle at the intersection of Main and Sixth streets in East Greenville.

                Upper Perk's officers then turned Boyer over to the state police, according to David Boehm, the public information officer from the agency's Reading barracks.

                District Judge Paul Hadzick arraigned Boyer and set his bail at $50,000 cash, according to a state judicial website. Boyer was confined to Berks County Prison for failing to post bail.

                A preliminary hearing in the case, before Hartman, has been scheduled for 3:15 p.m. on Oct. 26.

                He is charged with simple assault, aggravated assault, two counts of terroristic threats, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief, according the police criminal complaint filed by the State Police at Reading.