It was a standing room only crowd Monday night as hundreds came to Saint Mathias School to learn about a large number of burglaries in Bala Cynwyd and Merion, 25 of them since January 23rd.
"It's really scary, that's why there's such a huge turnout. I mean, every one of us knows somebody a few doors away that have been affected by this," said Nina Cummings.
Lower Merion police handed out maps of where the commercial and residential burglaries have been occurring, including City Avenue, Presidential Boulevard, Conshohocken State Road, Trevor Road and Levering Mill Road among others.
"They're either prying open the doors or windows and taking jewelry, cash, change and I believe some laptops," said Lt. Bernie D'Amour.
Police believe there may be more than one burglary ring at work. Some of the suspects have been arrested including Paul Barren, who was identified as a career criminal and a drifter.
"He has arrests from Las Vegas to Florida, how he arrived in this jurisdiction in this fine township, I have no idea," said Lt. D'Amour.
Police say they are currently looking for a man identified as Richard Brown. They are also looking for 28-year-old Norman Howard, believed to be a Philadelphia resident who rides around on a bike between the hours of 3:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. and a white male with silver hair in his 50s said to be driving a white, newer model Ford F-150 with a ladder rack. He is said to be accompanied by another white male in his 30s. Police are looking for a late 1990s green Ford Expedition last seen in connection with the latest burglary on Trevor Road.
"I just want everybody to know we have a lot of officers out here working on this issue. They are devoted to this issue with a specialized detail. A lot of them you will see, a lot of others you will not see," said Sgt. Gene Pasternack.
Lower Merion police say they cannot stress enough how they need everyone's help in trying to catch the burglary suspects. They urge everyone to report anything that even remotely appears suspicious; write down license tag numbers and descriptions of vehicles and anything that may prove to be helpful. Then, police are encouraging people to call 911 and let officers them do the rest.
