Footprints in snow leads police to burglary suspects

UPPER DARBY, Pa. (WPVI) -- Police in Upper Darby say a couple, who they've dubbed the "Bonnie and Clyde of Delaware County", burglarized homes and cars with reckless abandon for at least a week.

That is until the snow fell and the alleged burglars got careless, falling into a footprint trap set by officers.

Police showed us photos of shoeprints in the snow, which they say are valuable evidence that led them directly to the alleged main culprits in a burglary ring that had been rampaging along Foss Avenue and the surrounding Drexel Hill neighborhood.

An undercover operation was set up and in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday.

When the suspect was spotted, he fled. Only to be captured moments later while other officers tracked his footprints and discovered the getaway car.

Police Superintendent Mike Chitwood explains, "[Officers] followed the footprints to where they originated, and there's a girl in the automobile, and they grabbed her and she says she dropped her boyfriend off."

Eventually the two suspects were arrested. They are identified as Steven Dolceamore and his girlfriend and alleged getaway driver Kelly Wilkinson.

Chitwood says, "These individuals who do these types of burglaries are dangerous because they're like rats. If they get caught they're going to fight to get away, and somebody's going to get hurt."

Police have now recovered all sorts of burglarized loot, including high-end purses, jewelry, and electronic devices.

Police say it was being sold for cash to various fencing operations.

Police spotted Dolceamore alleging breaking into Matt Iachi's car.

Iachi tells us, "There were lights everywhere. There was basically five cop cars and they had basically caught somebody trying to break into my car as well as a couple of other cars on the street."

Dolceamore and Wilkinson are now suspected in more than a dozen recent break-ins.

Dolceamore remains in the Delaware County Prison. His bail was set at $50,000. Police continue to call him a career criminal and are pursuing other apparent accomplices.