Radnor homes burglarized while residents slept upstairs

RADNOR, Pa. (WPVI) -- A $5,000 reward has now been posted to catch the band of brazen burglars targeting homes in Radnor Township, and police say these crimes could have been prevented.

Police are warning residents of the Saint David's section to lock their doors and close their windows.

Over the weekend, thieves were on the prowl - entering five houses through unlocked doors and windows while the residents slept in their beds upstairs.

Lt. Andy Block of Radnor Township Police says, "They were in there not for a long period of time - nothing was ransacked. There were no items removed from the second floor. It was anything that was in plain view."

The burglars took laptops, iPads, cellphones, handbags, and money.

They hit five homes between midnight and 5 a.m. on Sunday - two in the 500 block of St. David's Avenue, two in the 300 block of Belrose Lane, and one in the 400 block of Glenmary.

Police believe the suspects access the homes by traveling on foot in the darkness along the Paoli-Thorndale train tracks, which run directly behind some of the targeted homes.

They have reason to suspect the thieves are part of a ring burglarizing homes in Abington, Cheltenham, and Springfield Township, Montgomery County. The method is the same, but police say this is a preventable crime.

Lt. Block tells us, "Prevention goes a long way. So locking doors, setting the alarm and keeping the windows pinned closed - it goes a long way, even during the day."

And just yesterday, police got a report of an attempted burglary in the 100 block of Cambria Court in that same area. They think that was probably the same suspects trying to get into a home. They also took money out of an unlocked car on Saint David's Avenue, so keep your car doors locked as well.