Police Blotter: Burglaries Reported Throughout Lower Merion

The following incidents from the past week were relayed to news media at a Lower Merion Police Department briefing on Wednesday:

Burglary: Over $20,000 in jewelry was stolen from a home in Bryn Mawr on Oct. 22, according to police. A homeowner on the 400 block of Great Springs Road in Bryn Mawr found a rear window of their home forced open shortly after 5 p.m.

The items stolen included:

• Gold earrings, valued at $500
• A diamond necklace, valued at $8,000
• An Omega watch, valued at $2,100
• Diamond hoop earrings, valued at $3,000
• Long diamond and gold earrings, valued at $1,800
• Diamond stud earrings, valued at $3,500
• Small opal earrings, valued at $500
• Antique buckles and bracelets, valued at $1,500

The home had an alarm, but it had not been set, according to the police report.

Theft from vehicle: A green handbag, TomTom GPS, iPod car charger, and a pair of iPod headphones were stolen from a car on the unit block of Heckamore Road in Bala Cynwyd between the evening of Oct. 21 and morning of Oct. 22, police said. The car’s owner told police he had left the doors unlocked overnight.

Burglary attempt:  On Oct. 23, police responded to a report of an attempted burglary on the 600 block of North Gulph Road in Bryn Mawr around noon. According to the report, a pane of glass was broken on a door leading to the rear yard; three other attempts had been made to other doors, but no entry was gained.

Theft: A laptop valued at $1,000 was stolen from a construction trailer in the Bala Cynwyd Shopping Center on Oct. 23 around 9:45 a.m., police said. The employee had left to go inspect a construction site and returned around 10 a.m. to find the laptop missing, police said.

Theft: A black iPhone 4S was stolen from a Harcum College academic center bathroom on Oct. 16, around 3:45 p.m., police said. The victim had left the phone in the bathroom and returned a few minutes later to find it missing, police said. She reported the theft on Oct. 23 because although she had canceled her phone service, her work email was being accessed, according to the report.

Retail theft: An Apple iPad 3, valued at $500, was stolen from the Radio Shack on City Line Avenue in Bala Cynwyd on Oct. 23, according to police. Police responded to the store at 8:22 p.m. on report of a theft in progress.

Two men entered the store; one asked to look at an iPhone and purchased it, police said. Then, the other man asked to see an iPad, and acted like he was going to show it to his friend, before walking out of the store doors with it and into a waiting vehicle, police said.

DUI: A 53-year-old Haverford man was arrested and charged withdriving under the influence on 10/23 at 10:12 p.m, police said.

Burglary: An iPad valued at $500 and a gold necklace with a Jewish star, valued at $1,800 were stolen from a home on the 100 block of Birch Road in Bala Cynwyd on Oct. 24, police said.  The homeowner last left the home at 11:30 a.m. and everything was in order, police said; after returning around 8:55 p.m., the homeowner noticed a missing jewelry box and light ransacking. It appears the burglar or burglars entered by prying open the laundry room window.

Burglary: Four apartments in the Llanberris Apartment complex in Bala Cynwyd had their doors pried open on Oct. 25, and three apartments had items stolen, police said.  Three of the four apartments had their doors bolted at the time of the burglaries, and a fourth had the door locked but not bolted.

The burglaries were discovered after one resident left her apartment at 9:35, returned at 12:45 p.m., and saw her apartment had been pried open and ransacked, police said. Missing from her apartment was a $500 HP laptop, $400 in cash, $1,000 in costume jewelry. 

A second apartment had a plasma television worth $500 stolen, an $800 black Dell laptop, and a $500 white laptop. A third apartment had miscellaneous jewelry and diamonds, worth $500, stolen, along with a $1,200 MacBook and wooden jewelry box. A fourth apartment was entered, but nothing was missing, police said.

Liquor law violation: Two 19-year-old Villanova students were cited for underage drinking on Oct. 26 at 1:57 a.m.

Liquor law violation: A 19-year-old Villanova student was cited for public drunkenness and underage drinking on Oct. 26, police said. According to the report, a Kelly’s Bar employee found the student passed out in a bathroom stall around 2:12 a.m. The young woman was taken to Bryn Mawr Hospital, and was later cited for having a fraudulent South Carolina ID, police said.

Simple assault: A man wearing a black and white striped prison costume was attacked by a stranger after returning from a Halloween party in Philadelphia on Oct. 26, police said. The victim said he noticed a man in the parking lot of 801 W Montgomery Ave. in Bryn Mawr, but did not pay attention to him until the man started heading in his direction. The stranger punched the victim in the mouth unprovoked; the police said.

Burglary: Costume jewelry was stolen from a home on the 100 block of Summit Lane in Bala Cynwyd around 7:27 p.m. Oct. 26, police said. Homeowners had returned to the house to see two trash cans in the middle of their driveway and a tall male standing in the bushes outside their rear door, police said. When one of the homeowners shouted hello, the man took off running, police said.

Burglary attempt: Another burglary was attempted on the 100 block of Summit Lane on Oct. 26, police said. While doing a neighborhood check following the previous burglary on Summit Lane, officers found a front window of the home slightly ajar and a window removed. Nothing appeared to be taken, homeowners later told police.

Road rage: Road rage led to a physical altercation on Oct. 28 in Bala Cynwyd, according to police. After a minivan cut off a driver traveling on Presidential Blvd. on around 1:19 p.m., the driver honked. When both stopped at a red light at Monument Avenue, police said a verbal argument began that quickly grew physical. The complainant told police that he was punched in the face by the other man, who was about 50 or 60 years old. The complainant, he added, was trained in cage-style fighting, but restrained himself from striking the other man during the altercation.