Police Blotter: Drop Box Thieves Drive Away With 3 Cars; Wynnewood Home Burgled

On Monday afternoon,  reported to news media the following incidents from the past week:

Burglary, theft

Thieves broke into the key drop box at the Firestone Complete Auto Care Store at 305 E. Lancaster Avenue in Wynnewood on Oct. 29 and stole three sets of keys that were deposited by customers leaving their vehicles overnight for service at the shop, police said. Stolen were a 2006 Land Rover, a 2000 Subaru and a 2002 Volvo. There are no suspects in the case.

The same day, police responded to a report of vandalism at the Audi dealership next door to Firestone in Wynnewood. An employee discovered a broken window upon arriving at work. Nothing was stolen, and police determined that the would-be thieves were after more keys in what might have been a drop box area—akin to the Firestone vehicle thefts.

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Sometime between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m., on Oct. 26th, a home on the 200 block of E. Wynnewood Road in Wynnewood was burglarized, police reported. A resident of the house arrived home to find the front door damaged and the house ransacked. Missing was approximately $7,000 in cash and some $1,500 worth of jewelry. There are no suspects.

Theft

A Specialized brand men’s bicycle valued at $220 was stolen sometime between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Oct. 25th from a home on the 400 block of Meadow Lane in Merion Station, police said. A resident said the bike was not locked and was taken from the home’s front porch. It was the second time a bike was stolen from this property.

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On Oct. 29th, a snow blower was stolen from the Haverford Gables Apartments on the 300 block of Montgomery Avenue in the Haverford section of Lower Merion Township.  The snow blower was in an unlocked storage room, police said.

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On Oct. 30th, between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., credit cards were stolen from a purse at the Corner Bakery in Ardmore, police said. The victim reported that she met a friend for breakfast and had placed the handbag on the floor; she did not discover they were missing until shopping later that day. By then, some $3,000 in charges had been made on the cards.

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Also on Oct. 30th, a patron at the Roach & O'Brien pub on Lancaster Avenue in Haverford reported a stolen jacket, cell phone and wallet, police said. No total value was given.

DUI

On Oct. 26th at about 11:35 p.m., an officer on patrol spotted a dark sedan traveling on Lancaster Avenue in the passing lane, erratically at a high rate of speed. After the officer pursued the car, the speeding vehicle eventually hit a curb on E. Wynnewood Road in Wynnewood. A 30-year-old woman from the 4000 block of Presidential Boulevard in Philadelphia failed a field sobriety test and refused to take a breathalyzer test—which results in the automatic forfeiture of one’s driver’s license for a year in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, police said. The woman was jailed overnight and charged with DUI, general impairment and careless driving.

Underage drinking, disorderly conduct

On Oct. 28th, shortly after 11 p.m., police were called to McShane Hall on the campus of  St. Joseph’s University in Merion Station regarding a possible alcohol overdose. Arrested was an 18-year-old woman from Bellemead, N.J., who police say was obviously intoxicated and unable to stand in the dorm’s hallway, where she became unruly and vomited. Police took her to Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood, where her behavior worsened, as she “started running around” the emergency room, according to the incident report. The woman was subdued and “turned over to the hospital staff.” She was cited for underage drinking and disorderly conduct for her antics in the ER.