Police Blotter: Posing as Roofing Inspectors, Thieves Take $86K of Property from Haverford Home

 reported to news media the following crimes and incidents from the Ardmore-Merion-Wynnewood Patch area in the past week:

Two men, posing as roofing subcontractors on Dec. 16 at 7:50 p.m., tricked their way into a home on the 200 block of Grays Lane in the Haverford section of Lower Merion Township, police said.

The home had had roofing work done, but it was completed at least a day before the incident. The unknown thieves said they needed to check to see if the work had been done properly—a familiar scam, police said, when contractor signs are put in front of homes.

Once inside, the men bagged and stole an estimated $86,000 worth of jewelry, statues and figurines, according to the police incident report.

No description of the men was immediately available.

Other burglaries

On Dec. 13, a home on the 1500 block of Cliff Road in Wynnewood’s Overbrook Hills neighborhood was entered by thieves, who stole two flat-screen TVs, an iMac computer, jewelry, clothing and silverware of an unknown value, police said. Upon returning home at 6 p.m. that day, the homeowner noticed the rear kitchen door was standing opened and damaged.

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Between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Dec. 15, a home on the 100 block of Arnold Road in Ardmore was burglarized, with the thief gaining entry through an unlocked window, police said. Stolen was an MacBook computer, and iPod Nano, an iPhone and other items of an undetermined value.

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Also on the 15th, sometime between 5:30 and 10:20 p.m., a house on the 300 block of Valley Road in Merion Station was broken into, police said, with access gained through a window. Missing were two iPhones and numerous pieces of jewelry. Some of the jewelry was later recovered in the back yard, according to the report.

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On Dec. 16, sometime between 7:30 a.m. and 6 p.m., a home on the 700 block of Periwinkle Lane in Wynnewood’s Overbrook Hills neighborhood was targeted for a burglary, as a pair of French doors were discovered forced open, police said. However, an alarm was activated and nothing was reported stolen.

Theft

Sometime between Dec. 10 and 12, a vehicle on the 200 block of Welsh Terrace on Merion Station was robbed of a GPS device, about $20 in change, CDs and a pair of earrings, police said. The car was parked over the weekend and there was no damage reported; it is assumed the car was left unlocked.

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Sometime between Nov. 10 and Dec. 7, copper downspouts were stolen from the Merion Gardens Apartments in Wynnewood at City Avenue, a maintenance person there told police.

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At Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood, sometime between Dec. 17 and 18, numerous gift cards were stolen from someone’s jacket, which had been taken and then later found near the front entrance to the hospital.

Public drunkenness

At 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 16, the staff of John Henry’s Pub in Ardmore refused admittance to a man who was visibly drunk, police said. Police were called when Jonathan Colvson, 21, of the 100 block of Cornell Avenue in Swarthmore, insisted on being served. Colvson was arrested and issued a citation.

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On Dec. 18 at 2:25 a.m., at Lancaster Avenue and Woodside Road in Ardmore, police said a 37-year-old Havertown resident was unaware of his whereabouts and almost fell. He arrested and issued a citation for public drunkenness upon his release.