Police Blotter: Running Mercedes Stolen From Bala Cynwyd Repair Shop

On Monday afternoon, Lower Merion Township police reported to news media the following crimes and incidents from the Narberth-Bala Cynwyd Patch area in the past week:

Vehicle theft

• A 2009 Mercedes Benz was stolen from in Bala Cynwyd at about 10 a.m. on Jan. 3, police said. While cars awaiting service were being jockeyed about by the auto shop’s personnel, a man jumped into the Mercedes—which was briefly left running—and sped away, northbound on Rock Hill Road.
  One P&J employee tried to stop the thief, but he was knocked to the ground, uninjured. Police described the suspect as a black male with a medium complexion and a full beard, in his late 20s or early 30s, of medium build, and wearing a dark-colored ski cap.
  The car’s tracking device was then activated. A short time later, Philadelphia’s Southwest detectives unit recovered the vehicle, police said, though it was not clear whether it was damaged or anything was missing from the interior.

Theft

• Tools and a leaf-blower were stolen from an unlocked shed at a home on the 100 block of Ebenezer Avenue in Belmont Hills, sometime overnight between Jan. 2 and 3, police said.
• A wallet with identification and credit cards was reported stolen from the GSB Building in Bala Cynwyd at about 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 6, police said. The victim was notified by PNC Bank that suspicious purchases were charged to a credit card at the Target store on City Avenue. No suspects have been identified.

Retail theft

• Store security staff detained a woman at the on City Avenue in Bala Cynwyd about 4 p.m. Jan. 6. Dorothy Stewart, 57, of the 5100 block of Cedar Avenue in Philadelphia, was arrested and charged with trying to steal jeans and a Coach handbag.

Burglary

• A purse was stolen on the morning of Jan. 5 from a home on the 100 block of Springfield Avenue in Belmont Hills. The thief opened an unlocked front door and made off with the owner’s purse, which was sitting just inside the door. The owner was said to have been awakened about 2:30 a.m. by her dog barking but did not get up to check. Some of the credit cards stolen were discovered the following day in the backyard of a Manayunk home.
• A side door to a home on the 500 block of Cambridge Road in Bala Cynwyd was forced open in Jan. 5, sometime between 5 and 7:40 p.m. Police were responding to a report of an audible alarm and a suspicious male in the area when they discovered the home that had been broken into. A neighbor told police that three black males in hooded sweatshirts were seen on the block, but no further description was given. Watches, jewelry, cash and computer memory cards of an undetermined value were stolen. Police say the investigation is ongoing.

DUI

• Just after midnight Jan. 6, Martha Christopher, 32, of the 1900 block of Nestor Street in Philadelphia, was arrested for driving under the influence after she was discovered with her disabled vehicle on the 500 block of Righters Ferry Road in Bala Cynwyd. An airbag had been deployed. She was arrested and brought to police headquarters after refusing to take a field sobriety test, police said. (Such a refusal carries with it an automatic one-year suspension of a driver’s license.)