Police launch hunt for ‘one-man crime wave’ in Delco
Authorities fear an elusive “smash-and-grab” cigarette burglar who has been targeting businesses in five towns is becoming more aggressive.
Break-ins date back five months, when the Getty Station at 5336 Springfield Road in Clifton Heights was hit on May 8. The most recent incident occurred Oct. 25 in Ridley Township, where EZ Beer at 600 E. MacDade Blvd. was burglarized.
“He is a one-man crime machine,” Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said Wednesday. “He is brazen and he is calculated. He knows what he is doing. It’s happening more often and he is getting more aggressive.”
Chitwood said the bandit has hit two businesses in Upper Darby twice.
‘In each of these burglaries, a white male wearing jeans, hooded sweatshirts and gloves, with his face covered throws a brick, through a door damaging the glass. The males takes Newport and/or Marlboro cigarettes and then flees,” reads a prepared release issued this week by the Upper Darby Police Department.
Investigators have video in two of the incidents.
“It takes him 49 seconds from the time he enters to the time he leaves,” Chitwood said. “He’s going in getting packs of cigarettes, not even cartons.”
In one job alone, according to Chitwood, he made off with packs of cigarettes valued at $1,200.
In addition to Clifton Heights, Upper Darby and Ridley Township, similar incidents have been reported in Aldan and Springfield, Chitwood said.
The Upper Darby press release further described the white male suspect as between 20-30 years old, stands 5 feet 7 inches to 6 feet tall, with a medium build. The sweatshirts he’s worn were green and most recently, gray with a black hood and sleeves with Reebok written across the chest. He wears jeans, gloves and various face coverings.
Tuesday night in Ridley Township, according to information posted on the Ridley Township Police Department Facebook page, the suspect used a hammer to smash out the glass door at EZ Beer. He entered the store and stole about six cartons worth of loose packs of Newport and Marlboro cigarettes. The suspect then left in a white pick-up truck.
According to police, the suspect was seen driving around the area of MacDade and Hazel Avenue in a white GMC or Chevrolet pickup truck with a ladder rack and ladder on top. The suspect parked on Hazel and walked over the beer distributor.
In other incidents, according to Upper Darby police, the suspect’s getaway vehicle is described as a possibly silver/light gray, possibly light blue, four-door sedan, with a plastic antenna on the roof center rear, rear center break light in the bottom of the rear windshield, six spoke silver wheels or wheel covers, an oval black grill with an unknown center logo, and two lights over rear center license plate.
Other businesses targeted included Majors’ Deli in Secane, Dollar Island in Aldan; Liberty Station in the Secane section of Upper Darby; and the Shell Station on Baltimore Pike in Springfield.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Upper Darby police at 610-734-7693; Clifton Heights police at 610-623-3242; Aldan police at 610-626-3555; Springfield police at 610-5441100; or Ridley Township police at 610-532-4002.