2 arrested for car thefts in the North Penn area

Several area police departments team up to catch suspects in car thefts, thefts from vehicles

Upper Gwynedd police say a 21-year-old and a 17-year-old, both from Philadelphia, stole cars in North Penn.

UPPER GWYNEDD » Upper Gwynedd police say a 21-year-old man and a 17-year-old juvenile male, both from Philadelphia, have been arrested for stealing cars in North Penn.

Jahmir Dwight Smith, of Garman Street, and a teenaged accomplice, whose name was not released by authorities due to his age, were taken into custody June 9. Both have been charged with multiple felony and misdemeanor criminal counts, including theft of a motor vehicle, conspiracy, receiving stolen property and theft from a motor vehicle.

Police said that around 2 a.m. on June 9, Upper Gwynedd cops were dispatched to the 1400 block of Cathys Lane by a resident who reported three strange vehicles in his driveway and a nearby yard, along with suspicious persons in the area, but by the time officers arrived, the vehicles and individuals were gone.

Information about the vehicles was sent out over police radio, and a Lansdale cop spotted them in the area, ran one of the plates and determined that it was listed as a stolen vehicle from Philadelphia. That vehicle, an SUV, was being followed by a red Chrysler minivan that was later reported stolen from a driveway on the 1400 block of Cathys Lane, police said.

Montgomery Township police followed the vehicles and initiated a traffic stop — the minivan stopped but the SUV took off at a high rate of speed eastbound on Welsh Road, police said.

Meanwhile, investigating Lansdale cops found footprints in wet grass leading to a driveway on the 1400 block of Marlyns Lane, adjacent to Cathys Lane, and spoke to a resident who told them their Kia Sportage SUV had been stolen. An assisting Towamencin cop recalled seeing the Kia on Sumneytown Pike heading toward the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Pennsylvania State Police were notified, and the Kia was located and stopped at the Mid-County Interchange for a toll evasion violation.

Police said that further investigation of the incident found numerous additional thefts from unlocked cars in the same area from where the vehicles were stolen.

Smith is behind bars at Montgomery County Correctional Facility in lieu of $10,000 cash bail while awaiting a June 22 preliminary hearing before Whitpain District Judge Robert Sobeck.

The juvenile is being held at the Montgomery County Youth Center, authorities said.