Suspect in rooftop burglaries headed for trial
Jose Vanegas, 44, waived his preliminary hearing, sending 70 felony and misdemeanor criminal counts to Montgomery County court for trial
A 44-year-old Malvern man is set to be formally arraigned on 70 felony and misdemeanor criminal counts next month for his alleged role in a series of overnight rooftop burglaries across the county earlier this year, including a heist at a Costco in Upper Merion in which the perpetrators made off with more than $82,000 in jewelry.
Jose Martin Vanegas, of the 300 block of Lancaster Avenue — who is free on $99,000 bond — appeared before Montgomery Township District Judge Andrea Hudak Duffy and waived his preliminary hearing, sending multiple counts of burglary, theft, conspiracy, receiving stolen property and other charges to Montgomery County court for trial, records indicate.
Authorities allege Vanegas planned the burglaries with a 17-year-old male accomplice — identified in a 39-page criminal complaint as “R.C.S.G.,” a Guatemalan national believed to be in the United States illegally and who has been in Montgomery County juvenile detention since March — who was the masked suspect who broke into the Costco and other businesses in Montgomery Township, Hatfield Township and Norristown between Feb. 6 and March 5.
R.C.S.G. broke into the businesses and “defeat(ed) locked cash registers and safes to steal money” and other items, including a handgun, during the crimes, while Vanegas, who owns a landscaping business in Perkiomenville, is believed to have acted as a lookout during the crimes at the targeted businesses, based on the findings of a joint investigation by detectives from the Upper Merion, Hatfield Township, Montgomery Township, Lower Salford and Norristown police departments.
The point of entry for the first of the duo’s alleged crimes — a Feb. 6 break-in at the Costco at 201 Allendale Road — was a skylight, authorities said. R.C.S.G. used rope to rappel 40 feet and steal diamond rings and other jewelry from display cases, according to the complaint.
On Feb. 13, according to court documents, R.C.S.G. broke into the Patel Food Market at 705B Bethlehem Pike in Montgomery Township via the roof and used a claw hammer to force open the cash registers and steal approximately $700 in cash.
Detectives said that on Feb. 15, R.C.S.G. accessed Lansdale Meats & Deli at 1801 N. Broad St. in Hatfield Township through a rooftop vent and stole approximately $12,000 in cash and a 9mm handgun, again using a hammer to commit the crimes. The hammer was left behind and determined to be the same one used in the Montgomery Township burglary, police said.
Break-ins allegedly committed by R.C.S.G. at two Norristown businesses — the Cinco de Mayo Supermarket at 637 Markley St. on Feb. 24 and the Norris Beer Deli at 226 West Main Street on March 5 — netted the suspects approximately $7,600 in cash and Guatemalan phone calling cards, according to court documents.
After the Costco burglary, investigators determined through footwear impressions left on the roof that the suspect had worn Vans sneakers, and later, a Hatfield detective investigating the Lansdale Meats & Deli break-in recognized the tread pattern left on the roof as belonging to Vans sneakers “from having previously owned them himself,” according to court documents.
Similar tread marks were found at all five crime scenes and surveillance video of all the burglaries later obtained by police showed a masked suspect wearing the Vans sneakers, investigators said.
In early March, police said, R.C.S.G. was arrested by Norristown police for drug paraphernalia possession and disorderly conduct and was found to be wearing the same brand of Vans sneakers, which had a dark spot, a loose piece of rubber and a style of lacing identical to the footwear seen in store surveillance videos that captured the burglaries.
A search of R.C.S.G.’s cellphone on him at the time of his arrest found a number associated with Vanegas, and through analysis of cellphone activity during the burglaries and other investigative means, detectives said they were able to determine that phones belonging to R.C.S.G. and Vanegas were in close proximity to the crime scenes at the times of the break-ins and that the two communicated with one another during the burglaries, according to court documents.
Investigators also found on R.C.S.G.’s phone a photo of a wire transfer receipt sending money to Guatemala that was taken shortly after the Cinco de Mayo Supermarket burglary, documents show.
A search warrant executed at Vanegas’ home on March 13 yielded a claw hammer and sledgehammer believed used by R.C.S.G. during the two Norristown burglaries, and during a subsequent search of his vehicle, police found and seized a pair of work gloves believed to have been worn by R.C.S.G. during the Montgomery Township burglary, court documents indicate.
Video surveillance later obtained by authorities also showed Vanegas and R.C.S.G. together on Feb. 27 at a motel in Norristown where R.C.S.G. was staying and where the pair had booked rooms together on multiple occasions using the name “Roberto Carlos,” according to police.
Vanegas is scheduled to be formally arraigned on July 19.
Information about the 17-year-old’s status in juvenile court was not immediately available Thursday.