Burglar who used SEPTA rail to escape sent to prison

NORRISTOWN » A Philadelphia man who used regional rail service to flee with the loot he stole during 88 residential burglaries in five counties has more than two decades in prison to think about his crimes.

Larry Rafiq Samuels, 40, of the 2700 block of West Glenwood Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court on Tuesday to 25 to 50 years in a state correctional facility on multiple counts of burglary, theft by unlawful taking and criminal mischief in connection with 88 break-ins that occurred between September 2014 and July 2015 in Montgomery, Chester, Delaware,

Bucks and Philadelphia counties.

Judge William R. Carpenter imposed the sentence after convicting Samuels of the charges during a nonjury trial at which Samuels stipulated to allegations contained in a lengthy affidavit of probable cause.

With the charges, prosecutors alleged Samuels stole items worth about $200,000 and sometimes consumed food and drinks before fleeing. Homeowners reported stolen cash and electronics.

The judge ordered Samuels to pay outstanding restitution of about $45,000. Many of the victims previously were made whole through insurance proceeds.

Samuels’ arrest was the result of a large-scale investigation that included a task force formed to address a rash of overnight burglaries in the fivecounty area.

Assistant District Attorney Laura Bradbury, who sought a lengthy prison term against Samuels, said the burglaries followed a pattern in that they occurred very near SEPTA regional rail stops.

“He was taking the SEPTA rail line in at night, we believe take the last train in, get off at a station, walk around a neighborhood, check for unlocked doors and windows and when he found one he’d go in, take what he could find and leave. Then he’d take the train back to Philadelphia the next morning,” Bradbury alleged.

“All of the homes that were burglarized where located within less than a mile of train stations,” Bradbury added.

Most of the homeowners were sleeping in their homes at the times of the break-ins. Some of the victims were awakened during the break-ins but Samuels allegedly fled quickly.

“These were all overnight person present burglaries which is very serious because it’s an invasion of privacy, an invasion into the security that people generally feel in their homes,” Bradbury said.

A break in the investigation came on July 19, 2015, when video surveillance at two Cheltenham homes that had been targeted helped the task force identify Samuels as the culprit, according to court documents.

During one of those burglaries, security cameras showed the intruder, later identified as Samuels, enter the home about 5 a.m. carrying a flashlight and a backpack.

“The male was observed on camera going through several rooms of the house including bedrooms where the homeowners and their children were sleeping,” Cheltenham Detective James McClelland alleged in the arrest affidavit. “The male took a soda can from the fridge and drank it.”

Applications that allowed authorities to track some of the stolen Apple computer devices also helped them develop Samuels as a suspect in the break-ins, according to court documents. Authorities also analyzed Samuels’ cellphone records and established a pattern of Samuels’ phone being in the immediate vicinity during the 88 residential burglaries, according to the criminal complaint.

“The investigation was focused on an unusual and very specific style crime pattern of overnight, occupied, residential burglaries that have all oc-

curred within walking distance of SEPTA regional rail line stations,” McClelland alleged in the arrest affidavit. “Typically several houses are burglarized in close proximity in the same time frame.”

Detectives alleged the homes were entered through unlocked windows or doors and sometimes screens were cut.

“The actor frequently eats or takes food from the homes’ refrigerators and discards the drink containers outside,” McClelland alleged. “The purses are usually rummaged through and discarded in neighboring yards and driveways after being emptied of cash and other non-traceable valuables. Car keys were taken from homes and cars stolen in several cases.”

The investigation involved county detectives, Philadelphia Police and Pennsylvania State Police as well as police from the following jurisdictions where the burglaries occurred: Cheltenham, Abington, Upper Dublin, Lower Merion, Whitemarsh, Lower Gwynedd, Hatfield, Springfield, Jenkintown, and Lansdale in Montgomery County; Radnor and Nether Providence in Delaware County; Tredyffrin and Easttown in Chester County; and Doylestown Township in Bucks County.

The Mid-Atlantic-Great Lakes Organized Crime Law Enforcement Network also aided in the analysis of records and reports garnered during the nearly year-long investigation.

Larry Rafiq Samuels