Police Blotter: Two Men Arrested in 15 Thefts from Cars

Police believe the two men arrested Friday morning for vehicle thefts targeted as many as 15 vehicles in several areas of the township the previous night.

After a driver called police from Conshohocken State Road in Penn Valley about 6:15 a.m. Friday, reporting two suspicious men walking along the road, officers located and arrested Philadelphia residents Justin Jones, 21, and Andre Watson, 20, police said.

The two men were carrying bags containing items that were later returned to more than a dozen residents who complained their cars were broken into, police said. Jones and Watson were jailed in lieu of $25,000 bail.

Vehicles were in the past week targeted in Bala Cynwyd, Penn Valley and Merion Station and were relieved of electronic devices, money, handbags and hockey equipment, among other valuables.

Also in the past week, police reported the following incidents in the Bala Cynwyd area:

• About 2:15 p.m. Sunday, an unidentified man tried to steal two bottles from the state liquor store, which fell and broke when he scuffled with a manager. The man got away.
• Three Houlihan's patrons ran out on a $134 bill about 10 p.m. Saturday night.
• A Bala Cynwyd resident, Cheryl O'Brien, 49, was arrested about 7:45 p.m. Saturday for public intoxication after, police said, she refused to leave Al Dar on Montgomery Avenue, having been denied service.
• Philadelphia residents Cheryl Bridges, 52, and Helen Duncan, 51, were charged with retail theft, accused of stealing two packages of ox tails and a Red Bull energy drink from the Bala Cynwyd Acme about 4:20 p.m. Saturday.
• A home on the 100 block of Union Avenue in Bala Cynwyd was burglarized between 3:15 and 10:40 p.m. Friday. A kitchen window had been pried open, the master bedroom ransacked and a jewelry box of undetermined value taken.
• A homeowner encountered a burglar in her kitchen about 10:15 p.m. Thursday on the 300 block of Llandrillo Road in Bala Cynwyd. The unidentified man grabbed two purses and a laptop and fled; the resident threw a plate at him but missed.
• Wallingford, PA, resident Kristopher Martin, 31, was cited for attempted retail theft about 5:25 p.m. Wednesday at Lord & Taylor in Bala Cynwyd. Police said he tried to steal six items of clothing worth a combined $600.