Burglary

Philadelphia police apprehended one man and were seeking another in a burglary that was aborted early yesterday morning when the thieves took baited money at a Center City bank. Police said two men broke through a rear window of the Continental Bank at 1201 Chestnut St. about 2:35 a.m. They later started to make their way out the same window with $700. However, police said the $700 turned out to be bait money that had triggered a silent alarm at the Police Administration Building.

A burglary suspect was nabbed Jan. 19 as he was leaving a gold and silver store in Bensalem, where police said he had attempted to sell jewelry taken in a Doylestown Township burglary earlier in the day. A police detective was in the Suburban Gold Store in the Woodhaven Mall about 5:15 p.m. when the suspect, Dominic Infante, 18, walked in, police said. The plainclothes detective had a warrant for Infante's arrest in his pocket at the time. The detective secretly made a call to the Bensalem police station.

In Earline Robinson's line of work, the law usually is just an occupational hazard. Robinson, 63, is a professional con man, claiming to have been arrested in 48 states, according to the district attorney's office. At worst, say prosecutors, his scams have netted short jail stays. But yesterday, Robinson ran into Common Pleas Judge Mark I. Bernstein, who hacked off the twilight of Robinson's flimflam career. The judge already had convicted Robinson of burglary - instead of a simple theft - for trying to bilk a Wynnefield woman of $1,500 in 1984.

A report of a road obstruction on Route 70 in Cherry Hill led to the arrest of eight youths who made their getaway from the scene of a burglary on bicycles, police said yesterday. The obstruction was a smashed cash register. According to police, the boys, ranging in age from 12 to 16, entered Christine's Hairstyling on Route 70 through an open side window shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday. They took $56 from the shop's cash register and then took the register out the front door and dumped it onto Route 70, obstructing traffic, police said.

Kendall Lee Hatfield, the Southwest Philadelphia man accused of killing Lower Merion police Officer Edward M. Setzer, was charged Friday a burglary in Berwyn on July 18. Hatfield, 23, of the 2500 block of Bonaffon Terrace, was taken from Montgomery County Prison to the District Court of Judge Armand A. Pomante in Paoli, where he was arraigned on charges of burglary, criminal trespassing, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and harassment....

James Diebert of Lower Pottsgrove Township thought something was fishy. Last April, he told police that he suspected between $2,000 and $3,000 had been stolen from his home, which he kept unlocked. Also unaccounted for were some personal checks, a box of rolled quarters valued at $500, and a .38- caliber pistol. So, this being the 1990s, Diebert set up a video camera. And lo and behold, days later, Diebert recorded a family friend, Bambi Lee Cocci, placing gloves on her hands and trying to open a window to Diebert's home.

Michael Riordan, 24, was sentenced yesterday to 6 1/2 to 13 years in prison for breaking into the East Falls home of Municipal Judge Charles J. Margiotti Jr. Margiotti shot and wounded Riordan as he was climbing into the house from a window. Common Pleas Judge William J. Mazzola also sentenced Riordan to a concurrent 6 1/2 to 13 years for the burglary of a Northeast Philadelphia home in October 1989. Riordan, who pleaded guilty to both burglaries in June, was free on bail in the first case when he broke into Margiotti's home, Assistant District Attorney Bruce Sagel said.

A West Philadelphia man, who chased an alleged burglar from his home last Dec. 17 and shot him to death, was convicted yesterday of involuntary manslaughter. Common Pleas Judge Lisa A. Richette told Randolph Coleman, 18, of Warrington Avenue near 55th Street, that killing Clifford Settle, 22, of Ridgewood Street near 60th, "was not justified. " The judge allowed Coleman to remain free on $15,000 bail and set sentencing for Dec. 17. "Attempt burglary doesn't warrant a death sentence," Assistant District Attorney Mary Futcher said.

A Montgomery County couple was arraigned today, charged in a string of nearly a dozen home burglaries that netted jewelry and cash, police said. Joshua Ryan Siringhaus, of Lansdale, and Kristin Anne Leidy, of Hatfield, allegedly embarked on a spree of break-ins in March that targeted developments in Hatfield, Franconia, Lower Salford and Salford Townships. According to investigators, Leidy knocked on the front door to determine if anyone was inside before Siringhaus broke in. If someone answered the door, they claimed to be looking for a lost dog, Cheltenham police arrested the couple on April 17. Today, they were each charged with 11 counts of burglary, 12 counts of criminal trespass, 1 count of attempted burglary, and 11 counts of both theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property, possession of drug paraphernalia and related counts.

Authorities in Delaware are investigating the shooting death late Saturday of a burglary suspect confronted by police in a vacant Wilmington store. Police said an officer on patrol spotted someone entering the store late Saturday and followed the suspect inside. Master Sgt. Paul E. Reutter said the suspect did not heed commands by the unidentified officer and fled into a basement, where he attacked the officer. Reutter said the officer shot the suspect after nonlethal attempts to stop the assault were unsuccessful.

Two Clementon men have been charged with setting brush fires at a Boy Scouts camp in Pine Hill after they admitted setting the fires and entering a nearby business to steal copper and tools. Greg W. Woodman, 25, of Higgins Avenue, and Michael K Sloan Jr., 19, of Worrell Avenue, each set a large brush fire at the Boy Scouts of America Scout Reservation on New Freedom Road on Wednesday, Pine Hill police said Friday. The men were caught as they ran from a building at the National Paving company on West Atlantic Avenue, police said.

Two people were injured Tuesday afternoon when burglary suspects fleeing state troopers caused a three-vehicle accident in Delaware County, Pennsylvania State Police said. The accident occurred about 3:45 p.m. at Route 352 and Knowlton Road in Middletown Township, state police said. One suspect, Keith Kilpatrick, 23, ran from the scene but was quickly caught, state police said. The second suspect, Brittany Kerr, 22, suffered serious injuries and was taken to an area hospital. At least one other person in the other vehicles suffered minor injuries.

Police in Lower Merion are seeking the occupants of a gold Mercury Marquis that was seen at an attempted home break-in Monday and is believed to be linked to other area burglaries. Michael McGrath, Lower Merion's public safety superintendent, said the suspects are wanted in connection with burglaries in Lower Merion and several Delaware County communities including Haverford Township. "As of this time, no one has been injured in any incidents. In most cases, burglars prefer to target unoccupied homes," McGrath said.

  A wildlife camera helped to capture a serial burglar whose three-month crime spree victimized 13 homeowners in three Chester County townships, District Attorney Tom Hogan said Tuesday. Larry Samuel, also known as Elijah Samuel, 32, of Coatesville, is accused of committing the crimes in East Fallowfield, Valley, and Sadsbury Townships from Oct. 27 through Feb. 1, Hogan said. The stolen items were electronics, jewelry, and 10 firearms, including semiautomatic weapons. "He targeted homes around where he lived," Hogan said.

NEWARK, Del. - A GPS tracker in a smartphone helped investigators catch up with two burglary suspects, police said. Residents of an apartment on East Delaware Avenue in Newark awoke early Sunday to find two intruders in the home, police said. The men, who got into the apartment through unlocked doors, fled with laptops, smartphones, and the keys to a Nissan Maxima. Officers used a GPS tracker on one of the phones to track the men to a Shell gas station, where they were arrested, police said.

The Smedley Allied Health School in Chester, Delaware County, was locked down for 45 minutes Tuesday after two burglary suspects entered the high school in an effort to elude police, officials said. The incident occurred after Chester police responded to a report of a burglary at a house a block from the school about 11:35 a.m., said police Capt. Anita Amaro. When police arrived, they took one man into custody, but two others jumped out a second-story window and over fences with police in pursuit, she said.

Two pearl necklaces passed down from her grandmother. Two diamond rings set in platinum. A platinum, sapphire, and diamond pin from her mother. The 67-year-old Evesham grandmother said she kept the heirlooms in a silk pouch in a nightstand drawer and discovered in February they were missing. She reported to police that the items were among more than a dozen pieces stolen that were 25 to 70 years old and valued at $81,000. Eight days later, $25,000 worth of jewelry was reported stolen from another Evesham home.