Thieves

Thieves broke into a Chester County candy store Friday night, making off with a donation bucket for an accident victim, police said. The burglary at the Candy for All Occasions store at 2049 Newark Rd. in New London Township was the second in three months, police said. The thieves also stole candy, damaged a cash register, and broke a window. The donation bucket, containing at least $100, was for Corey Marie Beattie, who suffered serious brain and neck injuries in a 2010 car crash.

Police are looking for the thieves who broke into a Chester County candy store Friday night and made off with a donation bucket for an accident victim. The burglary at the Candy for All Occasions store at 2049 Newark Road in New London Township was the second one in three months, police said. The thieves stole assorted candy, damaged a cash register and broke a window. The stolen donation bucket, containing at least $100, was for Corey Marie Beattie, who suffered serious brain and neck injuries in a 2010 car crash.

Police are seeking a pair of thieves who stole a wallet on July 27 at the Home Depot in Plymouth Township, then used the victim's credit cards to make purchases the same day at other area stores. The cards were first used at Best Buy and Target in Plymouth Meeting, said Det. Jeffrey McGee of the Plymouth Township police. Later, purchases were made at Target on City Avenue in Philadelphia, and at Ikea, McDonald's and Chick Fil-a on South Columbus Boulevard in South Philadelphia.

After two quick police witnesses and no defense testimony, the Philadelphia trial of a couple accused of taking more than $70,000 from a South Street jewelry store - and leaving behind their 4-year-old son - is ready to go to the jury. The Common Pleas Court jury will shortly listen to closing arguments from the defense lawyers and prosecutor, get instructions in the law from Judge Charles J. Cunningham III, and then begin deliberations. The trial of John Benson, 48, and Sheakia Stubbs, 32, began last Tuesday but then had to recess until today because of a judicial conference.

Philadelphia police are seeking the public's help in finding the men who drove up to a dollar store in Olney and drove off with the ATM. The theft occurred around 4 a.m. on July 6 at the Family Dollar Store at 6201 N. Front Street, near East Godfrey Avenue, police said. A surveillance video released by police shows two apparently masked men getting out a white van, smashing the glass door, attaching a chain to the off screen ATM and standing aside as the van pulls the money machine through the door.

In a cozy, laid-back office in central Bucks County, where potted plants and framed golf-course scenes share the decor with inspiring statements by Walt Disney, Sam Walton, and Michael Jordan, Glen Sokolis and his staff of nine are on high alert for thieves. Fuel thieves. Not the kind who sneak up to cars on neighborhood streets under the cover of darkness, insert the opposite ends of garden hoses into gas tanks and their mouths, and suck. No, the Sokolis Group's prey are those people president Glen Sokolis urges any business with a fleet of vehicles and fuel-card accounts - from mom-and-pops to Fortune 500s - to watch closely: Employees.

Bron Imaging Group has reinvented the camera strap, which should benefit travelers toting bulky cameras. Designed to improve both comfort and security, Bron's Sun Sniper Pro padded adjustable camera straps are nylon, reinforced internally with steel wire, so they won't break and can't be snipped by would-be thieves. Unlike most conventional camera straps, which buckle or hook onto metal loops on the sides of the camera, the Sun Sniper attaches via a stainless-steel ball bearing that screws into the tripod socket on the bottom of the camera, making for more flexible movement when lifting to shoot.

How is a copper pipe like a crack pipe? They're both part of a supply chain for criminal trades that, while different, operate under the same bottom-line market principle that sellers need buyers. Police narcotics squads wouldn't have to spend so much of their time busting drug dealers if the criminals didn't know there was a seemingly endless line of customers. In the same way, a crime with far less dire consequences - the theft and resale of copper wiring, pipes, and other metals - wouldn't be lucrative if thieves couldn't find a market for their illegal wares.

Cheltenham Police are asking for the public's help in identifying two women who investigators said stole another woman's wallet from her purse Sunday morning during a visit to a relative's grave at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. Police Chief John Norris said that shortly after the theft, the victim's Discover card was used at several gas stations and three stores in the Cheltenham Mall, for a total of $700 in charges. The cemetery is located at 4001 West Cheltenham Ave. in Cheltenham Township.

HARRISBURG - Members of a bank-robbery ring used full-head silicone theatrical masks during 11 heists going back to the summer of 2007 that netted them more than a half-million dollars, federal prosecutors said yesterday in announcing charges against nine people. FBI Special Agent George Venizelos described the suspects as "a criminal group" that carried guns and terrorized bank employees and customers, reaping comparatively large amounts of money. U.S. Attorney Peter Smith in Harrisburg would not describe how the group - all from the Harrisburg area - was organized and coordinated.