Alert Caln officer credited with 2 arrests for thefts in multiple municipalities

F. Tyler Fitzpatrick, 19, of Downingtown, is accused of a months-long crime spree of vehicle thefts, police said.

A multi-agency investigation led to the arrest of two Downingtown 19-year-olds, who are accused of a months-long crime spree of stealing from locked and unlocked vehicles in more than half a dozen municipalities, West Goshen Township Police said Friday, Dec. 20, in a news release.

Francis Tyler Fitzpatrick and Nicholas R. Spang face charges that include theft from a motor vehicle, receiving stolen property, and loitering and prowling at night, the release said.

The investigation began during the first six months of 2013 when police in central Chester County began experiencing an increase in thefts from motor vehicles. Police received reports that unknown suspects were entering neighborhoods under the cover of darkness and moving from house to house, entering locked and unlocked vehicles outside of the residences, and removing anything of value, the release said.

Nicholas R. Spang, 19, of Downingtown, faces multiple vehicle-theft charges, police said.

Investigators from West Goshen Township, West Whiteland Township, Caln Township, Westtown-East Goshen Townships, East Brandywine Township, Downingtown Borough, and the Embreeville barracks of the Pennsylvania State Police compiled a multi-agency task force focusing on the thefts. The arrests occurred after an alert Caln Township Police officer located a suspicious vehicle in the area of other reported thefts. Numerous search warrants and asset seizures resulted in enough evidence to charge Fitzpatrick and Spang, the release said.

All of these agencies have filed charges and the cases have been consolidated in Chester County Court, the release said. Fitzpatrick, who waived his preliminary hearing, is free after posting $5,000 bail, court records said.  Spang, whose preliminary hearing was Dec. 11, was returned to Chester County Prison after failing to post 10 percent of $5,000 bail, court records said.