{"id":1763,"date":"2012-07-27T12:22:58","date_gmt":"2012-07-27T16:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=1763"},"modified":"2012-07-27T12:22:58","modified_gmt":"2012-07-27T16:22:58","slug":"police-urge-residents-vigilance-to-help-catch-thieves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=1763","title":{"rendered":"Police urge residents’ vigilance to help catch thieves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Information is being sought on two recent West Caln break-ins<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/strong>, Managing Editor, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Recent burglaries in the region have prompted area police to encourage residents to break a habit of being reluctant to call 9-1-1 immediately if they see suspicious activity.<\/p>\n

Last month, Westtown-East Goshen Township police apprehended an alleged thief because a resident witnessed a suspicious person in the neighborhood and promptly called authorities. Within minutes, a second call came in from a female neighbor who reported that a man had just entered her house and stolen her wallet while she was upstairs.<\/p>\n

Since officers were already on the scene, they were able to locate Elijah Z. Timberlake, 20, of Hightstown, N.J., hiding with the wallet in a basement closet of a nearby unsecured home, said Westtown-East Goshen Det. William Cahill, who applauded the resident’s phone call. Timberlake is awaiting trial on burglary and related charges, according to court records.<\/p>\n

West Caln Township Police Chief Curt A. Martinez, who, along with his K-9 partner, assisted in the search for Timberlake, hopes similar vigilance will lead to the apprehension of a thief or thieves plaguing his municipality.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely want people to call us right away if they see something suspicious,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n

He said investigators are prevented from getting a jump on the alleged perpetrators \u00a0if residents wait until they hear that a theft has occurred before contacting police with information. He said it is helpful that Chester County municipalities share resources and information since crooks are generally not mindful of municipal borders.<\/p>\n

“If we have a problem, it’s likely that surrounding communities do, too,” he said.<\/p>\n

Martinez said one burglary occurred between 7 a.m. and 12:47 p.m. July 17 in the 1300 block of Airport Road. When police arrived, a house-sitter said someone had smashed a window pane in the home\u2019s rear door before stealing a black 42- to 48-inch-screen Insignia HDTV and a Wii game system valued together \u00a0at about $600, Martinez said.<\/p>\n

A second break-in occurred at 9:23 a.m. Wednesday, he said. Officers responded to a burglar alarm at a home in the 500 block of Country Club Road and found that someone had entered the home by cutting a hole in a screened sunroom door before forcing their way through the back door and stealing a 42-inch LG flat-screen television with an estimated value of $1,200 and a serial number of \u00a0008RMBWD3637.<\/p>\n

Any agency with similar burglaries or anyone with information on the two in West Caln is urged to contact Martinez at 610-384-3115, ext. 117, or by email cmartinez@westcalnpolice.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Information is being sought on two recent West Caln break-ins By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times Recent burglaries in the region have prompted area police to encourage residents to break a habit of being reluctant to call 9-1-1 immediately if they see suspicious activity. Last month, Westtown-East Goshen Township police apprehended an alleged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[574,575,186,571,572,573],"class_list":["post-1763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-burglaries","tag-det-william-cahill","tag-police","tag-police-chief-curt-a-martinez","tag-west-caln-township","tag-westtown-east-goshen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}