Authorities in Montgomery County say four men from South America had plans to break into homes in affluent neighborhoods in our area. But, thanks to an alert detective keeping a close eye on the community, the men are behind bars. NBC10’s Brian Sheehan has the latest.
Four men who police believe are part of a national theft group were arrested after being caught in Abington Township Friday night.
Since 2021, Abington Township Police said they have been investigating residential burglaries in Meadowbrook. These burglaries are believed to have been committed by "South American Theft Groups", that were entering the U.S. from countries such as Chile and Colombia and targeting high-end homes.
After building a task force and collecting evidence, police have been able to track the patterns of these criminal groups which helped lead them to the recent arrest of four individuals.
According to police, on Friday an Abington detective was surveilling an area that has been targeted by these groups in the past.
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Around 6 p.m., police said the detective saw a vehicle driving around that appeared to be casing the neighborhood.
Police said officers stopped the vehicle and found four men - later identified as all from Chile - inside the car.
The men told the officers they had driven from California to Pennsylvania to visit and claimed they were looking for a restaurant, police said.
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According to police, all of the men had fraudulent identification cards or no identification at all and they were detained for further investigation.
After searching their vehicle, police said officers found numerous burglary tools including masks, gloves, flashlights, pry bars, a reciprocating saw and a glass break tool.
Additionally, the men had photos and GPS navigational directions to specific homes and locations in the Meadowbrook neighborhood that they were casing, police said.
Alvaro Javier Ganin Ganin, 36, Jorge Fabrizeo Sepulveda Alvarez, 34, Vaster Miller Guajardo Pedrero, 31, Nicolas Andres Matus Lucero, 29, were charged with attempted burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, possessing instruments of crime, and loitering and prowling at night time.
The suspects are currently being held at Montgomery County Correctional Facility pending arraignment, according to police.
Police credited the alert detective for being able to stop the suspects before they committed a burglary.
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