Crime & Safety

Blotter: Suspicious Man Enters Planet Fitness, Theft From Car Discovered

The following information has been provided by the Marple Township Police Department. Any arrests or charges mentioned do not indicate guilt or conviction.

BROOMALL–On Dec. 20 at approximately 11:42 p.m., Marple police responded to Planet Fitness on Springfield Road for a reported theft from a car discovered.

Upon arrival, police spoke with the vehicle owner who stated she came to the gym at approximately 10:30 p.m. and did not notice anyone else in the parking lot when she exited her vehicle.

When the woman returned to her vehicle, someone had smashed the passenger side front window of her vehicle and removed her jacket and purse, which were sitting on the front seat of the car, according to the report.

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Numerous credit cards, debit cards, $300 in gift cards, gas card and $120 were inside her purse, according to the report. When the woman began to cancel her cards, as advised by police, she was informed that someone had already started to use them.

Police observed the vehicle’s window was completely broken out with pieces of glass on the ground. According to the report, police had responded to the gym earlier at approximately 11:22 p.m. for a suspicious man wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and black pants.

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According to the report, the man came into the gym and was asking numerous questions. The man had appeared to be preoccupied by looking around at everything in the gym and not directly involved in the conversation with an employee, according to the report.

The employee was in the middle of answering one of his questions when he interrupted her and said he would come back tomorrow and walked out the door, according to the report.

According to the report, the employee observed the man go out to the parking lot and watched him try to open a few car doors. Upon arrival, police observed about 10-15 cars in the lot in front of Planet Fitness. A black vehicle occupied by a woman on a cell phone was the only person in the lot, according to the report. Police checked the area with negative results.


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