Police: Home Burglar Arrested in Newtown, Admits to Using SEPTA Route For Break-Ins

NEWTOWN SQUARE–Lt. Chris Lunn of the released a statement on Thursday morning in regards to an arrest on Feb. 29 involving the that have occurred around both and townships.

On Wednesday, Newtown police responded to the Florida Park section of Newtown township for an attempted burglary. 

According to the statement, a resident reported seeing a black male dressed in black and carrying a black backpack who knocked at his front door and after receiving no answer went to the back door and knocked there. 

The man then attempted to open the back door when he was confronted by the homeowner, according to the report. The man was chased from the property by the homeowner and a neighbor then gave chase through the neighborhood before the man was last seen running towards West Chester Pike/Rt. 3, according to the statement.

Police from Newtown, , Upper Providence, Media, Easttown, and Willistown townships spanned the area in a search for the man. After about a two hour search, according to the report, the man was spotted in a wooded area on the north side of West Chester Pike by a Florida Park resident who had spotted the man running from the neighborhood earlier. 

Newtown police apprehended the man and he was arrested without incident. According to court documents, the man is identified as Larry Samuel, 32, of Darby, and faces 41 charges–eight counts of burglary, six counts of criminal trespassing and breaking into a structure, 10 counts of theft by unlawful taking, 10 counts of receiving stolen property, six counts of possessing instrument of crime with intent, and one count of unsworn falsification to authorities.

According to Lunn, after being interviewed by Det. John Newell, Samuel confessed to the . Lunn stated that police also recovered the handgun that was reported stolen from one of the Newtown home break-ins last week. 

In addition, Samuel admitted to riding SEPTA as a means to come into the township to commit burglaries in the area of different SEPTA bus stops, according to Lunn. Samuel is also a suspect in Marple Township's home burglaries.

Samuel was arraigned on Thursday morning before Magisterial District Judge Leon Hunter in . A preliminary hearing scheduled for March 8 has been continued to March 22.