Police Blotter: Counterfeit Bill, DUI Arrests, More Thefts From Cars

Fake $100 Bill Used at Rite Aid

On Jan. 24 at approximately 5:17 p.m., responded to the in the Newtown Square Shopping Center for a reported fraudulent money incident. According to the report, a $100 bill was passed as a counterfeit. Upon arrival, police spoke with the supervisor of the store who told police that he discovered a $100 counterfeit bill. The supervisor told police that he observed the watermark on the right side of the bill had Abraham Lincoln’s head as well as the denomination strip within the bill indicating it was a $5 bill. An employee told the supervisor that she did remember a man who made the purchase and paid with the bill. According to the report, the total amount of the purchase was $17.69, in which the employee gave the man $82.13 in change. Police are further investigating this incident.

Man Hits Car, Flees, Gets Arrested for DUI

On Jan. 22 at approximately 2:09 p.m., police responded to the parking lot in the Newtown Square Shopping Center for a reported reckless driver driving a Saturn. Upon arrival, police made contact with the reckless driver, who was later identified as Kenan Nameli, 45, of Drexel Hill. When asked what happened, Nameli told police, “I was driving the car, I hit them and left,” according to the incident report. In addition, Nameli told police he did not have a driver’s license and had been drinking, according to the report. While speaking to Nameli, police observed a strong odor of alcohol coming from him. Nameli submitted to a portable breathalyzer test in which a 0.18 percent blood alcohol concentration was recorded. In addition, Nameli had allegedly struck his vehicle into the rear bumper of a nother vehicle that was stopped at a traffic light on South Newtown Street Road/Rt. 252, according to the report. Nameli was arrested and charged for DUI, accident involving damage attended to a vehicle or property, failing to give information and render aid, careless driving, and driving while operating a suspended or revoked license.

GPS Stolen From Vehicle

On Jan. 20 at 8:10 a.m., police received a report of a theft from a vehicle on the 100 block of Locust Avenue. The owner of the vehicle told police that sometime overnight, someone had taken his Garmin GPS from his work truck, according to the report. According to the report, the work truck was parked, unlocked in his driveway. The GPS was approximately valued at $300. Police are further investigating this incident.

iPhone Chargers Stolen From Vehicle

On Jan. 20 at approximately 8:29 a.m., police received a report of a theft from a vehicle on the unit block of Ashley Road. The owner o the vehicle reported that sometime overnight, someone had entered her unlocked vehicle that was parked in her driveway. According to the report, two iPhone car chargers were taken from the vehicle. The chargers were approximately valued at $50.  Police are further investigating this incident.

Two CD Cases Stolen From Vehicle

On Jan. 20 at approximately 9 a.m., police received a report of a theft from a vehicle on the 500 block of Summit Avenue. The owner of the vehicle reported someone had entered into both his vehicles that were parked, unlocked overnight in his driveway. According to the report, two CD cases and a wallet containing coupon cards were taken from the vehicle. The wallet was valued at approximately $25 and the two CD cases were valued at approximately $20.

Purse Stolen From Vehicle

On Jan. 20 at approximately 10:10 p.m., police received a report of a theft from a vehicle at the Saint Albans Shopping Center parking lot. The owner of the vehicle told police that her purse was stolen while her son was parked in front of on 3523 West Chester Pike. The woman told police that her purse was left in the back seat of the vehicle. According to the report, the purse contained her driver’s license, credit cards and other identification cards. The purse and contents inside the purse were valued at approximately $150. Police are further investigating this incident.

Driver Nearly Strikes Telephone Pole, Arrested for DUI

On Jan. 19 at approximately 11:44 p.m., Richard Beswick, 36, of Havertown was observed by Newtown police traveling eastbound on West Chester Pike/Rt. 3 in a BMW, according to the incident report. Police observed the BMW move from the outer lane across the dividing line of Rt. 3 and then back into the outer lane and onto the right side of the road numerous times, according to the report. Police activated their emergency lights around the 3900 block of Rt. 3 when the BMW began to move to the extreme right of the road and nearly striking the telephone pole located on the southeast corner of Rt. 3 at the entrance to restaurant. Beswick was able to avoid striking the pole and eventually stopped at the intersection of Rt. 3 and College Avenue. According to the report, police observed a strong odor of alcohol coming from Beswick. Beswick submitted to a portable breathalyzer test in which a 0.155 percent blood alcohol concentration was recorded. Beswick submitted to two additional field sobriety tests in which he also failed, according to the report. Beswick was arrested and charged for DUI, reckless driving and failing to drive on roadways laned for traffic.

Wallet Stolen From Vehicle

On Jan. 19 at approximately 4:15 p.m., police received a report of a theft from a vehicle on the 600 block of Summit Avenue. The owner of the vehicle reported that her husband’s wallet had been taken from the vehicle. The car was parked unlocked in the driveway of their home overnight, according to the report. Their other vehicle was also entered into but nothing was discovered missing, said police. Within the wallet contained a driver’s license, credit card, ATM card, a medical insurance card and a membership card.  Police are further investigating this incident.

Man Hits Car, Flees on Foot, Arrested for DUI

On Jan. 16 at approximately 1:11 p.m., police responded to the 3700 block of West Chester Pike for a hit-and-run incident involving two vehicles and no injuries. According to the report, the driver of the striking vehicle had fled on from the scene on foot towards the Newtown .  Police found the man as described inside the Wawa and made eye contact with the man, in which the man immediately approached police and stated he was just involved in an accident. During the discourse, police observed a strong odor of alcohol coming from the man. The man, identified as Luke Lindsay, 41, of Newtown Square, submitted to a couple of field sobriety tests as well as a portable breathalyzer test in which a reading of 0.108 percent was recorded. Lindsay told police that he had “tapped” the rear of a vehicle on West Chester Pike/Rt. 3 and left his truck at the accident scene to buy coffee. He told police that he had a little to drink earlier that day. Lindsay was arrested and charged with DUI, accidents involving damage to attended property, failure of duty to give information and render aid, and careless driving.

Needles, Heroin Allegedly Found on Driver

On Jan. 16 at approximately 11:15 p.m., police observed a Dodge pickup truck traveling north on Rt. 252 approaching the intersection of Rt. 3. According to the report, the light for northbound Rt. 252 traffic was a steady green but the left-turn light was a steady red. According to the report, the Dodge made a left onto westbound lanes of Rt. 3 through the red light. Police were able to stop the vehicle in the parking lot of the Carriage House Apartments on Bishop Hollow Road. When police approached the driver, John Duthie, 25, of Broomall, and asked several questions in regards to the incident and if any weapons or drugs were in the vehicle, he refused to answer. When asked if Duthie had any sharp objects on him, he told police he had needles in his sweatshirt front pocket, according to the report. Upon searching the man, police discovered five needles wrapped in a plastic bag in the man’s sweatshirt front pocket. When police asked what the needles were used for, Duthie replied he used them to inject Heroin, according to the report. Duthie told police that Heroin was in the center console of his vehicle when asked by police if there was any Heroin in the vehicle. According to the report, police discovered five, blue, paper zip-locked bags containing white powder. In addition, police discovered a pink, plastic um dispenser in which numerous blue, paper, zip-locked bags–identical to the five confiscated–with white powder residue on it. Duthie was arrested and charged for two counts of prohibited acts/penalties and failure to abide traffic control signals/steady red signal.

Car Wrapped in Plastic With Silly String, Shampoo, Shaving Cream

On Jan. 14 at approximately 10 p.m., police responded to the unit block of Radnor Drive for a reported criminal mischief incident. A witness told police that she saw several youths putting substances on a Volvo parked in front of the residence. When she confronted one of them, one of them told her that it was his friend’s car. Police told the owner of the incident describing the two vehicles involved in which the man said it sounded like his son’s friends. According to the report, the car had silly string, shampoo and shaving cream poured onto it and plastic wrap wrapped around the car. The man later told police no damage to the vehicle was made.