Police Blotter: Dumpster On Fire, FedExed Cake Stolen

Office Suite Ransacked

Sometime between the night of Dec. 16 and the morning of Dec. 18, a safe at the Newtown Square Corporate Center was broken into and its contents stolen. The burglary was discovered by a cleaning person, who found the suite ransacked and the safe open and empty, police said.

Dumpster On Fire

Police responded to a dumpster fire on the 300 block of Media Line Road on Dec. 19 at 2:25 a.m. The fire department also responded, and extinguished the fire in about five minutes, according to the police report. The dumpster fire was the third deliberately set fire discovered in the Marple Newtown area the night of Dec. 19, the police report said. The first two, and a car fire, were in Marple Township, according to the police report.

FedExed Cake Stolen

On Dec. 19, a woman on the 200 block of Cornerstone Road told police that a cake she had ordered had been stolen after delivery.  The woman told police that she had called FedEx on Dec. 17 after the cake did not arrive on time, and FedEx told her that their records indicated it had been delivered, according to the police report.

DUI, Car Overturned And On Fire

On Dec. 23 at 4:48 p.m., Newtown Police were dispatched to the area around 3964 West Chester Pike for a report of an accident with entrapment, with the vehicle reported to be on fire. Upon arriving on the scene, police discovered a severed PECO pole in front of , as well as damage to a number of vehicles parked on the front lot of the dealership.

A blue minivan was on its roof in the driveway of Porsche of the Main Line. A witness had extricated the driver from the vehicle, and an employee at the Porsche dealership had put the car fire out, the police report said.

The driver of the vehicle told police he had been answering a text and lost control of the vehicle, but police also detected a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, and so administered a breathalizer test, which came back with a blood alcohol level of .183 percent. The driver was placed under arrest for driving under the influence.

A witness told police that he had observed the minivan traveling 80 to 100 miles an hour down West Chester Pike.

Domestic Disturbance

On Dec. 26 at 8:30 p.m., police were dispatched to the 100 block of Ridgefield Road for a domestic disturbance in progress. A woman, who was highly intoxicated, told police that her boyfriend had attacked her and tried to strangle her with his hands. The boyfriend at that point came out of the home, yelling at his girlfriend loudly. Both the man and woman had bloodshot, glassy eyes and a strong odor of alcohol on them, according to the police report.

The man verbally accosted police, at which point police told him that if he didn't stop, he would be tasered. The officer's taser was malfunctioning, however, so another officer retrieved his from the police vehicle and stood at a distance. The man began to taunt the dog, telling the officer to let the dog go and bite him. The officer and the dog stepped back to stay away from the man.

Eventually, the man was taken into custody and arrested for simple assault, without using either a taser or the dog.

Cocaine and Marijuana Possession

On Dec. 27 at 11:05 p.m., an officer on patrol saw a vehicle traveling through a parking lot at high, increasing speeds, and eventually stopped the vehicle in front of . While checking the driver's license, the officer observed an orange-colored smoking pipe in the front sweatshirt pocket of the driver. The officer told the driver to get out of the vehicle, and the officer conducted a pat down of the driver, finding a small white baggie containing a white powder substance suspected to be cocaine. After conducting a search of the vehicle, a small clear baggie containing a substance suspected to be marijuana was also discovered.