Jewelry Thefts Escalating in Doylestown

A recent burglary of a home on Doylestown's East Street is the latest in a string of jewelry thefts around town, police said Thursday.

It's also part of a recent crime trend that has been seen in other parts of Bucks County.

"There've been quite a few jewelry thefts, and there’ve been quite a few jewelry stores hit lately," Doylestown Police Lt. Pat Penecale said Thursday. "It’s been pretty prevalent."

In August, jewelry worth more than $3,700 was reported missing from a home on Penn Street.

Last month, from Antiques in Doylestown. In another incident, someone tried to break into Carroll's Jewelers but was unable to get into the building.

The latest theft happened on Friday, Sept. 28 sometime between 12:40 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., police said Thursday.

A residence in the 100 block of East Street was burglarized, apparently after the thief pushed in a screen on a basement window to get in the house, according to the police report.

The victims reported numerous pieces of jewelry and a coin collection missing from second-floor bedrooms. No estimate has been provided for the missing items, according to the report.

When jewelry is stolen, Doylestown police try to get as complete a description of the items as possible, Penecale said. Then they email the descriptions to surrounding police departments so officers can be on the lookout for them.

Area pawn shops also send the police reports of items they buy, Penecale said, so stolen goods are sometimes recovered that way. The more distinctive an item is, and the better it is described, the better the chances are that it may be found, Penecale said.

"We have places that will send us reports on what they’re taking in, so if Warrington has a burglary of an item that’s easy to pick up on, like a 1952 Dartmouth class ring, we know to keep alert for it," he said.

As for the recent thefts, Penecale said officers still are looking into similar cases of break-ins in other jurisdictions

"We have email lists that are regional, so we get messages here daily, saying, 'Hey, we had a burglary involving this type of item,' " Penecale said, adding that the email lists are valuable ways to coordinate investigations with nearby departments. "With the technology available to us, if we don’t make use of it, we’re foolish."

Read More:

• Borough Police Investigating Jewelry Theft