Suspect Arrested in Doylestown Burglary Attempt

A Lower Southampton man is in custody after being arrested in connection with an attempted burglary in Doylestown.

Robert Russel Masten, 26, of Feasterville is in the Bucks County Prison.

Doylestown Borough Police Chief Jim Donnelly said his department arrested Masten Friday, Jan. 13, and turned him over to Lower Southampton police, where he already was wanted on an outstanding warrant.

Police caught Masten coming out of the back of a property on Crestland Terrace around 1 p.m. on Friday, Donnelly said. Masten had not successfully gotten inside the house, Donnelly said.

Police said an accomplice was waiting in a nearby car. The investigation into that man is ongoing, Donnelly said. no charges have been filed yet.

The incident Friday is the fifth residential burglary in the Doylestown area in recent days, Donnelly said.

He and township police Chief Stephen White have asked people to be alert and call the police if they suspect trouble.

Donnelly said the thieves’ latest approach is to break in to a house during the day when people are likely to be at work or out running errands.

“They knock on the front door, and if no one answers, they go around back and break in,” Donnelly said.

No particular neighborhood has been targeted, which means that no neighborhood is safe.

“They’re hitting all over,” Donnelly said. “We need all neighbors to be alert to suspicious people.”

If you know your neighbor isn’t home during the day, and you see someone strange knocking on their front door, call the police and let them investigate whether it’s harmless or not, Donnelly said.

Donnelly’s call for public vigilance comes a day after at a Doylestown Township supervisors’ meeting.

While some recent burglaries of homes and businesses allegedly were , others clearly are driving in from elsewhere, meaning they have specifically chosen Doylestown as a target, White said.

In some cases, even deadbolts are powerless to stop them.

On Tuesday, Jan. 17, the back door of a home in the 100 block of Woodview Drive was kicked in or otherwise broken down, despite being locked with a deadbolt, White said. The thief stole various items of jewelry in the breakin, which happened some time between 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

A similar in the 600 block of North Shady Retreat Road.

A white man in his 20s, dressed in dark clothing, broke a rear window and was trying to enter the home when the homeowner - who was home at the time - discovered it, screamed, and scared the would-be thief away, White said.