Crime & Safety
9 Charged In Numerous Main Line Burglaries: Police
The burglaries occurred in Villanova, Bryn Mawr, Gladwyne, Tredyffrin, Easttown, Newtown Square, and Willistown, Lower Merion Police said.
![These investigations are continuing and anyone who believes that they may have information is asked to call Lower Merion Police at 610-649-1000.](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/users/22896833/20240523/103712/styles/patch_image/public/policelights___23103618108.jpg)
LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP, PA — Police in Lower Merion Township announced numerous arrests of what they call travelling burglars who have been targeting high-end homes in the region over the past six months.
Most recently, Manuel Alejandro Itzig Tennenbaum Vidal, 26, of Chile, was arrested Tuesday by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department on a warrant issued by Lower Merion Township Police. Police said he is accused of participating in two burglary incidents on April 23 on John Barry Drive in Bryn Mawr and on Cedar Lane in Villanova.
Also charged in connection with those incidents were Jeffrey Saldarriaga, of Irvington, New Jersey, and Johasir Cisterna, of Baltimore, Maryland, both 22 and Peruvian nationals. Their charges are felony burglary, loitering and prowling at night, possession of an instrument of crime, and related offenses.
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Police said investigators developed a description of the suspects, and police nearby in Upper Merion Township stopped a vehicle in their jurisdiction.
The vehicle had a registration plate that was stolen from Tredyffrin Township that same day, police said.
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Authorities then connected the vehicle to the Lower Merion burglaries, and Saldarriaga and Cisterna were taken into custody.
They were both remanded to Montgomery County Correctional Facility on April 25th in lieu of $75,000.00 cash bail.
Police also said Diego Marambio-Diaz, 30, was charged with four burglaries on March 23, March 24, and March 26.
The March 23 burglary occurred on Williamson Road in Gladwyne, and the March 24 burglary occurred on Pinewood Road in Villanova. Plymouth Township Police also had a burglary that day on Sparango Road.
A suspect vehicle was identified from video surveillance cameras to be involved in these burglaries and on March 26, Upper Makefield Police had a burglary and had impounded the suspect vehicle on an unrelated matter. The driver was identified as Marambio-Diaz.
Further investigation has linked him to the two burglaries in Lower Merion and the burglary in Plymouth Township.
An arrest warrant was obtained for Marambio-Diaz charging him with the above three burglaries and related offenses. However, he is already in custody for an unrelated matter.
On Dec. 9, 2023, Claudeo Fuentez-Soto, 25, of Chile, was arrested as he was fleeing the scene of a burglary on Woodleave Road in Bryn Mawr. Since his arrest, a follow-up investigation has linked him to an additional six burglaries, with which he has also been charged, police said.
Of those six burglaries, one occurred on North Spring Mill Road in Villanova, one in Newtown Square, two in Tredyffrin Township, one in Eastown Township, and one in Willistown Township.
Fuentez-Soto is in custody at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, where he is awaiting trial on all charges.
On Dec. 22, 2023, two burglaries were committed in Lower Merion Township. One was on Brynllawn Road in Villanova and another was on Rock Creek Road in Gladwyne.
A suspect vehicle was identified from prior burglaries in Ohio and across Pennsylvania. After the Lower Merion burglaries, the vehicle travelled north through New York and was ultimately stopped in Connecticut the following day.
All four occupants were in possession of burglary tools as well as proceeds from multiple burglaries, police said.
The men have been charged with the above Lower Merion burglaries, as well as a burglary in Plymouth Township committed that same evening. They are awaiting extradition back to Pennsylvania and Ohio.
They are Jason Anthony Flores-Caro, 31, of Chile; Facundo Russell-Moran, 30, of Argentina; Guiovanni Herman Saladrigas-Garcia, 28; and Franco Antonio Saladrigas-Garcia, 31.
These investigations are continuing and anyone who believes that they may have information is asked to call Lower Merion Police at 610-649-1000.
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