Burglaries Rose In Lower Merion In 2013

Location of Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The number of burglaries in Lower Merion Township rose in 2013 for the third straight year and last year’s tally was the highest in the last decade.

Still, earlier history offers one point of comfort: At least it’s not 1980.

Year-end statistics released this week by Lower Merion police show that 256 residential and commercial burglaries occurred within the township’s 24 square miles in 2013. That’s up from 2012, when there were 195 burglaries and from 2011’s total of 185.

“We feel the current increase is drug-fueled,” police superintendent Michael J. McGrath said. Many burglars, he said, sell what they steal for money to buy drugs.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140110_Burglaries_rose_in_Lower_Merion_is_2013.html#1hJOZKUImXzmt0Ms.99

Concern Rises Over Break-Ins In Philly’s Suburbs

Debbie Campolo’s husband came home one day in February to find the front door of their house in Radnor smashed open. The target was clear – her jewelry box sat empty on the bedroom dresser.

“They took everything I had, even the stuff my kids made me,” said Campolo, a physical therapist who lives near Overbrook Golf Club.

Then she talked to three or four neighbors and workout pals who said the same thing had happened to them. And she found out that a few weeks before her break-in, a house three doors down had been hit the same way.

“They come in, pull a pillowcase off of a pillow, and then they dump the contents of a jewelry box right in it,” Campolo said.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20131007_Concern_rises_over_suburban_break-ins.html#hrufsVizGfw2Jb0b.99

Linden Hill: An ‘Open’ House For Just $24.5 Million

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Linden Hill, the Gladwyne estate once owned by Campbell Soup heir John T. Dorrance Jr., is on the market for $24.5 million.

The secluded, 50-plus-acre property at 1543 Monk Rd., with its 14,000-square-foot, 20-room Norman-style manor house, formal gardens, orchards, two heated pools, pool house, and tennis court, has been owned since 1999 by Robert L. Burch, a venture capitalist and, with his brother, J. Christopher Burch, cofounder of Eagle Eye, a retailer of outdoors sportswear they sold the same year.

Robert Burch is chief executive officer of UgMO Technologies of King of Prussia, which develops irrigation systems.  He declined to be interviewed.

The property listing was activated Monday in time for the start of this week’s U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club. John C. Dubbs and Eleanor Morsbach Godin, of Prudential Fox & Roach in Malvern, believe the tournament will give the residence national exposure.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/classifieds/real_estate/20130611_Linden_Hill__an__Open__house_for_just__24_5M.html#uifd7h0vT6i3DKma.99