Crime & Safety

Stolen Vehicle Stop Results in Drug Charges, Police Say

The following information has been provided by the Lower Merion Police Department. Where arrests or charges are mentioned, they do not indicate guilt or a conviction.

Lower Merion police reported the following incidents to news media at a briefing on Monday afternoon.

Purse theft: A woman told police that her purse was stolen while shopping at the Wynnewood GIANT around 5:35 p.m. on Sept. 18, police said. The woman made her purchases, put the items in her car, and then realized her black Coach purse, worth $250, was missing, along with an iPhone, gold diamond hoop earrings worth $500, and $20 cash, police said.

Possession of stolen vehicle, cocaine: On Sept. 21 at 1:42 a.m., an officer on patrol spotted a vehicle traveling on City Avenue in Overbrook Hills, and after running the tags, discovered that the car was stolen, according to the report. The officer conducted a traffic stop and placed the driver, Omar Shabazz, 27, of Wynnewood, under arrest.

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While conducting a search of the vehicle, the officer also found numerous bags of a substance believed to be crack cocaine, police said. Shabazz was charged with receiving stolen property, a third degree felony, along with use/possession of drug paraphenelia and several other related misdemeanors.

Criminal mischief: A rear tire was slashed on a car on the 900 block of Delmont Drive in Wynnewood between the evening of Sept. 20 and noon on Sept. 22, police said.

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Drug possession: One adult and two juveniles were charged with disorderly conduct after they admitted to smoking a marijuana cigarette on Sunday, police said. Around 3 p.m. on Sunday, police received a report that three teenagers were smoking pot on the 100 block of Cricket Avenue, according to the report. When police responded, the three suspects admitted to police that they had been smoking marijuana; the three were charged with disorderly conduct, police said.

Also: was stolen from a Haverford home, police say.


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