They'll pick a lock, swipe the diamonds you rarely wear, and leave no evidence behind. You might not notice what's missing for weeks or months.
And then there's Britney Singleton and Harley Gifford, the 19-year-old lesbian lovers who Upper Darby police say ransacked more than two dozen houses this summer, stealing everything from flat-screen TVs to facial creams - and turning back only when, the women insist, a lion greeted them inside one of the homes.
Cops are calling the Sapphic snoopers "Thelma & Louise."
"They're a two-person gang," Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood Sr. said yesterday "They rip out all the drawers, go through the cabinets, throw everything on the floor. Not only are they criminals, they're sickos."
And a hookah pipe and some pot. Hey, why not?
Both face 25 counts of burglary, theft, recieving stolen property and related offenses. They're scheduled to be arraigned today.
"They sold a lot of stuff on the street, but they'd stolen so much in such a short period of time that they couldn't get rid of everything," Chitwood said.
It's as if they turned Upper Darby into their own personal Walmart for the summer, police say. There are even reports of missing ice cream. Tough to make that charge stick, though.
"This was their shopping spree," police Capt. George Rhoades said. "They didn't buy lotion or nail polish, because they stole it. They took whatever they could get their hands on."
The women have allegedly admitted to 25 burglaries in Upper Darby over the past couple of months, including an apartment right above them on Marshall Road. They even jacked a 55-inch TV without a car, police said.
"They carried it down Marshall Road to their home," Chitwood said.
Police initially suspected that Singleton, who is originally from Philadelphia, and Gifford were supporting a drug habit, but apparently they're clean.
"Just thieves, pure and simple. And they were getting more brazen. Almost every one was a daylight burglary," Chitwood said. "They said, 'Who would suspect two women?' That's why they felt they could get away with it."
Upper Darby detectives were able to track them down with the help of a tip from Prospect Park, where they allegedly broke into more homes.
Chitwood said Gifford and Singleton gave police a chuckle when they claimed - in separate interviews - that they ran out of one house in the township's Cardington section after encountering a lion. Cops went there yesterday, but no one was home, so they've been unable to verify the story.
"It's kinda funny. They said they shut the door and got out," Chitwood said. "We asked, 'Are you sure it wasn't a big dog?' And they said separately that it was a lion."
BY WILLIAM BENDER taken from http://articles.philly.com/2011-09-17/news/30169353_1_police-superintendent-michael-chitwood-upper-darby-ice-cream
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