ABINGTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Abington Township police have arrested a man accused of a daytime home invasion. Two victims were tied up after their home was ransacked.
On Thursday, 24-year-old Jonathan Dell, of Philadelphia, was charged with robbery, burglary, kidnapping, and carrying a gun without a license for a Dec. 2 home invasion on Cedar Road in the Jenkintown-Elkins Park section of Abington Township.
Police said two suspects approached a woman in her driveway at gunpoint and forced themselves into her home.
“Two suspects at gunpoint brought the mother and the son around the house, ransacking the house, stealing jewelry, electronics and other valuables,” said Abington Police Chief Patrick Molloy.
Dell and another man tied up the mother and son in the basement before they left. The victims were able to get free and fled to a nearby church, where they called 911. They were not injured.
Molloy said this was not random. There’s a connection between Dell and one of the residents of the home — unlike the deadly home invasion in Lower Merion Township, where investigators are still looking for a motive.
Molloy also said this incident is not connected to a ring of evening burglaries. The people behind those crimes are hitting unoccupied homes and avoiding confrontations with residents.
In suburban counties, Molloy said crimes committed with a firearm are considered inherently violent and are taken seriously by prosecutors and investigators. “Especially those who are already convicted felons,” he added, “who should not possess firearms. We see that as a violent crime just in and of itself.”