A Philadelphia man is facing two sets of charges in Upper Gwynedd in relation to the theft of catalytic converters from multiple vehicles within the township.
In early March, police received a report of three catalytic converter thefts from parked vehicles within the township, with two occurring within the Willowyck Apartment complex on Sumneytown Pike and the other occurring within the parking lot of Wawa at Sumneytown Pike and Valley Forge Road. Investigators said an Isuzu NPR box truck, Toyota Tundra, and Volkswagon Jetta were targeted in the thefts.
Surveillance footage from the theft at Wawa showed two men in a black BMW X6 pull next to the Isuzu box truck, then leave the scene nine minutes later, police said. The vehicle information was entered into an information sharing system for law enforcement, which returned a positive match later in the month in connection with the arrest of 41-year-old Eric Simpson in Tinicum Township (Delaware County), police said. The vehicle matched the one used in that incident, and Simpson’s arrest photo matched one of the men in the Wawa surveillance footage, according to charging documents.
As a result of the investigation, Simpson was charged with three felony counts of theft by unlawful taking, theft from a motor vehicle, and criminal mischief, along with a count of receiving stolen property. A review of court records shows Simpson was previously charged in January with multiple misdemeanor counts of theft of secondary metal, theft from a motor vehicle, and receiving stolen property, stemming from a different investigation by Upper Gwynedd Police.
Simpson is currently being held at the Delaware County Correctional Facility in lieu of $250,000 cash bail stemming from his March arrest in Tinicum Township. In that case, Simpson was charged with multiple felony counts of aggravated assault and receiving stolen property, along with additional counts of theft by unlawful taking, simple assault, resisting arrest, attempting to elude police, criminal mischief, reckless endangerment, fraud, and theft.
Court records show Simpson’s preliminary hearing on the charges in Upper Gwynedd has been scheduled for May 25 at noon in front of Magisterial District Judge Suzan Leonard.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause.
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