SEPTA transit officer helps nab early-morning, rooftop burglar

An eagle-eyed SEPTA Transit Police officer helped foil an early-morning plot to burglarize a check-cashing store in Frankford, officials said Sunday.

The officer was stationed on the Market-Frankford El platform at the Frankford Transportation Center about 1 a.m. when he “observed movement” on the roof of the nearby Pratt Check Cashing, police said. He notified Philadelphia Police, who responded to the scene and found an unidentified man on the building’s roof.

A piece of the roof’s surface had been "pried open” and another area had been smashed by a brick in an apparent attempt to gain access to the business, police said. The suspect arrested at the scene was carrying a backpack with a screwdriver and ski mask, according to police. His name was not released by police Sunday, and charges were pending.