Theft ring thrived on trust, authorities say

The thieves worked nights. Their tools were the cover of darkness and a trusting public.

Throughout the Pennsylvania suburbs, residents would turn off the lights and go to bed. That's when a theft ring of mostly teenagers, headed by a 19-year-old and the 36-year-old woman who is now his wife, got down to business, sneaking along the streets in unsuspecting subdivisions in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties.

They stole money, credit cards, iPods, laptops, global positioning systems and at least one gun from vehicles parked on roads, in driveways and, in at least one instance, the garage of a home.

And all of it could have been avoided had the victims- more than 100- done one simple thing: lock up.

"Common sense is, if you don't want something taken from your car, lock your car," said Matthew O'Connor, a detective in Doylestown Township, home to at least two victims. "I guess people in the suburbs . . . have a false sense of security."

They should not. That was the message law enforcement officials stressed yesterday as news of the arrest of six alleged participants in the ring spread and the number of potential victims mounted.

Meanwhile, family and acquaintances of Thomas Anthony Gallagher Jr. and his wife of less than a month, Jennifer Vivian Hails, agonized over allegations that the Pottstown-area couple had been orchestrating a widespread theft ring.

Thomas A. Gallagher Sr. said he and his wife have tried for years to get their son help from counselors and psychologists for what they believe is a mental illness.

"Me and my wife love him and always will," Thomas Gallagher Sr. said during a brief interview at his North Coventry home, declining further comment.

Hails' parents, Kay and John Broussard, also of North Coventry, could not be reached for comment.

Landlord Barry B. Oblosser said Kay Broussard had been paying the rent on the nearby two-story stucco home on Whartnaby Avenue where her daughter and her children have been living for several months, apparently with Gallagher. Oblosser said he was unaware Gallagher lived there and believed Broussard also did not know, given that the lease prohibited more than four tenants.

After police executed a surprise search warrant at the apartment - breaking doors and windows in the process - Oblosser said he got a "heartfelt" letter of apology from Broussard.

"It's really a sad situation for everyone involved," he said.

Four of the alleged thieves live in Newtown Township, Delaware County, where a school official provided the tip that broke the case this month. By noon yesterday, Newtown Police Chief Dennis Anderson said he had personally handled 10 calls from theft victims wondering if their possessions had turned up in the investigation. His secretary had "four or five pages" of names of other callers, he said.

"We're still trying to figure out how far they went to steal stuff," Anderson said.

What authorities are certain of, Anderson said, is that Thomas Gallagher Jr. recruited the four juveniles who have been charged, ranging in age from 13 to 17. How he did so is unclear. So is whether the scheme was masterminded by Gallagher or Hails, a mother of three. Her children are approximately ages 6, 8, and 14.

"This is still being investigated," Anderson said, noting that one of the teenagers was cooperating.

How the victims were chosen, Anderson said, seems to have come down to a simple tug or squeeze of a car handle.

"They just walked down the street and tried doors," he said.

They opened only the unlocked ones. Those in the business of stealing from cars frequently will not bother to break into locked vehicles, police said - perhaps to avoid drawing attention to themselves.

The investigation has revealed that these thieves were indeed cautious.

They dressed in dark clothing and "if they saw a car coming, they would just duck into the bushes," Anderson said.

By December, Anderson said, the rate of thefts was "hot and heavy," which led him to set up extra surveillance at night, deploying unmarked cars and plainclothes officers throughout the township of 10 square miles. But it was a call from an assistant principal at Paxton Hollow Middle School in Newtown that led to arrests.

John Beltrante notified police when he saw a student "in possession of items that someone of that age and maturity should not have," Delaware County District Attorney Michael Green said this week. He would not say what those items were.

Anderson said yesterday he couldn't "say enough" about the help Beltrante provided.

"He saw something, it didn't look right, he didn't forget it, he went to . . . police," the chief said.

The police interviewed the student Beltrante had reported and "the kid gave it all up," Anderson said.

At the private Upattinas School in Glenmoore, where Gallagher was not enrolled "very long" and withdrew while in 11th grade, guidance coordinator Nancy Stiles said she "barely remembered" him.

"We certainly did try to help him achieve his potential . . . but we were less than successful," she said. "It's a shame."

On Pinevale Road in Doylestown Township yesterday, Ronald McDonagh, 73, said he was a changed man - committed to locking his 1998 Ford F-150 "even if I'm only going to be [away from it] about a half-hour."

Gone, he said, is the carefree manner he has known for the last 33 years, when "we had never even had to lock our doors."

That changed on Jan. 3, when the retired engineer noticed that more than $30 in quarters was missing from his truck, which was parked - doors unlocked - in the driveway. He was relieved that nearly $500 worth of tools were left behind.

Police allege Hails stole the rolls of quarters between 6 p.m. Jan. 2 and 8 a.m. Jan. 3.

At 4:17 a.m. that morning, a woman in a dark coat at a CVS store in Pottstown attempted to use an American Express card stolen from an unlocked 2005 Subaru Outback parked in McDonagh's neighborhood. Police have identified the woman seen using that card in surveillance pictures as Hails.

The next day, about a year after ending what she has called an abusive marriage, Hails and Gallagher married in Chester Springs. Both are in jail - she in Chester County Prison on $10,000 bail; he in Delaware County Prison on $200,000 bail.