More than a dozen ‘smash-n-grab’ incidents reported at North Park

MCCANDLESS, Pa. — There have been 14 break-ins reported since the end of May at North Park in Allegheny County, according to police.

The incidents normally happen in clusters involving the same people on the same day, police told Channel 11.

There were four “smash-and-grab” incidents just on July 3.

One woman Channel 11 spoke with said she parked her car at Pie Traynor Field and took a long walk.

When she got back, she found her driver window smashed and her purse stolen.

“Well I saw a pile of glass on the ground and I knew my whole purse had been taken,” Sandra Foreback said. “It’s a nightmare. It’s a nightmare for me to recreate my wallet and everything that was in it.”

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Foreback’s car was broken into on July 3, the same day as three other cars.

A week later she noticed that funds in her checking account were on hold.

“So I called my bank and found out what this criminal did was stole somebody else’s checks, made them payable to me, went to my bank and cashed four checks through drive thru at four different branches,” she said.

In total, $8,800 was stolen.

Police are following leads and looking through surveillance footage of where the checks were cashed, but with most people wearing masks now, it is even more difficult to identify people on security tape.

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