Police: Criminals targeting Asian business owners in Abington Township

ABINGTON TWP., Pennsylvania (WPVI) — Authorities in Montgomery County are on high alert following a string of home break-ins.

Abington Township police say in the last week criminals have targeted a very specific group.

“Criminals are targeting Asian American business owners. They’re going off the premise of this stereotype that they keep large amounts of cash in their homes,” said Det. Lt. Steven Fink.

Fink says the businesses are in Philadelphia, but the suspects have been surveilled over time and followed home.

On Tuesday, police say a group forced their way into a family’s home in Huntingdon Valley in the middle of the night leading to the homeowner being violently assaulted.

“I can’t comment on the extent of their injuries but I can tell it was a rather serious assault,” Fink said. “A group of criminals forced their way into this home, they hit with them a lead pipe. One of the residents was assaulted with a pipe.”

In another case the week before, a family in Meadowbrook was burglarized but they weren’t home. The incidents happened just two or three miles apart. Officials call it a disturbing trend nationwide and locally.

“Our detectives are looking at some similarities between our crimes and other crimes that have happened throughout Montgomery County and the region to see if these are the same criminals committing all these crimes or if you’re looking at more than one group … We’re still trying to figure out exactly which cases are linked and how far-reaching this organization goes,” Fink said.

In the meantime, police are asking neighbors to be aware and report suspicious activity.

“In one of the crimes, the lookout was actually posing as a jogger on the street where the burglary occurred. The suspicious thing was the jogger was wearing a surgical mask while he was jogging,” Fink said.

Neighbors in the Meadowbrook community were disturbed a member of their community had been targeted this way. They spoke highly of their neighbor and said they’d lived in the neighborhood for around 30 years.

Abington police call these recent cases a priority and say they’re aggressively following up on leads.

“We don’t want anyone else to get hurt. We want all our residents to feel safe and secure. We will capture the suspects and bring them to justice,” Fink said.

Action News did reach out to the Asian American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia for comment on this story but did not hear back.

Abington Township encourages residents to consider the following steps to help ensure their safety:

• Be aware of cars in the neighborhood that aren’t normally there

• Be aware of anyone who might be following you home

• Give thought to how you secure valuables in your house

• Motion sensor lighting on the front and back of a home will help deter break-ins

• Install surveillance cameras on or around the home and business

• Consider having a home or business alarm system installed