Police seek help in nabbing Huntingdon Valley home invader
Authorities are asking the public's help to locate a ? man accused of entering a Huntingdon Valley home and robbing its residents - including women and children - at gunpoint last May.
This post has been updated.
Authorities are asking the public's help to locate a Hunting Park man accused of entering a Montgomery County home and robbing its residents - including women and children - at gunpoint last May.
Two men, carrying a plant and a box, knocked on the door of a home on Heaton Hill Lane near Heaton Road in Huntingdon Valley just after lunchtime on May 19 and announced they had a delivery, according to Lower Moreland Police Chief Peter C. Hasson and Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman. But when the woman who answered the door asked for more details about the unexpected delivery, the men flashed a gun and forced their way into the home, according to an affidavit.
The invaders then demanded to know where the family's safe was, according to the affidavit. When the homeowner said they had no safe, the suspects then asked where the home's surveillance system was. The homeowner directed them to her husband's office, and the thugs fled with the resident's computer tower, according to the affidavit.
Cops cracked the case because the bad guys goofed at least twice. They left behind a receipt to the Somerton storage facility where they bought the box they used to disguise themselves as deliverymen, and police found fingerprints on it belonging to Michael Bivans, 23, of Delhi Street near Butler, according to the affidavit. Detectives also were able to recover the surveillance video, on which Bivans and his unidentified accomplice are seen approaching the home on foot with the box and receipt. Investigators believe a third man waited in a car on nearby Heaton Road to help them escape, according to the affidavit.
Bivans now faces charges of robbery, burglary, theft, aggravated assault and related offenses. Court records show that he has three prior adult arrests in Philadelphia for charges including robbery, aggravated assault, gun offenses and disorderly conduct.
Citizens can get a $2,500 reward for information leading to the capture of Bivans and his unidentified accomplices. Tipsters can call Lower Moreland police at (215) 947-3132, Montgomery County Detectives at (610) 278-3368 or the crime commission at (215) 546-TIPS.