Fresh prints in snow lead to arrest

PHILADELPHIA may be home to the Fresh Prince, but it was a pair of fresh prints left behind in the snow on Saturday that helped Upper Darby police catch a couple they've dubbed "Delaware County's Bonnie and Clyde."

Stephen Dolceamore did such a terrible job of covering his tracks that his own shoe prints led officers to the houses he tried to burglarize and to his getaway-driver girlfriend, Kelly Wilkinson, said Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood.

Early Friday morning, police responded to three burglaries and two attempted burglaries in Drexel Hill, Chitwood said. In three of the cases, the burglar broke in through an unlocked back door. Among the stolen items were jewelry, purses, sneakers and electronics.

"At one point, one of the homeowners was awoken but thought it was her son," Chitwood said. "Another woman said when she got up she smelled cigarette smoke, but nobody in her house smokes."

In response to the burglaries, Chitwood put two of his officers on a plainclothes detail in the neighborhood, "hoping the baddies would come back," he said.

About 5 a.m. Saturday, the cops saw a man, later identified as Dolceamore, loitering at the back door of a house, Chitwood said. When officers asked him his name and purpose, he had no answer and dropped a red bag full of iPads, phones, money, sunglasses and other items, according to police.

Officers placed Dolceamore in custody and followed his fresh footprints in the snow to the back doors of eight to 10 houses and to a running car on the next block with Wilkinson inside, Chitwood said.

"The snow became our investigative tool," he said.

Inside the car, which is registered to Wilkinson's mother, police said they found many pilfered goods. When they executed a search warrant on the house where Wilkinson lives with her parents, police said they found additional stolen items such as handbags and cellphones. However, police said that when they searched Dolceamore's house, they found nothing.

"He's a real charmer," Chitwood said of Dolceamore. "All this stuff he steals and he gives to her and she puts them in her car or her mother's house."

Chitwood said Dolceamore committed the burglaries and Wilkinson drove the getaway car.

"They are Delaware County's own Bonnie and Clyde," Chitwood said.

When he was arrested, Dolceamore was in possession of crack cocaine and empty bags to hold the drug, police said.

He has a history of burglaries and was just released from state prison in May, according to Chitwood. Wilkinson has a history of driving under the influence of intoxicants and drug possession, he said.

Dolceamore, 24, of Morton, who just got off of probation Jan. 4, was charged with 13 counts of burglary, drug violations and related offenses.

Wilkinson, 25, of Springfield, was charged with receiving stolen property and related offenses.

Chitwood said police suspect the couple may be behind a number of other burglaries across Delaware County.

Dolceamore's bail was set at $50,000, and Wilkinson's bail was set at $20,000.

Online: ph.ly/crime

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