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Lancaster man arrested for theft

Tran suspected in string of burglaries across three states

Tran

From Mirror staff reports

A Lancaster man suspected in a string of burglaries across three states was taken into custody early Thursday morning after allegedly breaking into a Bedford County restaurant.

Dan Quac Tran, 47, was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Wendy R. Mellott on six felony counts of criminal mischief, four felony counts of theft, as well as single felony counts of burglary and criminal trespass.

In lieu of $100,000 bail, he was remanded to the Bedford County Correctional Facility.

About 1:44 a.m. Thursday, state police at Bedford were contacted by state police at Lancaster and told about an investigation into a string of burglaries in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. The officers said Tran, the main suspect, was being followed by undercover detectives with the Baltimore County Police Department and that Tran’s vehicle was found near Mandy Jo’s Country Corral, a restaurant in West Providence Township, Bedford County, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

Baltimore detectives were near the restaurant surveilling Tran about 3:09 a.m. when they saw him leave the building with a duffle bag, get into his vehicle and drive onto Lincoln Highway toward Breezewood. The detectives followed Tran into Fulton County until he was stopped by state police at McConnellsburg and taken into custody, court documents state.

At the restaurant, officers found evidence of forced entry through the front door, that a cutting device was used to open an ATM, and multiple PA Skills machines were broken into. The cash register was also empty, with multiple coins laying on the floor beneath.

A search of Tran’s vehicle yielded about about $12,747 in cash, two blank checks from the restaurant, a Stanley tool set and hand saw, pliers, dremel, bolt cutters, UNV network video recorder, pry bar and DeWalt grinder with a cut off wheel, the police report stated.

When officers spoke with a representative of DeLeo Games, he said there was about $520 missing from the two PA Skills machines, about $6,400 missing from the Redemption machine and about $5,700 missing from the ATM.

Officers also spoke with the restaurant owner, who said about $300 of cash was missing from the store, along with three blank checks and the hard drive from the store video recorder. She reported the basement door and front door as being damaged as well, according to the affidavit.

Tran is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Jan. 29 in Bedford County Central Court.

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