Detective: Haverford burglary suspect confessed to crime
MEDIA COURTHOUSE >> Upper Merion Police Detective Elbert Lee testified Thursday that a Philadelphia man accused of burglarizing two Haverford homes last year confessed in a written statement on July 23.
“I got off the R-100 and walked down to the one house,” according to the statement provided by Keith Morrison, 25, of the 5700 block of Vine Street. “I went through the back window, searched the house and found some watches. I stole them. I didn’t know their worth, so I went into another house.”
Morrison said he took $80 from a desk in the second house, which matched the prior testimony from that victim. The other victim said nine watches were missing from his house, six of which have since been recovered from Golden Fire Jewelers in 69th Street.
Morrison said in the confession that he had pawned the watches at a 69th Street jewelry store that buys gold. Police were able to identify Golden Fire as the buyer from an eBay account selling one of the watches online.
The owner of Golden Fire, Havi Yousef, also testified Thursday that he had purchased eight watches from a man on July 9 for $2,500, the same day as the burglaries, but could not identify Morrison as the seller.
Yousef told Assistant District Attorney Sean McNabb that he photocopied the driver’s license of the seller and provided that to Haverford Patrolman James Reynolds.
Reynolds could not recall whether he took the photocopy of Morrison’s license during a July 22 visit to the jewelers or simply jotted down the pertinent information.
Reynolds said he interviewed Morrison on the night of July 22 while he was detained at Upper Merion Police Department, but Morrison denied involvement with the burglaries at that time. Reynolds said he provided Morrison with details about the burglaries during that interview, including the items stolen and locations of the homes.
The statement given to Reynolds indicated Morrison bought eight watches on the street from someone named “Stevie Jay” for $800, then sold them at the jewelers.
Video surveillance collected from the store on July 23 was behind by 22 hours, according to Reynolds, but he said it showed Morrison and Yousef conducting their transaction at 11 a.m. July 9 when correcting for the lagging timestamp.
Defense attorney Jim Lyons noted SEPTA information indicated Morrison’s transportation pass had been used at 10:07 a.m. at the 56th Street stop for the Market-Frankford line that morning.
He also noted Morrison’s cellphone had pinged off a T-Mobile cell tower in Villanova at 10:58 a.m. Reynolds acknowledged both of those facts, but said it was impossible to tell whether Morrison had either his SEPTA pass or cellphone on him on the morning of July 9.
Morrison has also been charged with a gunpoint robbery in Lansdowne last year, which is set for trial here in September, as well as an Upper Merion home invasion, kidnapping and robbery at gunpoint set for trial in Montgomery County in October.
Attorneys are expected to make closing arguments today in the burglary case.