Thanks in part to the quick thinking of a North Philadelphia resident, an accused burglar is behind bars.
A cell phone photo taken by a 49-year-old woman when she came home on the 1300 block of W Silver Street on March 30 to find a man rooting through her things was shown on NBC10.com, NBC10 and other media venues Friday.
According to Philadelphia Police, Sabu Shealy saw himself in the media and called police to turn himself in.
The homeless man was charged with burglary, criminal trespass and attempted theft and sent to jail unable to post 15 percent of $15,000 bail, according to court records.
Shealy, who turns 35 on Wednesday, has a long criminal past including serving time after pleading guilty to a 1998 theft, receiving probation for a 2007 guilty plea to receiving stolen goods and another charge of theft from a car and just two months ago was given more probation for violating a bench warrant, according to court records.
Philadelphia Police credited the woman with taking the photo before he ran away. That photo led Shealy to surrender, according to police.
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This isn't the first time that a quick acting woman helped apprehend a suspect. A quick-thinking local woman gave police a good lead to help catch a thief. Late last month, Sister Maryann Burgoyne spotted a man leaving a Rite Aid store in Narberth without paying for a basket full of items. She wrote down the license plate number of the man's van and immediately contacted police.
"I thought, that's odd, you don't walk out the store with their basket and no wrappings, so I thought 'oh dear,'" said Burgoyne.
Police believe the man maybe involved in similar thefts in Philadelphia. They are still searching for him.
