Stefanskis honored for halting burglars

The Township Committee presented a plaque to the Stefanskis at the Thursday committee meeting

By: Katie Wagner
   MONTGOMERY — The Township Committee adopted a resolution last week to honor the Stefanski family for helping to end a 60–incident car and house burglary spree in Montgomery.
   On June 22, father and son Gary J. and Gary M. Stefanski of Montgomery stopped the two burglars, who are allegedly responsible for committing scores of burglaries in a three-week period in Montgomery and other surrounding communities, from stealing items from the inside of a family member’s car.
   Bryant Crawford, 18, and a male juvenile, both of Montgomery Township, were charged with four counts of burglary. Mr. Crawford was additionally charged with aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes, according to police.
   Jean Stefanski said her son, Gary M. Stefanski, ran outside in the early hours of June 22, when he saw lights in the driveway of his home on Red Fox Court from his bedroom window.
   Mr. Stefanski found the two burglars inside his sister’s car and yelled at them to get out of the car and stop what they were doing, Jean Stefanski said.
   When Gary J. Stefanski heard the commotion, he ran outside and grabbed one of the burglars and restrained him. The other burglar then slashed Gary J. Stefanski’s arm with a knife, which prompted Gary M. Stefanski to jump on that burglar and restrain him, Jean Stefanski said.
   Lauren Stefanski, Gary M. Stefanski’s sister, called 911 and the Stefanski men were able to restrain the burglars until Montgomery police arrived a few minutes later to arrest the burglars.
   The Township Committee presented a plaque to the Stefanskis at the Thursday committee meeting to honor them for helping the police solve the burglaries and restoring a sense of security for residents in the community.The resolution states that the committee recognizes and values the heroic efforts of Gary J., Gary M. and Lauren Stefanski and describes their actions as "vigilant and unselfish." Gary M. Stefanski was unable to make the meeting, but was contacted on his cell phone at the time the resolution was read.
    "The string of burglaries that we as a community had been experiencing were really bold and extremely frightening," said Louise Wilson, the township’s deputy mayor. "I mean they were home invasions. People’s homes were being burglarized while they were there."What the Stefanski family did is not the kind of thing anybody ought to do, but they weren’t going to stand there and not take action. They stepped right up," Deputy Mayor Louise Wilson said.
   Montgomery police acting Lt. James Curry said the burglars entered unlocked cars and entered homes through garage windows. Police found most of the items the burglars had taken with them in a car at the time of the arrests.
   "In the 20 years I’ve been here, I can’t remember an instance in which two individuals were responsible for so many burglaries in such a short period of time," Lt. Curry added.