Thieves steal car in Wyomissing, abandon it in Reading

In the evening of March 5, a man went to the parking lot where he'd left his car, only to discover it wasn't there anymore. He had parked the 1996 Honda Civic coupe sometime before 9:36 p.m. in the 1100 block of Berkshire Boulevard in Wyomissing.

The next morning, about 10:18 a.m., Reading police discovered the car in the 500 block of Birch Street in the city. Someone had taken several engine parts, rendering the car a gigantic paperweight. The vehicle was towed and the owner was told the good/bad news about 11 a.m.

Man seeks revenge for tire damage

West Reading police spotted a vehicle pull into a parking lot about 2:25 a.m. Aug. 13 in the 300 block of Penn Avenue, riding on its rims. The driver told officers someone popped his tires while he was at a club in Reading. The rear passenger-side tire was flat, the front passenger-side tire was shredded. A taxi took the man home. A few minutes later, the cab returned to the parking lot and the taxi driver told police the man said he was going back to the club to confront the bouncers and took off on a red motorcycle. The officers warned Reading police.

West Reading police catch theft suspect wanted in Reading

On Aug. 5, Reading police received a report of a theft from Reading Area Community College, which sits across the Schuylkill River from West Reading. The suspect fled the campus and ran into the borough via a footbridge near the Bertolet fishing dock in the borough. West Reading police caught the man at Joan Terrace and Summit Chase Drive and turned him over to city officers.

Police talk man out of jumping into river

A man threatened to jump off a foot bridge about 10:03 a.m. May 26 between the Bertolet Fishing Dock in West Reading and Reading Area Community College on the other side of the Schuylkill River in Reading. West Reading police and Reading police went to the bridge, and an officer from the city talked the man down without incident.

Missing girl found after shoplifting arrest

A girl was caught shoplifting about 6:37 p.m. Jan. 6 from the Bon-Ton store in the Berkshire Mall, in the 1600 block of State Hill Road in Wyomissing. Police referred her to the Youth Aid Panel. A short time later, they learned the girls’ mother reported her missing to the Reading Police Department.

West Reading police handle three-car accident in Reading

A three-car collision about 8 a.m. Aug. 24 on the Reading side of the Penn Street bridge brought police from the city and West Reading. Borough police reported that Reading officers “refused to accept that it was their accident,” according to the police report. The borough officer at the crash took the report instead.

Federal agents make arrest in West Reading

On Aug. 18 federal agents arrested five people on drug charges stemming from a federal indictment. One of those arrests took place at 4:45 a.m. in the 200 block of South Second Avenue in West Reading. Borough police assisted Reading police, Berks County Sheriff’s deputies and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in the arrest of two people.

A grand jury indicted six people as part of the “222 Corridor Anti-Gang Initiative,” a federally funded program intended to break up gangs from York to Easton, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. All five of the suspects arrested face charges of selling crack in Reading. The news release says all six suspects live in Reading, but the two arrested on South Second Avenue are West Reading residents, according to borough police. One suspect, Manuel Cook, was not arrested and remains at large.

Theft? No, just a misunderstanding

A man found a car part in the late morning of July 7 in front of a home in the 800 block of North Fourth Street in Wyomissing. A neighbor spotted the apparent theft and called police. When police in Reading contacted the man, he said he thought the part was left out for the trash. He returned the item to its rightful owner, who didn’t want to press charges.