When Bensalem police developed a 32-year-old Philadelphia man as a suspect in a stolen car case last year, they didn’t anticipate his arrest might solve more than a dozen other thefts.
DNA evidence shows that Jeffrey Minio is responsible for stealing four cars and items from a dozen other vehicles, court records show. Some of the stolen items — along with mail and prescription pill bottles in Minio’s name — were found in the most recent car he is accused of stealing, police said.
Minio’s name came to the attention of police in October after a BMW X5 reported stolen a month earlier from a Brister Road driveway was recovered. Inside the car were numerous items that didn’t belong to the owner, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The items included a window punch, flashlight, numerous cellphones and cellphone chargers, a pack of Marlboro Light 100s, jewelry, iPods, syringes, prescriptions in Minio’s name for Suboxone, a drug used to treat opiate addiction, and Klonopin, an anti-anxiety drug, and mail also addressed to Minio, court records show.
Police also found keys to a Toyota Camry that belonged to another Bensalem man who had reported his car stolen from his driveway in September. The owner had left the car unlocked with the keys inside, police said.
The other items found in the BMW were identified as stolen from cars last year, police said.
In November, police obtained a search warrant for Minio’s DNA, which was executed at the Philadelphia Detention Center. His DNA matched evidence taken from the BMW X5 and other unsolved thefts involving vehicles, police said.
In three of the thefts from vehicles, police say that Minio left behind a cigarette butt, water bottle and stolen Hi-C juice bottles that police swabbed for DNA evidence.
Minio was arraigned last week on four counts of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle along with 16 counts each of theft and receiving stolen property. He was sent to Bucks County prison in lieu of 10 percent of $100,000 bail.
Jo Ciavaglia: 215-949-4181; email: jciavaglia@calkins.com;Twitter: @jociavaglia
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