Lower Merion police linked a hidden camera found in Gladwyne to an organized burglary ring that has targeted homes across the Main Line for years.

Detectives in June searched the 900 block of Stony Lane after the New York Police Department called with a tip, 6abc first reported. NYPD officers had stopped a white Kia in New York City and recovered a burner phone from individuals inside the vehicle. Images on the phone showed a home on Stony Lane.

Officers dispatched to the address found a small camera concealed in bedrock near the property.

"It's a very small camera. Even if you were walking along the side of the road, we don't think you would recognize the camera or see it," Police Chief Andrew Block told 6abc in June.

Stony Lane resident Cary McClain told 6abc the discovery shook the neighborhood. "It's scary to think that somebody from New York is coming here and they're basically in your backyard, surreptitiously looking, potentially in your home," McClain said.

Authorities believe the camera was placed by what law enforcement calls the South American Theft Group (SATG). The FBI describes these groups as foreign nationals who overstay visas and commit burglaries, often using rental vehicles and fake identification, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported in July.

Block said in June that SATG crews are highly trained and typically in and out of a house within five minutes. Persons of interest were identified in the Stony Lane case, but no arrests had been made as of the June report.

On July 7, two more burglaries hit the township in the late afternoon. One occurred at a home on the 1500 block of Flat Rock Road in Penn Valley, where force was found on a second-floor French door and the master bedroom was ransacked. The other struck a residence in the 300 block of Llanfair Road in Wynnewood, entered through an unsecured side window, Main Line Media News reported.

Block told Main Line Media News that both incidents were believed connected to the SATG and that detectives were coordinating with other police departments in the area.

On Aug. 20, a Villanova homeowner reported two people attempting to break into the home during the afternoon. Police pursued and took both into custody, according to a Lower Merion Police crime alert. That investigation is continuing.

The problem extends well beyond the township. A regional task force spanning Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware has tracked more than 100 SATG-linked burglaries since January 2021, including more than 50 in Montgomery County alone, according to a criminal complaint reported by the Pottstown Mercury.

In April, Chilean national Miguel Angel Guzman-Pardo, 45, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 20 to 48 months in state prison after pleading guilty to two felony burglary charges. The charges stemmed from two Lower Merion break-ins on Oct. 26, 2023, including one on Eagle Farm Road where approximately $16,325 in jewelry was stolen.

The judge ordered $40,087 in restitution. Guzman-Pardo will be deported to Chile after serving his sentence.

Lower Merion police say burglaries linked to these groups have largely occurred between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. while homes sit empty. Targets include jewelry, small electronics and cash.

The department offers two free programs for residents: a Vacant House Program for anyone away more than 48 hours (call 610-649-1000) and home security assessments through the Crime Prevention Unit (call 610-645-6240 during business hours).