Plum and Oakmont residents are being advised to lock their vehicles and remove valuables from them after a string of thefts that may be connected to a gang in Pittsburgh.

Police from the two boroughs, Allegheny County Police and Pittsburgh police are investigating the thefts, which happened Feb. 9.

Plum reported 10 thefts while Oakmont had three, all on the same night. All of the vehicles entered had been left unlocked.

Plum police reported incidents on Rampart Court and Rampart Boulevard, Ridgewood Court, and Olivia, Lynn Ann and Emerald drives. The Oakmont thefts occurred on Summit Drive, police Chief Michael Ford said.

None have been reported since, both departments said Tuesday.

Electronics including a laptop and tablet computer were taken in Oakmont, Ford said.

In Plum, a loaded 9 mm handgun was in a backpack taken from a vehicle on Lynn Ann Drive. The backpack was found down the street containing a passport and checkbook, but a computer and the gun were missing, according to Plum police reports.

The owner of two vehicles entered on Rampart Court told police that a garage door opener and a key to their business were taken.

On Rampart Boulevard, two to three masked men were reported trying to enter a house. A vehicle also had been gone through there, with an Apple Watch and Ray-Ban sunglasses taken.

A stolen rental car, a white Dodge Charger, was captured on several private and public surveillance cameras. Between two and four suspects were seen by witnesses and on video, but have not yet been identified, according to police reports.

The Dodge Charger was seen entering Plum just before 4 a.m. and leaving shortly after 5 a.m. It evaded police on Allegheny River Boulevard, headed toward Pittsburgh.

Allegheny County Police found the car on Tioga Street in the Homewood South neighborhood, where a gang referred to as “Bone Boyz” is located and could possibly be involved.

Several stolen items were found inside the car, according to a Plum police report.

The ongoing, expansive investigation led to the arrest of a 15-year-old boy Feb. 22 in Pittsburgh, but he has not been charged in connection with the thefts in Plum and Oakmont, county police spokesman James Madalinsky said.

The thefts prompted Plum Mayor Harry Schlegel to issue a warning, as did Ford.

“Today, a lot of the cars have buttons that you can open the garage door. If you have an automatic opener on the car, you’re just inviting somebody to push the button and come into your house,” Schlegel said at a council meeting. “If you’re going to leave your car outside, lock it.”

A Ridgewood Court resident gave police a video that showed a suspect trying to enter a neighbor’s car that was locked before running to the resident’s unlocked car, opening the door and rummaging through it. A broken iPhone and a diagnostic scanner worth $600 were taken.

Ford said such thefts happen randomly every few months, with multiple areas hit at the same time.

“Groups of people come in, hit an area and leave,” he said. “That’s why it’s important to lock cars and remove valuables. That takes their effort away from coming to areas where they know all the vehicles are locked and the valuables are taken out.”

While some Plum residents told police they always leave their cars unlocked, Ford said, for others, it’s accidental.

“We rarely have a forced entry,” he said. “It’s almost always unlocked vehicles.”

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