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Darius G. Maaghul didn't have to break into dozens of homes in Upper St. Clair, Mt. Lebanon, Robinson and Moon to steal jewelry, police say.

He was escorted in.

Posing as a wealthy businessman, Maaghul used Realtors as unwitting accomplices to get into upscale homes for sale and steal thousands of dollars in rings, necklaces, earrings and broaches in a spree that began in the summer of 2003, detectives from three police departments said.

"Realtors were salivating when Maaghul would show up because he came across as a (prosperous) prospective buyer," said Upper St. Clair police Lt. James Englert, who tied Maaghul to four thefts in his town.

Pittsburgh police detectives arrested Maaghul, 41, of Mt. Washington, Monday night in his cell at the Allegheny County Jail on a charge of receiving stolen property related to the theft of $20,575 in jewelry from a home in Mt. Washington last summer. Maaghul already has been charged with stealing from four homes in Upper St. Clair, and police are trying to link him to similar thefts in Robinson, Moon and Mt. Lebanon. He was in jail for violating conditions of his bond.

In the end, Maaghul's greed and cockiness did him in, investigators say. Homeowners filed complaints about the thefts, and police began to check area pawnshops for the loot. Maaghul pawned most of the stolen items under his own name.

"A smarter thief with connections would have gone to a fence out of town," said Pittsburgh police Detective Brian Rodgers.

The dapper Maaghul, posing as a prospective buyer, sometimes would return as many as four times to a single house, police said.

"He'd show up with a measuring tape at a house he'd viewed before, saying, 'Well, I need to measure this room again to make sure.' That was his ruse," Rodgers said.

With the demeanor of a successful businessman, Maaghul told unsuspecting Realtors he was looking to move up to a home in the "$400,000 to $800,000" range, Rodgers said. Maaghul found plenty of eager and trusting Realtors to show him what he wanted.

Maaghul, Rodgers said, owns a home on Grandview Avenue in Mt. Washington valued at $324,000.

The goateed Maaghul told Realtors he had to move fast "because his wife was out of town and he was hard-pressed to find a new home before she returned," Englert said.

Authorities say Maaghul would revisit a promising house and tell a Realtor he needed to measure an upstairs bathroom and would be right back. He would then help himself to the jewelry.

"His M.O. was to make contacts with Realtors (and) say, 'I'm a busy guy looking for a home in a higher price range,'" Englert said. "He even had business cards."

Three different business cards listed his real name. He presented himself as a land developer, the head of a company called Simply Business and as the chief of a dot-com firm called "Simplybizness.com." No Web site exists at that address.

A phone number on one of the business cards rang to a Pittsburgh law firm that had never heard of Darius Maaghul. Two cards contained another number at which there was no answer.

Maaghul duped Realtors from some of the biggest firms in town, including ReMax, Prudential and Howard Hanna, police say. He even robbed the home of a Realtor whose home was on the market.

"The whole thing is sad," said Jane Compagonone, manager of the Prudential Preferred Realty office in Mt. Lebanon. "I was perplexed at how big it became."

Mt. Lebanon police say Maaghul is a "person of interest" in thefts from four homes there, but no charges have been filed.

"For us, Maaghul is the common denominator in these incidents," Mt. Lebanon police Lt. Ken Truver said.

Some investigators offered grudging admiration for Maaghul because of his slick approach.

"He is a unique individual for a lot of reasons," Upper St. Clair's Englert said. "He had a nice home, he was married with two kids, and he seemed to be capable of making a good living through legitimate means. Instead, he was stealing."

Maaghul's alleged take in Upper St. Clair alone was more than $24,000, Englert said.

Some homeowners, Pittsburgh's Rodgers said, are fighting back. The Mt. Washington couple who lost more than $20,000 in jewelry have hired a private investigator to see whether the realty company showing their home is liable for the loss.

Maaghul sold jewelry to pawnshops almost as soon as he took it, police say, and left a paper trail, including his signature, in the shops. Police departments routinely check pawnshops for criminal activity.

"His name kept coming up during checks of pawn sheets, and from there it just snowballed," Rodgers said. "We'd just go, 'Yup, there's his name again, Maaghul.'"

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