Crime & Safety

Camden Couple Charged in Multi-Town Burglary Spree

Police said the couple broke into homes and apartments in Collingswood, Haddonfield and three other towns.

A Camden couple on a burglary spree in which they allegedly stole electronics to fence for heroin used a simple way to find their targets, police said. 

They picked homes at random in South Jersey, the woman would knock on the door, and if no one answered, they'd smash their way through a back window or door and steal valuables such as flat-screen TVs, laptop computers and video-game systems, according to police. 

The spree came to an end Friday, when a multi-district task force assigned to the case arrested the couple in Camden. 

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Jorge Luis Capeles, 35, of South Fourth Street in Camden, was charged in Collingswood with four counts each of burglary and theft, five counts of conspiracy and one count of criminal attempt. 

Elizabel Sanchez, 35, of the same address, was charged in Collingswood with five counts of conspiracy to commit burglary. 

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Both were held in the Camden County Jail in lieu of bail. 

In all the couple admitted to 15 burglaries: five in Collingswood, five in Cherry Hill, three in Haddon Township, one in Merchantville and one in Haddonfield, said Collingswood police Detective Sgt. Guy J. DeRitis. 

"We believe they're involved in more than what they're telling us about," DeRitis said. 

In addition to the Collingswood charges, the couple also faces multiple counts of burglary and theft in the other towns, he said. 

The couple's alleged burglary spree began in January, when they broke into four garden-style apartments at the RiverView at Collingswood apartment complex on Garfield Avenue, police said. 

Police traced the license-plate of a vehicle that had been seen in the area of all the burglaries, and learned and that a woman in the vehicle had been seen knocking on apartment doors. They also learned that similar burglaries were happening in neighboring towns, 

"She would go and knock on a door and if nobody answered, that's how they'd case the place," DeRitis said. "If someone answered, they's ask for someone who didn't live there."

Police observed the couple casing homes in Collingswood and Cherry Hill, but didn't have enough evidence to arrest them, according to DeRitis. 

On Friday, police watched the couple break into a home in Cherry Hill and then drive to Camden to fence the stolen goods, he said. They were arrested as they tried to sell the stolen items. 

Capeles and Sanchez told police they are heroin addicts, and that they used the proceeds from their crime spree to buy drugs, according to DeRitis. 

The detective said none of the stolen items—except those from the burglary in Cherry Hill on Friday—have been recovered. 


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