Monday, May 6, 2013
From DWI to vehicle theft to fictitious inspection stickers, Collingswood police have made a number of arrests by patrolling the roadways in recent weeks.
DWI At approximately 10:30 p.m. on April 1, Collingswood police responded to the scene of a single-vehicle accident in Knight Park. Police said a gold 2000 Chevrolet Malibu driven by Eric Thomas, 27, of Camden City, left the roadway and struck a tree. Police said they also encountered Thomas attempting to leave the area when they arrived. Thomas failed field sobriety tests and was arrested for driving while intoxicated (DWI) and other motor vehicle offenses, police said. Believing he may have been under the influence of more than just alcohol, police also transported Thomas to Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center for the retrieval of blood and urine samples. Thomas was released to a sober adult. His vehicle was impounded. DWI Around noon on …
Friday, May 3, 2013
Sometimes when nature calls, it's more prudent to hold it—especially if you're (allegedly) holding.
When you gotta go, you gotta go, as the saying goes. But that old saw is missing a key piece of advice about choosing prudently the time and place, as an Oaklyn man learned first-hand from Collingswood police. On March 26 around 8:30 p.m., officers on patrol in the area of the Aldi food store saw a man urinating behind the supermarket: Raymond Van Sciver, 54, of Oaklyn—who had to answer for more than just the call of nature, as it turned out. Not only did police learn that Van Sciver was wanted on a $4,000 warrant, but also that he was carrying four Ziploc baggies containing what they think was heroin, police said. Van Sciver was charged with possession of a controlled, dangerous substance and was remanded to the Camden County correctional…
Friday, April 12, 2013
Police say Joseph Ellis schemed with his roommate, Eli Torres, to rob a friend they knew had just received a sum of money.
A pair of Collingswood men was arrested last week in connection with a robbery and assault that police say they staged in order to defraud an acquaintance out of a social assistance check. According to police reports, 28-year-old Joseph Ellis and an unidentified friend were walking along the 900 block of Magill Ave. around 3 a.m. on March 19 when they were approached by a man with his face covered. The man allegedly demanded their money. When they refused, he pepper-sprayed them and fled. Upon further investigation, however, detectives concluded that the assault was no random encounter. Ellis, they said, had arranged the attack with his 18-year-old roommate, Eli Torres (the assailant), reasoning that if Ellis were also assaulted then the …
Friday, April 5, 2013
Benito Moran-Mendoza, 45, of Woodlynne, and Edwin Gonzalez, 37, of Collingswood, were initially pulled over for motor vehicle violations.
Traffic violations led Collingswood Police to a pair of DWI arrests in the month of March. At 12:10 a.m. on March 3, officers noticed a car driving near the intersection of Ferry Avenue and the White Horse Pike with a couple of flat tires. The vehicle had its hazard lights engaged at a red signal. Police say the driver stopped at the light, and then proceeded through before it changed. Officers pulled the vehicle over and made contact with Benito Moran-Mendoza, 45, of Woodlynne. In the course of speaking with him, police determined that Moran-Mendoza appeared to be intoxicated, according to police. He was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated (DWI). Moran-Mendoza was also issued motor vehicle summonses for failure to observe …
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Paul Mitchell told police that he was returning from making a child support payment in Camden City when they stopped him, officers reported.
When they pulled him over for running a red light, Paul Mitchell of Oaklyn told Collingswood Police that was returning home from making a child support payment, according to police reports. The trouble is, that might not have been the only stop he made on the way. At 12:02 a.m. on Feb. 19, officers on patrol in the area of Magill Avenue and the White Horse Pike, stopped the 30-year-old Mitchell for an alleged traffic violation. He notified them that he was wanted on a $1,000 warrant for nonpayment of child support, and that he was returning from Camden City, where he had made a payment. A search of the vehicle, however, revealed that Mitchell was allegedly traveling with two bags of heroin, three heat-sealed baggies of crack-cocaine and a …
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Firefighter Timothy Tredanari and Police Officers Samuel Rocco and Kenneth Jacoby took their oaths of office at the April meeting of the Collingswood Borough Commissioners.
Collingswood welcomed two new probationary full-time police officers and one new probationary full-time firefighter/EMT at its April meeting on Monday night. Timothy Tredanari joined the Collingswood Fire Department, while Kenneth Jacoby and Samuel Rocco took their oaths of service to the Collingswood Police. It was standing room only at the Collingswood Community Center second-floor meeting room, as uniformed firefighters and policemen lined the rear and side walls, applauding their new brothers in arms. “It’s not just getting the job," Mayor James Maley remarked to the crowd after the ceremonies had concluded. "For all of them it’s something they’ve been wanting to do since they were little kids. So welcome aboard; we congratulate you.” …
Monday, March 25, 2013
Two vehicles were stolen in the past few weeks, with someone attempting to pick off a third as well. Police have no suspects yet.
The familiar refrain from Collingswood Police—lock your cars, lock your cars, Lord have mercy, please lock your cars—would seem to take on even more weight in the borough this month. Authorities reported a pair of vehicle thefts and attempts on a third in the past few weeks, with a fourth resident losing an inspection sticker in a car break-in. During the overnight hours of March 5, someone attempted to steal an unsecured Honda Civic parked in front of a residence in the 400 block of Cedar Avenue. That same night, a resident in the 100 block of Linden Avenue reported that his Honda Accord had been stolen. Just a few days later, on March 8, a Honda Accord was stolen from the parking lot of the Heights of Collingswood apartment building. …
Friday, March 15, 2013
Collingswood Police say Shannon Becknell, 28, of Oaklyn, was carrying what they believe to be crack-cocaine and heroin when they pulled her over for a motor vehicle violation.
Failure to keep her vehicle registration current led an Oaklyn woman to run afoul of Collingswood Police in an early-morning traffic stop—and things went worse for her from there. While on patrol in the area of Haddon and Pacific Avenues at 7:55 a.m. on March 4, officers spotted a vehicle with expired tags and conducted a motor vehicle stop. The driver, 28-year-old Shannon Becknell of Oaklyn, was unable to produce the appropriate documents, and was asked to exit the vehicle. While opening the door, police say that a glass pipe typically used to smoke marijuana fell out of Becknell’s pant leg. Upon further investigation, police recovered 2 green baggies with wax paper that contained a powdered substance purported to be heroin and 6 heat-…
Friday, March 8, 2013
A Collingswood parent means business when she catches her son allegedly breaking into cars in the Heights of Collingswood.
In January, we brought you the story of a vigilant mom who turned in her child to Collingswood Police after discovering items taken from a car burglary in his room. A month later, authorities say, she did it again. On Feb. 23, officers were dispatched to the Heights of Collingswood parking lot to investigate a report of a juvenile suspect trying to enter a parked motor vehicle. The caller advised that she was the individual's mother, and she had observed her son trying the doors of several parked cars in the lot. Her son had told her he was leaving the apartment to finish his laundry, police said. After a period of time passed without his return, she looked out the window of her apartment and observed her son trying to enter three separate…
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Collingswood police initially believed Zedrick T. Johnson of Willingboro to have been unconnected with the Collingswood crimes. Johnson was captured Feb. 22 in connection with a murder in his hometown.
Less than a year after he was released from prison, 34-year-old Zedrick T. Johnson could be headed back there soon, and for a long time. Collingswood Police believe the Willingboro man, who was apprehended in Camden City Feb. 22 on murder and robbery charges, is also the man who stabbed and robbed a Gulf gas station attendant Feb. 15 and carjacked a vehicle on Pacific Avenue on Feb. 21. They announced formal charges in connection with those incidents Tuesday. In the Feb. 15 gas station robbery and assault, Collingswood Police charged Johnson with first-degree armed robbery, second-degree aggravated assault, third-degree unlawful possession of a weapon and fourth-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. His bail was set at $…
Jeannine Cornelis
7:27 pm on Tuesday, May 7, 2013
I second that, Linda! Great job CPD! more ›