JACKSON – Police are urging people to keep their cars locked with no valuables left inside, after a woman’s $80,000 Mercedes was stolen from her driveway on Arrowhead Circle.
On April 11, the woman told police she had started the car in her driveway at about 6:30 a.m., then went back inside her home. When she came back outside about 20 minutes later, the car was gone.
Jackson Police Captain Steve Laskiewicz said the woman tracked her car through the Mercedes app and located it in Woodbridge traveling north on the New Jersey Turnpike. While the car was being entered as a stolen vehicle, officers learned that the suspects who had taken it had driven off without paying for more than $100 of gas at a Turnpike rest stop.
Later that morning, Newark Police found the stolen Mercedes in their area and tried to pull it over. However, the driver refused to stop and under the updated New Jersey Attorney General pursuit guidelines they did not chase it further, Laskiewicz said.
Shortly after, New Jersey State Police saw the car on Interstate 280 but the driver took off again.
The car was later located abandoned in Newark and it was recovered for the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department CSI Unit to process.
“These types of vehicle thefts have been plaguing multiple counties and communities throughout the state. This agency has put out multiple releases on local incidents and has shared news releases from other police departments regarding similar incidents in their towns,” Laskiewicz said. “Once again we are reminding residents to take measures to safeguard their property to not provide criminals an easy opportunity to make you a victim of what is, in many cases, a preventable crime that only takes moments to commit.”
The following safety measures were listed by Laskiewicz to prevent becoming a victim of a theft:
- Remove valuables if you can and lock your car when you park your vehicle. The overwhelming majority of these thefts in our area are from unlocked vehicles.
- Do not leave your house keys, key fobs, garage door openers, Iphones, Ipads, other computers and cell phones, cash, identification, passports, jewelry, etc. when you park your vehicle overnight.
- Do not leave an unlocked and unattended vehicle running, especially when parking it in front of a convenience store.
Anyone who observes suspicious activity in their neighborhood is urged to call police dispatch at 732-928-1111 to report it so officers can investigate. Anyone with information about the theft or who may have seen the suspects is asked to call Jackson Police Detective Robert Reiff at 732-928-1111.
