November 3, 2020
WEST WINDSOR, NJ (MERCER)–On Saturday October 31, 2020 at 9 pm, West Windsor Police, Ptl. Buchanan was detailed to the Bahama Breeze parking lot at the Princeton Market Fair on a report of a Vehicle Burglary on Route 1. The victim had returned to his 2017 Toyota where he found the rear hatch was not fully closed, the interior lights were illuminated and items inside were thrown around. Ptl. Hoffman, who was assisting at the scene, was advised by Ptl. Buchanan there was a second Vehicle Burglary in the same parking lot. The 2nd Vehicle, a 2019, had been entered with the actor taking the victim’s personal items. Ptl. Collins also responded to the scene where a 3rd Vehicle was found to have been Burglarized.
At 10:05 pm, Ptl. Buchanan was detailed to a 4th Vehicle Burglary that occurred in the Buffalo Wild Wings Parking Lot. Ptl. Buchanan arrived and his attention was drawn to an individual slightly bent over at the driver’s door of a silver Ford while throwing objects onto the ground. Further investigation revealed that the actor had been connected to a total of (7) Vehicle Burglaries (from the Market Fair’s Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, & TGI Friday’s parking lots to the Buffalo Wild Wings parking lot). Proceeds from several of the Vehicles were found in the actor’s possession. In addition, a Vape Pen, which belonged to the actor was found inside of one of the Vehicle’s Burglarized.
The actor was taken into custody and processed at the WWPD Headquarters. The actor was issued the appropriate charges, Released ROR pending a future Mercer County Superior Court Date, and was entered into the C.A.R.E. (Community Addiction Recovery Efforts) Program under the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.
****Mercer County’s “C.A.R.E. (Community Addiction RecoveryEfforts)” program, which was launched by Robbinsville Police Department in 2016 and then expanded to all local police departments in the county; the C.A.R.E. model activates recovery coaches when police arrest an individual for a low-level crime and assists law enforcement in linking individuals to treatmentand/or recovery services. As part of the Operation Helping Hand program, the “C.A.R.E. Task Force” was formed to centralize the coordination of the C.A.R.E. program under the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and expand existing and diversionary efforts and partnerships, including non-arrest outreach to those identified as having addiction issues prior to any involvement
with law enforcement. ****