Police Blotter: Multiple Drug Arrests Made, Man Charged With Lying to Cops About His Car Being Stolen & More...

Drug Offense

Edward Thorpe III, 20, of Christoph Avenue, Trenton, and Kyle Davis, 20, of Delawareview Avenue, Trenton, were arrested and each charged with possession of marijuana under 50 grams after the vehicle in which they were riding as passengers was stopped by police on Cherry Tree Lane at 5:33 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 21, according to Lawrence Township police spokesman Lt. Mark Ubry.

The traffic stop was initiated because a random lookup of the vehicle’s license plate number by Officer Ryan Dunn revealed that the driving privileges of the vehicle’s registered owner had been suspended, Ubry said.

Dunn, backed up by Officers Richard Laird III and Michael Whitemore, detected an odor of marijuana coming from within the vehicle, which was occupied by five men. Subsequent investigate, Ubry said, revealed that the front passenger, Thorpe, and one of the rear passengers, Davis, were in possession of marijuana and both were taken into custody.

The vehicle’s driver, whose name was not available, was issued a ticket for driving with a suspended license.

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Falsifying a Police Report

Alexis Rivera, 25, of Bordentown, was arrested and charged with falsifying a report to police after he called township police at 10:49 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 21, to report that his vehicle had been stolen from the parking lot of Retro Fitness at the rear of Lawrence Shopping Center, Ubry said. Subsequent investigation by Officer Ryan Dunn, he said, revealed that the vehicle had not been stolen but instead, while being driven by Rivera’s friend, had been involved in a collision in Morrisville, Pa.       

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Drug Offense

Deon D. Thompson, 19, of Delawareview Avenue, Trenton, was charged with possession of marijuana under 50 grams after the vehicle he was driving was stopped by police for a traffic violation (failure to keep right) in the 3300 block of Brunswick Pike (Route 1) about 10:40 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 17, according to Ubry. He said the marijuana was uncovered as a result of an investigation conducted by Sgt. Tim Drew and Officer Michael Whitmore after they smelled an odor while interviewing Thompson during the traffic stop.    

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Drug Offense

Two Lawrence Township men – Mark Jones, 37, of Johnson Avenue, and Chadd Dillard, 30, also of Johnson Avenue – were arrested and each charged with possession of marijuana under 50 grams and possession of drug paraphernalia about 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 19, Ubry said. He said Officers James Larkin Jr. and Shaun Sexton, sent to investigate a report of a suspicious vehicle on Albemarle Road, took the men into custody after finding them sitting in the vehicle with a cigar and jar containing marijuana.   

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Counterfeiting

Township police and the U.S. Secret Service are working together to investigate an incident in which two men passed three counterfeit $100 bills to buy a Wii game system at the Gamestop store at Quaker Bridge Mall on Route 1 on Saturday, Jan. 19, Ubry said. He said store management reported the crime to police at 2:06 p.m. that day after realizing the bills were fake. Detailed descriptions of the two men were not available.

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Theft

Sometime between 11 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 18, and 1 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 20, someone stole $198 worth of property, including a Garmin GPS unit, after smashing out the right front window of a vehicle parked in the lot on the Princeton Pike side of Lawrence Shopping Center, Ubry said. The vehicle’s owner, a Maryland resident, left the vehicle parked there while he was away on a bus trip.  

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Theft

A backup camera video screen worth $150 was stolen from a Lawrence Township Board of Education vehicle sometime between 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 18, and 2:40 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 21, while it was parked behind Lawrence Middle School in the 2400 block of Princeton Pike, Ubry said. He said the thief gained entry to the vehicle by breaking a window.

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Theft

A bag containing assorted property, including cosmetics and pajamas, was stolen from a vehicle between 3:15 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. while it was parked outside the Red Lobster in the 3200 block of Route 1 on Monday, Jan. 21, Ubry said. He said the  owner, a Hamilton woman who works at the restaurant, called police after a co-worker told her one of her vehicle’s  windows had been broken out.

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Theft

A GPS unit valued  at $150 was stolen from a vehicle while it was parked outside Colonial Bowling & Entertainment Center in the 2400 block of Brunswick Pike (Business Route 1) between 2:40 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 21, Ubry said, noting that the vehicle’s owner is a Lawrence Township resident.

Anyone with information about any of the above crimes is asked to call Lawrence Township police at (609) 896-1111.

A copy of Lawrence Township's police dispatch log for Wednesday, Jan. 16, through Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, can be viewed from the PDF box above. This log lists all significant calls for service and incidents for which officers filed a written report. Routine administrative assignments are omitted. Some data has been redacted to protect the identity of crime victims