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The crime took place on August 19, 2022, after the victim visited a jewelry store in Iselin, South Brunswick police said.
After leaving the store and traveling Route 27 the victim stopped at a pharmacy. Investigators believe two males inserted a tire-deflation device into the tire of the victim’s vehicle. The victim stopped in the parking lot of Dusal’s Italian Restaurant on Route 27 in Kendall Park to see why their tire was going flat.
When the victim pulled over two males approached the victim under the guise of being “good Samaritans”, and offered to help with the tire. While one of the males feigned assistance, the other male went into the victim’s vehicle and stole a bag containing over $18,000 in jewelry from the passenger compartment.
Officer Brooke LaBell and Detective Monica Posteraro conducted the investigation and recovered video from the parking lot of Dusal’s Italian Restaurant, police said. The video gave clear images of the suspects as well as the vehicle they were using, police said.
LaBell and Posteraro worked with several other law enforcement agencies in tracking down the pattern of “follow-out tire deflation thefts."
After nearly five months LaBell developed enough evidence to charge Cristher Calderon-Losada, a 45-year-old male from Jackson Heights, NY, and Dario Jimenez-Castaneda, a 44-year-old male from Wantagh, NY with burglary and theft charges.
South Brunswick Police Chief Raymond Hayducka credited a team approach to solving this theft. “These victims had no idea the good Samaritan coming to assist was actually the criminal," the chief said.
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