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In the end, Jaquiece Shadeer Smith left Garfield police investigating eight different front-porch package thefts with a single suspect.
To call the 35-year-old city resident “known to police” would be an understatement. Smith has a decade-long rap sheet, records show, and even was recently arrested for porch piracy in Hackensack.
Garfield Detectives Sebastian Tyburski and Arkadiusz Dudek interviewed eyewitnesses and gathered security video while investigating a spree that stretched from Nov. 18 to Dec. 30, Capt. Mario X. Pozo said.
In most of the thefts, the porch pirate drove a grey Honda Accord, Pozo said.
Then there was the jacket – black cotton varsity festooned with patches from various National Football League teams – as well as the yellow Nikes, the captain said.
And yes: He was wearing both during the Hackensack incidents, according to police.
Garfield Officers Joseph Yoler and Dane Lio were sitting on Smith’s MacArthur Avenue residence on Tuesday, Jan. 2, after their detectives secured an arrest warrant. He emerged – in the NFL logos jacket – and was headed toward the Honda when the officers grabbed him, Pozo said.
Police charged Smith with eight counts of theft and sent him to the Bergen County Jail to await a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.
He remained held there on Thursday.
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