STAFFORD — What may have looked like the opening scene of a low-budget crime movie wrapped up quickly, with a suspected shoplifting “getaway” coming to an end not on the highway, but in another store parking lot within walking distance.
Stafford Township police said members of the department’s Drug Enforcement Unit were keeping an eye on activity at the Walmart on Route 72 West around 3 p.m. January 8 when detectives watched a woman tuck merchandise into a reusable bag. Investigators said she then tried to return an item she never purchased.
That plan fizzled when store employees declined the return, police said. The woman left the store without paying for the concealed items and headed to a waiting vehicle in the parking lot.
The escape, however, was brief.
Officers quickly located the vehicle a short distance away — stopped not during a dramatic chase, but in the Aldi parking lot next door — bringing the would-be getaway to an abrupt end, police said.
The woman, identified as Jacquelyn M. Best, 40, of Toms River, was accused of stealing about $210 worth of merchandise. She was charged with shoplifting and concealing merchandise, along with hindering, possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and failure to make a lawful disposition.
The driver was identified as William J. Andujar, 54, of Whiting. Police said a search of the vehicle turned up additional crack cocaine, leading to charges including shoplifting, conspiracy to commit shoplifting, drug possession, possession of paraphernalia and failure to make a lawful disposition.
Both suspects were processed at the Stafford Township Police Department and later transported to the Ocean County Jail.
All charges are accusations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
