Police: Neighbor's Vigilance Nets Burglary Arrest

Police say a resident's vigilance helped them quickly arrest a man now accused of breaking into a Blackwood home and stealing roughly $2,000 worth of jewelry last week.

The suspect has also been charged in connection with a residential burglary in the same neighborhood, where he also lives, in April.

Shortly before 3 p.m. last Thursday, police received a report of suspicious activity on Juniper Court, in the Foxboro subdivision, according to Gloucester Township Police Deputy Chief David Harkins.

The caller reported they saw a suspicious male in their neighbors' backyard.

Police who responded to the Juniper Court home found it had been burglarized.

They also found 18-year-old Gerald Weldon, of Cherry Circle, about two blocks away from the victims' home. Weldon fit the description of the suspicious male as provided by the caller, Harkins said, and a shoeprint found at the crime scene matched his shoes.

Police located rings, bracelets and other types of jewelry along a fence near Coles Road. The recovered jewelry was returned to a victim after it was identified, Harkins said.

Weldon was charged with burglary and theft in connection with Thursday's burglary.

He was also charged with burglary in connection with the April burglary on his home street, Harkins said, then lodged in Camden County Jail on $25,000 bail.