By Karen Zautyk
Observer Correspondent
KEARNY –
The Walmart in Kearny is conveniently located on Harrison Ave., with easy access to Rt. 280, the N.J. Turnpike and feeder roads to Newark and Jersey City. This is a boon for shoppers. However, according to Kearny police, it is also a boon for shoplifters who can make a fast getaway.
Regular readers of the Kearny police blotter are aware that rarely a week goes by without at least one shoplifting incident at the store. On Friday, KPD Chief John Dowie told The Observer that, in 2013, his officers had responded to Walmart 300 times.
“We are already approaching 400 responses this year — with the best of the year [holiday shopping time] yet to come,” he said. “This amounts to least one a day.”
As of Oct. 13, Dowie noted, the KPD had made 113 arrests at the store, and many of those taken into custody “are not your stereotypical shoplifters.”
“They come with a lot more baggage,” he said, noting, for example, the number who have outstanding warrants from other jurisdictions.
The reported statistics are in no way intended to reflect badly on Walmart security; it is store security personnel who initially spot and detain — or attempt to detain — the suspects. But security has no arrest powers. And each incident takes Kearny officers off the road, sometimes for hours as they process arrestees and deal with required paperwork.
Last week was apparently a particularly busy one, so we are running a separate shoplifter “blotter.” As reported by Dowie the incidents included the following:
On Oct. 14, at 6:30 p.m., Officer Luis Moran responded to Walmart where security had detained Danny Morales, 36, of Newark, who allegedly had attempting to conceal numerous cans of Enfamil baby formula, worth a total of $80. Morales was charged with shoplifting. If all that sounds familiar, it’s because last week’s KPD blotter reported Morales’ Oct. 2 arrest, on a charge of shoplifting $88 worth of Enfamil from Walmart.
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On Oct. 16, at 3:30 p.m., Officers Chris Levchak and Jose Resua responded to Walmart where security had in custody Brianna Young, 19, of Newark, who was charged with stealing $128 worth of merchandise. She was processed at HQ and released.
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That same day, at 4:10 p.m., Levchak and Resua returned to the store on a report of two shoplifters. One of the suspects, Ashley Crenshaw, 23, of Orange, was arrested for allegedly attempting to steal merchandise valued at $229.
Police said the second suspect, Crenshaw’s alleged cohort Jasmine Moore, 24, of Newark, tried to intercede, refused to heed Levchak’s warnings to cease and desist, became hostile and profane and demanded to see the security video.
When Levchak tried to arrest Moore, a struggle ensued and she punched the officer in the head, police said. Cuffed by both cops and escorted from the store, she allegedly kicked and dented the squad car door.
Moore was booked for shoplifting, aggravated assault, criminal mischief and resisting arrest. Police said she also had two outstanding warrants, from East Orange and Long Hill Township.
Video of her conduct in the store parking lot has been recovered and entered into evidence.
