Philadelphia pair targeted Panera Bread customers, police say
By: Courtney Gross
Two members of an identity theft ring out of Philadelphia were apprehended at Panera Bread on Nassau Street on Dec. 22 following a month-long investigation into several incidents at the eatery.
Since Nov. 10, the Princeton Borough Police Department received approximately 10 complaints of theft that occurred while customers were eating at the restaurant, said Lt. Nicholas Sutter.
The individuals charged last week, Dawn Tamika Johnson, 34, and Noel Davis, 39, both of Philadelphia, were apprehended during a theft attempt in Panera Bread just after noon Dec. 22, police said.
According to police, the women would make small purchases and wait until customers were distracted. They then removed credit cards from the customers’ wallets or purses and immediately used the cards to make purchases in the Princeton area, Lt. Sutter said.
The lieutenant said some customers may not be aware they were theft victims because the two did not remove the entire wallet or purse during the "regular" robberies.
Following the arrests, stolen credit cards and identification from residents of the Princeton and Philadelphia area were found in the women’s possession, police said. They also were in possession of stolen merchandise, including electronic equipment, and items purchased with the stolen credit cards, the lieutenant said.
Lt. Sutter could not estimate the value of the purchases made by Ms. Johnson or Ms. Davis, because the department is still compiling information.
In addition to the Princeton charges, Ms. Johnson had several outstanding warrants from Camden County for robbery and other related offenses, and Ms. Davis had outstanding warrants from the Philadelphia FBI for numerous crimes, police said.
Ms. Johnson was charged with six counts of receiving stolen property, six counts of credit card theft, one count of criminal attempt of credit card theft, three counts of unauthorized use of a credit card and three counts of forgery.
Ms. Davis was charged with two counts of receiving stolen property, three counts of complicity to the unauthorized use of a credit card, two counts of credit card theft, one count of criminal attempt at credit card theft and one count of complicity to credit card theft.
Both women were transported to the Mercer County Detention Center and Ms. Johnson was held in lieu of $30,000 bail and Ms. Davis was held on $60,000 bail.
Princeton Borough has been recently "plagued" with these crimes, but identity theft’s increasing frequency is not just local, Lt. Sutter said.
"It’s increasing everywhere," Lt. Sutter said, but "we’ve been proactively looking for it."
A manager at Panera Bread declined to comment.

