By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
A 24-year-old man, who was initially charged with drug offenses after police responded to a call about a suspicious man on Brickhouse Road, has now been charged with breaking into two cars in the neighborhood, according to the Princeton Police Department.
Jonathan DeHart was charged with possession of less than 50 grams of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia after police were sent to Brickhouse Road to investigate a suspicious man who was sitting inside a parked car, shortly after 8 a.m. on March 13.
Mr. DeHart was subsequently charged with two counts of burglary and one count of theft for breaking into cars parked on Brickhouse Road. Police are looking into his involvement in additional car break-ins.
When officers arrived to investigate the “suspicious person” call, they found the car was unoccupied. Mr. DeHart, who lives on Brickhouse Road, was in the area of the car and police spoke to him. During the investigation, police discovered that Mr. DeHart had some marijuana and drug paraphernalia in his possession, and arrested him on the drug-related offenses.
While Mr. DeHart was at police headquarters, detectives interviewed him about his possible involvement in recent car break-ins in the area of Brickhouse Road. He implicated himself in two recent burglaries — one that occurred overnight between March 7 and March 8, and another one that occurred on March 9.
Mr. DeHart was charged with burglary and theft for entering a parked car on Brickhouse Road between 5:30 p.m. March 7 and 7:15 a.m. March 8. A Garmin GPS unit, a cell phone and two pairs of dress shoes were missing from the car. He was also charged with burglary for breaking into a car on March 9, but nothing was reported missing, police said.
Mr. DeHart also implicated himself in as many as 12 additional car burglaries that had not yet been reported — and that’s why police are asking anyone who was a victim of a car burglary in the Princeton area in recent weeks to call the Police Department.
Victims should call Detective Sergeant Chris Quaste at 609-921-2100, ext. 2120.
Mr. DeHart was released after posting $15,000 bail with the 10-percent option.
