METUCHEN – The use of store security video and a navigation tracker led to charges against a 22-year-old Newark man after he allegedly drove off with someone else’s car left running outside the 7-Eleven on Route 27, according to police.
Police charged the man with theft, receiving stolen property and possession of drug paraphernalia at 9 p.m. on Oct. 13.
The incident occurred earlier in the evening at 7:50 p.m. The owner of a black Honda Civic told Edison Police Officer Neel Patel he had left his keys in the ignition while he went into the 7-Eleven. His car was gone when he left the store 10 minutes later, police said.
Using the convenience store’s security video and a tracker on the victim’s vehicle, police found the Civic about a half-mile away in the Walmart Supercenter’s parking lot off Route 27 and Vineyard Road, police said.
Officers noticed a man who fit the suspect’s description from the store’s video walking nearby and took him into custody, police said.