Collingswood Police Nab Alleged Air Conditioner Thieves

Three men who were allegedly targeting air conditioning units for scrap metal were apprehended in late May after a pair of incidents on the west side of Collingswood drew the attention of borough police. 

At 5:15 p.m. on May 19, police say a resident of the 700 block of Richey Ave saw two men tinkering with the air conditioner outside his neighbor’s house. 

Mistaking it for a repair job, the homeowner grew suspicious, police say, when he reportedly saw the men walking up the street, putting parts from the air conditioner into the back of a dark gray Honda. 

The next day, police were called to a residence in the 800 block of Colford Avenue, at 6:20 p.m., where they say a woman came home from work to discover a man apparently dismantling her outside air conditioner. 

She screamed and he ran off, said police, who apprehended the man running down the street, about five blocks away.

Police said that man was 27-year-old James T. Nelson of Oaklyn. Nelson told police that he had been driven to the area by Mullica Hill resident Michael J. Lare, 27, and that William J. Andujar, 41, of Whiting, NJ had driven him to the Richey Avenue residence the day earlier. 

Nelson was charged with third-degree criminal attempt theft, third-degree criminal mischief and possession of burglary tools; he was also wanted on a warrant from Brooklawn. 

Lare was charged with conspiracy to commit theft and theft.

Andujar was arrested two days later, when Collingswood Police located the Honda used in the May 19 incident at a nearby scrapyard, allegedly filled with air conditioner parts.

Police say Andujar admitted to his role in the thefts as well as to another in Gibbstown, in which he was also charged. He was charged with third-degree theft and third-degree criminal mischief in the Collingswood cases.

All three men are being lodged in the Camden County correctional facility on default of $7,500 bail apiece.