Sprint Store Burglary Ends in Collingswood Car Crash

An early morning break-in at the Sprint PCS store in the Ellisburg Circle ended with a spectacular car crash in Collingswood Sept. 16, when some out-of-town thieves lost control of their getaway vehicle in an attempt to elude authorities.

A store alarm drew Cherry Hill police to the scene at some point between 3 and 4 a.m. When they arrived on the scene, they observed a trio of men hustling some $62,000 in cell phones into their van. The alleged burglars ignored orders to surrender themselves, and sped off.

“They were just finishing up and they bolted out of there,” said Cherry Hill Det. Sgt. Joseph Vitarelli.

A steeplechase ensued through two more towns, concluding only when the driver of the getaway car botched a left-hand turn onto Magill Avenue, striking struck a pedestrian crossing signal, then a large tree, and ending up in the bushes in front of a house on the White Horse Pike.

Undeterred, all three subjects fled the vehicle on foot, and were eventually apprehended “after a healthy foot pursuit and brief, physical struggle,” reported Collingswood Cpl. Tom Hartshaw.

Nathaniel A. Montgomery III, 37, and Lamarr Cotton, 27, of Markham, IL; and Shandray Soto, 24, of Union City, NJ, were charged with burglary, possession of burglary tools, theft, resisting arrest, and eluding police.

Each was remanded to the Camden County correctional facility on $116,000, full-cash bail. The proceeds of the burglary were recovered and returned.

Vitarelli said police have no idea how or why the alleged perpetrators ended up in Cherry Hill. On a hunch, he said it’s possibly as simple a question as a few phone calls to some incidental connections.

“Just like we have law enforcement networks, I believe they have networks,” he said.