200 Syringes Reported Stolen from Kings Highway in Haddonfield

A victim reported two boxes of syringes, with a count of 100 each, were stolen from a building in the 200 block of Kings Highway East last month.

The seemingly petty crime, reported on Sept. 18, could signal a larger problem with dangerous drugs sweeping through Camden County and the state. The Camden County Prosecutor's office announced this week that a particularly powerful supply of heroin sold in Camden had led to five overdose in a 24-hour period. None were fatal.

But a 16-year-old girl from Triton Regional High School in Runnemede wasn't so lucky. She died of a heroin overdose in mid-September, along with an 18-year-old male who was a former student at the school.

Heroin is often injected through a syringe.

Haddonfield police also reported two men recently charged with check fraud and shoplifting had syringes on them when caught.

In other police news, a Lindenwold man was arrested and charged with assaulting a 50-year-old borough woman on Kings Highway East near the Haddon Fortnightly. Police describe the man arrested, Edward Shaffer, as being in his late 20s. He was released with a court date.

The incident occurred on Saturday, Sept. 21 at 10:44 p.m. Police said they found the woman screaming in the street. The victim told a reporter she was getting out of her car to visit a friend and, out of no where, the man rushed up a driveway, punched her in the chest and knocked her to the ground. 

She said she started screaming and the man fled. Police say he fled in a dark sedan. The victim said she believed Shaffer was a guest at a wedding at the Haddon Fortnightly.