14 Car Burglaries, Thefts Reported On Saturday To Chester Police

CHESTER, NJ — The Chester Police Department is reminding all residents to lock up their cars - taking out keys and valuable items after they do - especially after 14 different calls were made to the department about car burglaries and thefts, early this past Saturday morning.

Those calls involved two stolen vehicles reported, a total of 19 cars residents say were broken into and one car located in a driveway in the same neighborhood, that had previously been taken from Montville.

Police are also asking residents who may have had video footage of the activity in the Dogwood Acres section of Chester from Saturday morning between 3 to 4 a.m. especially, to call the department’s non-emergency number at 908-879-5514.

“It is known that professional, gang-related car theft rings are targeting Morris County for the purpose of stealing motor vehicles, regardless of the type of vehicle or time of day,” Police told residents in a news release on their social media.

Residents who see suspicious activity in their neighborhood, are urged to call 911.

Chester Police reported the first call came in at about 3:45 a.m. on Saturday morning from the Dogwood Acres neighborhood, from a resident who told police that two of their cars had been stolen and then two had been broken into. Both of the cars taken still had their keys in them, with their doors unlocked. The other two cars left behind, also unlocked, “were rummaged through,” the department said in their news release.

After alerting other departments about the missing cars, Chester Police said one of them, a 2021 Chevrolet Silverado, turned up quickly in Newark, with the second car - a 2017 Honda Accord - found there later in the day on Saturday.

After 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, the department received the remaining calls from Dogwood Acres, all similar car burglary and theft complaints. In the second round of calls, police say a 2014 Ford Fusion was taken from a Dogwood Drive driveway, with 17 other unlocked cars burglarized.

During the course of the investigation on Saturday, which also involved Morris County Sheriff’s Crime Scene Unit, police say they located a Lexus RX3 that was missing in Montville, left behind in someone’s driveway on Cramer Drive.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.