Newark man was arrested while paying a fine for an unrelated theft charge at the Bloomfield police station, authorities said. Watch video
BLOOMFIELD -- A Newark man is facing theft charges after police say he was caught on camera stealing a package from a residential mailbox.
A Floyd Avenue resident reported the Monday afternoon theft, and handed a surveillance video over to police, showing a man walking up to her home's mailbox and removing a package, police said.
Brown was arrested while paying a fine for an unrelated theft charge at the Bloomfield police station, authorities said. (Courtesy Bloomfield Police)Jerome Brown, 50, was arrested this week while he was inside the Bloomfield police station paying a fine for an unrelated 2014 theft he committed in the township, police said in a release Thursday. Detectives investigating the alleged mailbox theft recognized Brown as the man in the video and arrested him, authorities said.
Brown was apparently wearing the same clothing in the police station as he was wearing in the video, police said. The contents of the package were worth $85, they said.
Brown has a history of 27 arrests in Bloomfield and Newark, authorities said.
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Bloomfield Police Director Samuel DeMaio commended the detectives on the investigation, and credited the video with helping catch Brown.
"Without the video surveillance of the homeowner this arrest does not get made," DeMaio said in a statement.
"Video footage from private businesses and residences are proving to be more and more valuable to criminal investigations every day. The age of technology is being fully embraced by law enforcement."
Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
