2 Arrested In South Jersey Hardware Store Robbery: Police

A Camden County man and a Burlington County woman suspected of robbing a hardware store in Gloucester County were arrested in Cape May County last week, Cape May County Prosecutor Robert L. Taylor and Chief Anthony Marino of the Cape May City Police Department said.

Mantua police responded to a report of an armed robbery outside a Lowe’s store on Woodbury-Glassboro Road in Sewell on June 26. A credit card was stolen during the robbery. It was later used in Cape May City the same day. The suspects in this robbery were described as a Hispanic man and a white woman who were driving a white Ford Taurus.

The following day, the Cape May City Police Department received a report of a stolen 2016 Land Rover from the 400 block of Central Avenue in Cape May Point in what seemed to be an unrelated matter. Later that day, they received information that these two crimes may be related.

The stolen 2016 Land Rover from Cape May Point and the White Ford Taurus used in the Mantua robbery were recovered during a subsequent joint investigation by detectives from the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office and the Cape May City and Mantua police departments.

During a court-authorized search of the vehicles, items of evidentiary value were recovered from the white Ford Taurus, police said.

During the investigation, police also identified the two suspects in the Lowe’s robbery as 21-year-old William Baberick, of Haddon Heights, and 22-year-old Mercedes Stockton, of Willingboro. They were arrested in the 300 block of South Lake Drive in Cape May Point.

Baberick was charged with third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose; third-degree credit card theft; third-degree burglary; and third-degree theft. Baberick was processed and lodged within the Cape May County Correctional Center, pending court proceedings.

Additional charges are pending from the Mantua Police Department. The investigation is ongoing. Anyone who may have information concerning these crimes is asked to contact the Prosecutor’s Office at 609-465-1135, Cape May City Police Department at 609-884-9500, or anonymously through the Cape May County Sheriff’s Tip Line at cmcsheriff.net and click on anonymous tip, or through the Cape May County Crime Stoppers at 609-465-2800.

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