Freehold Man Nabbed On Spot After Stealing Bag From Car: Police

BRICK, NJ — A Freehold man has been charged with burglary after police officers working undercover saw him steal a bag out of an unlocked car in the Walmart parking lot, Brick Township police said Friday.

James G. Bellas, 29, of Freehold, was arrested Thursday evening, Brick Sgt. Neal Pedersen said.

Sgt. Erik Olsen, Patrolman Ryan Talty and Patrolman Dominic Puccio were working undercover in the Selective Enforcement Team and conducting an area check of the Walmart at 1872 Route 88 when Puccio saw a white male with a ponytail pushing a shopping cart full of white plastic bags through the parking lot, Pedersen said. The man was looking to his left and right, and it appeared he was nervous, Puccio said.

Puccio then saw the man, later identified as Bellas, approach a black Toyota Corolla on the passenger side, open the passenger door, and remove a black bag. Bellas put the bag in the shopping cart and then started running through the parking lot toward the Route 88 side of Walmart, where he put the items in the cart into a a silver Nissan. Bellas then got into the driver's seat and began to look through the bags, Pedersen said.

At that point, Puccio approached Bellas’s car and identified himself as a Brick police officer and with Talty as backup, asked about Bellas going into the black Toyota. The officers were able to recover the bag and taken from the Toyota and locate its owner, who confirmed it was stolen from the unlocked vehicle, he said.

In addition to the bag taken from the Toyota, the officers found several items totalling $34.40 that were stolen from Walmart, a small amount of marijuana, and several unlawful fireworks, Pedersen said.

Bellas is charged with burglary, theft, shoplifting, four counts of possession of CDS, a count of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of fireworks. He also was issued a motor vehicle summons for CDS in a motor vehicle, Pedersen said.

Bellas was being held at the Ocean County Jail, Toms River, awaiting a detention hearing.

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James G. Bellas photo via the Ocean County Corrections website