Wayne Police said on Tuesday, May 25th, 2021, at 4:27 a.m., Wayne Police Officers responded to a burglar alarm at Plains Pharmacy located in the Valley Ridge Shopping Center.
Upon arrival, they found the front glass door shattered and searched the interior.
No suspects were found at the scene. Detective Darren Williams responded and processed the crime scene.
Police said a nearby security video showed a possible suspect in the area on a bicycle. Pharmacy managers responded and determined that $14,200 worth of lottery scratch-off tickets were stolen.
According to police, on Wednesday, May 26th, at 3:44 a.m., Wayne Police Officer David Beltran was on patrol when he discovered that the glass front door of Plains Pharmacy had been smashed again and was being held open by a folding table.
Officer Beltran alerted other officers who responded and searched the area.
The interior of the pharmacy appeared ransacked and an interior office door had been forced open.
Police said Wayne Officers canvassing the area found lottery ticket boxes strewn along a fence behind Our Lady of the Valley Church.
According to police bicycle was found at the scene. Detective Williams processed the crime area again and recovered fingerprints which were later submitted for identification.
Pharmacy management determined that numerous containers of narcotics and prescription drugs, assorted other products, cash registers, additional lottery scratch-off tickets, cash and the delivery vehicle belonging to the pharmacy were stolen.
The total loss from that burglary exceeded $72,000.
Through investigation, a potential suspect was developed who was also being investigated by other agencies in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for similar crimes.
Police say on June 3rd, 2021, the Wayne Police Department was contacted by the Philadelphia Police Department and advised that they had recovered the stolen pharmacy delivery vehicle in their city while it was unoccupied.
Detective Darren Williams and Detective Sergeant Vincent Ricciardelli traveled to Philadelphia to process the stolen vehicle for evidence according to police.
In the vehicle, they recovered hair samples that were later submitted for DNA analysis.
A few weeks later, the Clifton Police Department apprehended the potential suspect from the Plains Pharmacy burglaries while he was committing a burglary in their city under similar circumstances.
The suspect was placed in Passaic County Jail following that arrest.
On July 6th, 2021, Detective Williams learned that the fingerprints recovered at Plains Pharmacy came back to the man arrested in Clifton, Joseph Holman, also known as Harry L. Gray, 41, of Passaic.
Police charged Mr. Holman was charged with Burglary (2 Counts), Theft (4 Counts) and Criminal Mischief (2 Counts) related to the Plains Pharmacy burglaries.
He was served with complaint warrants at Passaic County Jail as he awaits pending hearings.