Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato and Lakehurst Police Chief Eric Higgins today announced the arrest of Christopher Dupont, 22, of Lakehurst.
The arrest stems from an investigation by Lakehurst Police Ptl. Jason Guide and Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crimes Unit (HTCU) Det. Ray Coles into the Jan. 20th report of an armed robbery that occurred near the Pinehurst Estates Apartments in Lakehurst Township.
The victim, a 45-year-old male from Ocean Township, reported that he believed he would be meeting up with a man named “Ron Shafto” to purchase an Apple iPhone that was listed for sale via the mobile app “Letgo”.
The app is a classifieds application, which allows local users to chat, buy, sell, and trade used goods. However, instead of selling a phone, the suspect, later identified as Dupont, allegedly entered the victim’s vehicle, pulled a grey switchblade on him, and demanded the victim’s money, wallet, and car keys before fleeing on foot.
Lakehurst Police immediately conducted an area search for the suspect but he was not located.
Further investigation determine that Dupont took covert measures to hide his identity by utilizing a fake name and email address to register his Letgo account. Det. Coles was able to obtain Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that were utilized to access Letgo and subsequently tracked them back to Dupont.
Due to Dupont’s previous violent criminal history, as well as, the fact that Dupont was out on bail for previous Attempted Kidnapping/Robbery charges, a NO KNOCK Warrant was obtained to enter his residence on Feb. 1st.
The warrant was executed and Dupont was taken into custody without incident. An examination of Dupont’s cellphone conducted by the OCPO HTCU yielded additional evidence which linked him to the Letgo account. Dupont was placed in the Ocean County Jail pending mandatory detention hearing tentatively scheduled for Feb. 7th.
The public is reminded that criminal charges are merely accusations and that the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.