12/21/2019 - BTPD Arrests Suspects from Recent Motor Vehicle Thefts & Kidnapping
BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP, NJ – At 1:01 AM on Saturday, December 21, 2019, officers from the Burlington Township Police Department arrested Nasilo Cade (18-year-old male from Willingboro, NJ) and Desirie Zapata (18-year-old female from Eastampton, NJ) for two counts of motor vehicle theft and one count of kidnapping.
These arrests were the result of two investigations that the Burlington Township Police Department has been conducting over the past several days. The first investigation began at 2:39 AM on December 16th when officers received a report of a silver F-150 pickup being stolen while it was left running in the parking lot of the Wawa convenience store located at 1814 Salem Road. The second investigation began at 7:11 PM on December 16th when officers received a report of a second stolen motor vehicle, this time at the Wawa store located at 2003 Mount Holly Road. In this incident, the suspects drove the initially stolen F-150 to the second Wawa, abandoned it, then stole a black Acura MDX that was left running in that parking lot. Additionally, a 5-year-old child was in the Acura at the time it was stolen, thus elevating the crime to a kidnapping. Fortunately, that child was located unharmed when the suspects later abandoned the Acura on a nearby side street.
During the course of their investigation, officers were able to obtain video surveillance that captured the two suspects responsible for these crimes. These surveillance images were distributed to all surrounding jurisdictions, the media, and the local community in an attempt to identify the suspects. Additionally, since investigators believed the suspects would attempt similar crimes again, BTPD officers conducted aggressive patrols around our convenience stores. This approach proved fruitful when, in the early morning hours of December 21st, officers located Cade and Zapata standing in front of the Wawa store located on Salem Road (the site of the initial theft). Officers recognized them from the surveillance images and further recognized that they both were wearing some of the same clothing that they wore during their crimes.
Cade and Zapata were arrested and transported to the Burlington Township Police station for processing. They were each charged with two counts of motor vehicle theft and one count of kidnapping, and they were ultimately remanded to the Burlington County Jail pending their initial appearance in court.