On October 27, 2010 at 11:25 a.m., Detective Richard Cocca responded to World Of Liquor located at 137 Chestnut Street to investigate a shoplifting caught on a security camera recording from the previous day, October 26, 2010.
A video surveillance recording of the crime showed a female suspect removing a bottle of Ciroc vodka from a shelf located near the rear of the store. She then went to a different shelf with Grey Goose vodka and placed the bottle (valued at $29.09) into her purse. During that same time frame, a male suspect in another aisle near the front of the store took a bottle of Remy Martin (valued at $79.99) and placed it in the inside pocket of his jacket. He was then seen going to another shelf where he took a bottle of Ciroc vodka (valued at $54.99) and again concealed the bottle in his jacket.
The male actor could then be seen approaching the check-out counter and talking to store employees as the female actor left the store.
An employee asked the male about the bottle of vodka in his jacket. The male walked back over to the area where he removed it from and placed only the one bottle of vodka back. He then left the store with the bottle of Remy Martin still inside his jacket.
The employee called the manager about the incident believing she disrupted a shoplifting. The manager reviewed the video and observed that a shoplifting actually did occur.
Examining the video of the suspects in action revealed that several bottles were touched by the actors. Detective Cocca was then able to retrieve the two bottles that were touched and taken for evidence and sealed in a box for preservation.
On November 12th, two bottles that were taken for evidence were dusted by Detective Cocca. He was able to retrieve two latent fingerprints from bottles and took them to the New Jersey State Police Fingerprint Evidence and Automated Fingerprint Identification System (A.F.I.S.) Unit in West Trenton, NJ. The following day, the A.F.I.S. Unit reported a match. The fingerprints came back belonging to a Hakiem Herring, age 28, of Linden, NJ. On December 3, 2010, further investigation revealed that Herring resided with a female identified as Adrianna Aragona, age 28.
The photographs of Herring and Aragona obtained closely matched in appearance the suspects caught on video. A check of the residence revealed that Herring and Aragona were currently incarcerated at Middlesex County Jail, arrested the day before on outstanding warrants.
An interview at the jail by Detective Cocca resulted in Aragona admitting that she was in Roselle Park with Hakiem Herring on October 26, 2010. She positively identified herself as the female in the video committing the shoplifting.
Hakiem Herring was then interviewed by Detective Cocca and admitted he was in Roselle Park with Aragona. He positively identified himself as the male in the video committing the shoplifting with Aragona.
On December 7, 2010, both parties were charged with 2C:20-11 (shoplifting). Both were issued summonses pending a Roselle Park Municipal Court date when they are released from Middlesex County Jail.