Alleged Amazon Package Thief Caught, Cops Say

A West Orange man was arrested last week after allegedly snatching an Amazon package off a Montclair resident’s property, according to township police.

Norvin G. Gabriel Jr., 30, was walking in the area of Stonebridge Road and Wayside place last Tuesday evening when police responded to a call concerning a suspicious person in the area, according to Montclair police.

Cops stopped Gabriel, who was carrying a new package containing a shop vac extension. The man then told officers that he found the package while walking from a restaurant in Montclair, according to police.

Township police said they “checked out” Gabriel and then let him go on his way. 

Officers kept investigating, however, and a resident ID’d Gabriel by his clothing, according to police, then found “discarded mail packaging from a parcel shipped from Amazon.” 

Cops found a shipping label and spoke with the nearby resident to whom it was addressed. 

The resident told cops that they had expected a shop vac extension purchased from Amazon to delivered that day. Police confirmed the purchase with Amazon and drew up theft and criminal trespass charges for Gabriel.

Montclair police didn’t have to search very long for the alleged thief.

On Wednesday, Feb. 19, Gabriel “walked into Montclair Police Hq. wanting to speak with a supervisor regarding officers stopping him the night prior. At that time Mr. Gabriel was identified as the man who was stopped and in possession of the shop vac package and placed under arrest,” cops wrote in a release.