Man held on theft, burglary charges

A man suspected in the theft of a $6,000 engagement ring and other items in Woodbridge is facing multiple criminal charges after police caught him leaving the scene of a burglary in Plainfield three days later, authorities said this week.

Thomas Deschaine, 23, of the Avenel section of Woodbridge is facing charges of burglary, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a hypodermic needle cannula in connection with the drug incident, said Plainfield Police Detective Leslie Hudson, who is investigating the case. Bail for Deschaine was set at $25,000; he was lodged in Union County Jail earlier this week, but on Wednesday was awaiting transfer back to Plainfield to be booked on an additional charge of credit-card theft filed in connection with the earlier incident, authorities said.
A Woodbridge police officer last Thursday was dispatched to the Verizon Wireless store at Woodbridge Center Mall on a report of theft. The officer met a 27-year-old Piscataway woman, an employee of the store, who said someone had taken several items from her purse the day before, according to a police report.


The woman said she had placed her purse in her unlocked employee locker at the start of her shift, but after work noticed that her BlackBerry cellphone had been moved from one pocket to another, the report indicated. The victim initially didn’t think anything of it, but the next day she found that her debit card, her engagement ring, a white gold necklace and her Verizon employee Android Incredible cell phone all were missing from the purse, according to the report.


An investigation revealed that a four-person construction crew was working in the store’s locker area at the time of the alleged theft, but all four workers — Deschaine being among them — denied involvement, authorities said. Deschaine and another worker also claimed to have seen a Verizon cleaning employee in the area sometime that night, the report indicated.


No charges were filed then, but Plainfield police responding to an alarm on the 1200 block of Thornton Avenue a little after 7:30 p.m. on Saturday found that a home had been broken into and a television taken, authorities said.