Two men from New Jersey are facing charges following an incident on Sunday afternoon at the Target store in Montgomery Township.
Police were dispatched to the store, located along the 100 block of Witchwood Drive at 2 p.m. for a report of a suspicious male in the store. Asset protection personnel told police that the suspicious male was in the store walking near the electronics section, and the same male had been captured on surveillance stealing an IPad Pro from Target in Royersford earlier that day, police said.
As police were outside of the store, the suspicious male — identified as 23-year-old Steven Morris, of Union, NJ — attempted to steal another iPad Pro from the Montgomery Township Target, however a store employee would not let go of the merchandise and Morris ran out of the store empty handed, according to the criminal complaint.
Police said they observed Morris running from the store and entering a tan Honda CRV — the same vehicle that was captured on surveillance during the theft from the Royersford store — at which point they initiated a traffic stop in the parking lot. Morris and the driver of the vehicle — identified as Joseph Valentim-Dixon, of Newark, NJ — were asked to step out of the vehicle, at which point police observed a new and unopened iPad Pro in plain view on the rear seat of the vehicle, according to the criminal complaint.
After receiving consent to search the vehicle, police recovered nearly a pound of marijuana — some of which had been packaged for individual sale — along with a digital scale, drug paraphernalia and a dozen new and unused gift cards from Morris’ jacket pocket, the report states. Police also said Morris provided false identification, and it was later learned Morris had outstanding arrest warrants in multiple jurisdictions for similar thefts, according to the complaint.
Both Morris and Valentim-Dixon were taken into custody at 2:29 p.m.
As a result of the incident, both men have been charged with felony counts of possession with intent to distribute and receiving stolen property, along with misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Morris was also charged with a misdemeanor count of providing false identification to law enforcement.
Both men were arraigned on Dec. 12 by District Judge Andrea Duffy, who set bail at $10,000 cash for Morris and Valentim-Dixon. Both men were remanded to county jail after failing to post bail, and they have a join preliminary hearing scheduled for Dec. 21 at 2:15 p.m. in front of Judge Duffy.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause.
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