Stolen Motorcycle Suspect Caught After Chase

A 19-year-old Camden man was charged on Nov. 14 with possession of stolen property and other offenses after he was allegedly seen riding a stolen motorcycle on Mount Ephraim Avenue by a Haddon Township police officer.

The man initially identified himself as Alex Mendez of 2900 block of Washington Ave. in Camden, but was later identified as Jorge Rodriguez of the same address. He was charged with receiving stolen property, resisting arrest and hindering apprehension. Another man, who was riding on the back of the motorcycle when police initially spotted the pair, escaped on foot after an altercation with police.

Rodriguez was caught behind the Pathmark supermarket on Mount Ephraim Avenue in Camden after a brief, foot chase. The other man, who Rodriguez told police he barely knew, escaped on foot after wrestling away from an officer in a nearby laundromat. He was last seen near Olympia and and N. Atlantic Road.

That suspect was spotted at the laundromat after the officer called in the plates for the bike. He did that when he first noticed the pair riding the bike with no helmets on Mount Ephraim Avenue. The officer circled the block when he received information the motorcycle had been reported stolen out of Lawnside. That's when he found the suspect who escaped.

Rodriguez was caught nearby during a search a short time later. He told police he didn't know the motorcycle was stolen and he thought his passenger, the man who escaped, owned the bike.

The Yamaha Majesty, valued at $4,000, was impounded.

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