A burglary suspect chased down Galloway Township’s mayor is back in jail after allegedly robbing two Atlantic City stores — including one where he said he had a gun.
George Dean Jr. was first arrested last Wednesday, after he returned to Fred and Ethel’s in Smithville, where surveillance video allegedly shows him in a burglarizing the restaurant a day earlier in a jacket embroidered with “Loser.”
Mayor Tony Coppola chased Dean down, leading police to the suspect hiding in the woods off Route 9.
Dean, 31, of Port Rebublic, was charged in that burglary and one of a gas station about a week earlier.
He was taken to the Atlantic County Justice Facility on Wednesday, then released Thursday.
The next day, two businesses in Atlantic City were robbed. Dean is now charged with both.
Just before 10 a.m., patrol officers were called to Pete’s Convenience Store in the 2300 block of Atlantic Avenue for a reported robbery.
The suspect —now identified as Dean — entered the store with a large stick and demanded money, the store clerk told police. Dean they opened the cash register, took money from the drawer and fled.
Patrol officers were called to the Game Stop in the 1500 block of Atlantic Avenue at 7:49 p.m., where the same suspect approached the store clerk and gave him a note demanding money and indicating he was armed with a handgun, Sgt. Kevin Fair said.
It was not clear if a gun was seen.
After he got the money, the suspect fled.
An investigation by Street Crimes Unit detectives identified the suspect as Dean, who was criminally charged.
He was found Saturday at Missouri and Atlantic avenues by Detectives Roberto Matos and Joshua Schwenger, and taken into custody.
Dean is charged with two counts each of robbery, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and theft.
He is in the Atlantic County Justice Facility.
