Suffolk police on Monday arrested and charged a Hempstead man with stealing $40,000 worth of jewelry and electronics from three Walmart stores in the county since September.
Police say 34-year-old Jonathan Sunderland used a special tool to open locked displays at Walmart stores in Centereach, Islandia and Yafunk.
Sunderland has been charged with three counts of grand theft in the third degree. Police said he allegedly stole $16,000 worth of jewelry from Veterans’ Islandia Walmart on his Memorial Highway on September 26, according to police.
Police said Sunderland stole more than $25,000 worth of jewelry from the Centereach store on Middle Country Road on November 6, and stole more than $3,000 worth of electronic equipment from a store on Boulevard East, Yafunk on November 10. was allegedly stolen.
Suffolk police detectives learned that Sunderland was being held in Boonton Township, New Jersey, on similar charges. Suffolk Police Fugitive Squad detectives took Sunderland into custody at Morris County Jail in New Jersey on Monday.
He is scheduled to be arraigned in the First District Court in Central Islip on Tuesday.
John Asbury is a breaking news and general duty reporter. He has been with Newsday since his 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
