Barnegat Police Nab Suspect Following Facebook Post

A 26-year-old Toms River man has been charged with theft and subsequent use of a debit card after officials with the Barnegat Police Department posted a video of the suspect on their Facebook page, and the man was identified.

On January 29 at approximately 2 p.m., Detective William Hetrick arrested Delovi Canales, Jr., after he allegedly took a wallet from the parking lot of the Forked River House in Lacey Township on January 18th. Canales then allegedly used a debit card from the stolen wallet at the Wawa located on Route 9 in Barnegat later that night.

Detective Hetrick was able to obtain pictures of the suspect from video surveillance footage recorded at the store. Several of the pictures of the suspect were posted on the Barnegat Police Facebook page at 3:30 p.m. on January 24th.

Within two hours of the post, one of Barnegat police's 2,000 Facebook fans identified the suspect in the photo as Canales Jr. and contacted the department through its Facebook page.

Canales Jr. was contacted by Detective Hetrick and turned himself in at the Barnegat Police station on January 29th, where he was charged with 3rd degree computer criminal activity for illegally using the debit card in Barnegat Township. He was processed and released on his own recognizance pending a court date.

This marks the third time that the Barnegat Police Department has sought the assistance of the public in identifying a suspect through its Facebook page, police officials said in a statement. In all three instances, fans of the page contacted the police department and identified the suspects within 24 hours of the initial post.