Springfield Man Stole Bicycle, GPS, Cops Say

A Springfield man was arrested Saturday after it was determined that the bicycle he was riding and a GPS in his backpack had been stolen from residents on Cambridge Terrace, police said.

Andrew Nadel, 25, was charged with burglary, theft, the unlawful taking of a means of conveyance and receiving stolen property. He was sent to the Union County Jail in Elizabeth in lieu of $25,000 bail with an initial court appearance date set for Monday in the Union County Superior Court. He is also being held as a fugitive wanted by the Newark Police Department.


Shortly after 10 p.m., Officer John Patrick allegedly saw Nadel dressed in black, riding a bike near parked and unattended cars located in the rear of the General Green Shopping Center parking lot. Nadel was initially arrested on a warrant for his arrest issued by the Newark Municipal Court.

Following his arrest, police said a backpack Nadel was wearing contained a GPS unit which Nadel claimed was given to him by a friend to sell. Officers were able to identify the owner of the GPS unit as being a resident of Cambridge Terrace. When the resident was asked to check on their GPS unit, it was reported that their vehicle had been burglarized while parked in the driveway and the GPS unit had been stolen.

When Officer Anthony Reimer responded to the victim's residence to take a report on the burglary, another Cambridge Terrace resident approached him to report that a bicycle had been stolen within the past hour from their property. Police said that the bicycle Nadel had been riding when stopped by the officers was the same bicycle that had been stolen on Cambridge Terrace.

"It appears that this individual dressed in dark clothing in order to covertly walk about residential neighborhoods while looking for unlocked cars in driveways from which to steal anything of value," Chief John Cook said. "The bicycle was taken to ride around neighborhoods instead of walking and this too can later be sold."

"In this case items stolen from residents were able to be recovered and the suspect arrested due to good police work but residents are reminded that these types of thefts can be deterred by simply locking car doors overnight or by not leaving bicycles where they are visibly left unlocked and unattended."