A 21-year-old Pleasantville man has been sentenced to three years in state prison after pleading guilty to two burglary incidents in Absecon and Galloway Township, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office announced.
Laqua Tucker was sentenced on Thursday, July 3, by Superior Court Judge Joseph Levin on two counts of third-degree burglary. The sentences will run concurrently.
The first incident occurred on January 2, 2024, when Absecon Police responded to a break-in at the Sun Petro gas station. Officers found the glass door shattered and blood left behind at the scene. The blood was submitted for DNA analysis.
On May 30, 2024, Galloway Township Police responded to a burglary at the Tobacco Outlet, where the front door had also been shattered and the cash registers were found open. Investigators recovered fingerprints from the scene and matched them to Tucker. Surveillance video captured him breaking the glass with a rock and metal pole.
Tucker was later arrested, and a DNA test confirmed his identity as the suspect in the earlier January break-in.
A Pleasantville man was sentenced to three years in prison after DNA and surveillance linked him to two Atlantic County burglaries, authorities said.