May 16, 2016
A Delaware County fugitive was arrested Saturday night after police found him hiding in the attic of a townhome in South Jersey.
Michael Watson, 32, of the 2200 block of Blue Ball Road in Boothwyn, was taken into custody by officers in the Gloucester Township Police Department after it was discovered that he was wanted in three separate Pennsylvania jurisdictions on charges of larceny, aggravated assault and violating parole.
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Police gave the following account:
About 9:42 p.m. Saturday, Gloucester Township officers were dispatched to the La Cascata Townhomes in Clementon for a report of a stolen vehicle in the area. The vehicle allegedly had been stolen from Media, Delaware County, where a home was burglarized and keys to the vehicle were taken.
Police located the vehicle in the parking lot and found a resident, who told officers that a male friend inside her house had brought the vehicle to her residence.
After the woman and her two children had been moved from the home, officers entered and found the male hiding in the attic. An officer from the department's Crisis Negotiation Team spoke with a distraught Watson and eventually persuaded him to surrender.
Watson was taken into custody without incident, and there were no injuries to police or civilians on scene.
Watson was charged with being a fugitive from justice, and two counts of receiving stolen property and obstruction. He also faces multiple charges in Pennsylvania and is awaiting extradition at the Camden County Jail, police said.
