Thanks to a sharp-eyed Episcopal priest, Haddonfield police have arrested and charged a pair of suspected copper thieves.
"Don't mess with a priest," the Rev. Patrick Close of Grace Church on Kings Highway posted on his Facebook page Tuesday.
Close saw two young men the previous day in an area of the church grounds not open to the public and went out to question them, he reported.
They departed, but when he left that night, Close noticed the rectory's copper downspouts were gone.
He filed a police report, including a detailed description of the men, on Tuesday morning, and, by afternoon, officers returned to report they had made the arrests.
"Wow! Almost as fast as NCIS!" Close wrote.
Police Lt. Ed Wiley said borough detectives traced the men to Camden and one admitted the theft.
Anthony Marchione Jr., 34, who is homeless, and Patrick Duross-Malloy, 27, of Blackwood, were charged with theft and criminal mischief, Wiley said.
Marchione was jailed in Camden County with bail set at $1,000 bail. Duross-Malloy was turned over to Gloucester County for outstanding warrants there.
Wiley credited Close's descriptions of the men with helping to break the case. "We got great information from Father Pat," he said.
The pair are not believed to have been responsible for other copper thefts in the borough, he said.
Contact Joseph Gambardello at 610-761-8404 or jgambardello@phillynews.com.
