Charges Issued Against Suspect

Police have released the name of a suspect wanted in connection with a pair of south Jersey carjackings.

The first carjacking involved a 50-year-old Woodbury Heights woman who said that she was approached Sunday in the parking lot of the Acme store on Route 45 in Woodbury. She said he took her credit cards, $50 and a ring from her.

The second carjacking took place in the parking lot of the Shop Rite in West Deptford. Just down Route 45, a surveillance camera at a WaWa store caught a picture of a man who police believe used the victim's stolen ATM card.

After reviewing the tape, a detective in Vineland, N.J., who had been following the carjacking case, saw the picture on television and realized that he had arrested the man once before. He identified the man Joseph Simmons, 28, of Camden, N.J.

The detective contacted the West Deptford police department and they created a lineup for the victim of the second carjacking, Tanya Exter. She identified Simmons as the man who kidnapped her and her 10-month-old daughter.

Simmons faces a long list of charges including carjacking, robbery and making terroristic threats. A woman seen in the surveillance pictures has not been charged, but police still want to talk to her.

Simmons is not in custody, but in New Jersey police can file charges before the suspect is arrested. Bail has been set at $75,000 full cash.

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