BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP — A young man and woman are accused of stealing two idling vehicles parked outside separate Wawa stores, hours apart and one of them with a young child inside.

Burlington Township police said they responded to the first reported theft on Dec. 16 around 2:30 a.m. of a Ford F-150 pickup truck left with its motor running in the parking lot of the Wawa on Salem Road.

Hours later, the stolen truck was found abandoned at a different Wawa in the township, located on Mount Holly Road, where an Acura MDX also left with its engine running had been stolen, according to Burlington police. The idling car had a five-year-old child alone inside at the time it was taken, police also said.

The Acura was recovered on a nearby side street with the child inside unharmed, police said.

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Police said using video surveillance images and stepped up patrols around township convenience stores, they arrested the duo when they returned to the Wawa on Salem Road a week later, on Saturday around 1 a.m., wearing some of the same clothes as the initial theft.

Nasilo Cade, 18, from Willingboro and 19-year-old Desirie Zapata, of Eastampton, were each charged with two counts of motor vehicle theft and one count of kidnapping, according to police. They both are being held at the Burlington County Jail pending a first court appearance.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ

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