Ambler CVS (Image courtesy of Google StreetView)
The man was also wanted for a Plymouth Township Home Depot theft, police say.
Ambler police recently utilized department connections, surveillance footage, and a face tattoo to arrest a man wanted for retail theft in two different municipalities in the area.
On Nov. 6, around 10:09 a.m., Ambler Borough Police were called to the CVS Pharmacy located at 272 E. Butler Ave. in the borough for a report of retail theft. Upon arrival to the scene, police were told by the store’s manager that a black male, wearing a jean jacket and dark pants, stole a “bunch of Mucinex” from the store, according to the police criminal complaint. The manager told police the man put the items in a bag and left the store without paying.
Police were able to investigate in-store video surveillance from the incident, and it showed a man entering the store around 9:15 a.m., police said. The man proceeded to the Mucinex aisle of the store, where an employee was stocking shelves at the end of an aisle. According to the complaint, the employee asked the man several times if he needed any assistance, but he declined the offer and continued to look at Mucinex products.
Police said that the man is seen on camera leaving and returning to the same aisle. Upon return, he began “moving security tags based on the managers’ observations,” police said. The employee did leave the area for a short time, and the man then removes “numerous boxes of Mucinex from the shelf” and places them in a red Target bag, he’d brought with him, leaving the store without paying, police said.
In total, the man removed $915.28 worth of merchandise, which encompassed 32 different cold relief products.
Branden Lamar Gordon, 33, of the 7000 block of Glenloch St., in Philadelphia, was later identified as the man after Ambler police reached out to other local departments. Combined with footage from outside the CVS, which showed Gordon driving a Nissan Maxima, police were able to find the identity of the man as a detective from Plymouth Township Police had said he’d had a case with similar stealing, said the complaint.
The Plymouth detective said that his suspect had a tattoo on the left side of his head, between his left eye and hairline. Ambler police were able to confirm that the wanted man from the CVS incident had the same facial markings.
Gordon was charged with felony grade retail theft by the taking of merchandise, receiving stolen property, and retail theft by the destroying of inventory-control tagging.
Gordon is schedule for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 10 at 11 a.m. before Magisterial District Judge Douglas H. Lavenberg on the charges stemming from the Ambler police.
Additionally, Gordon is facing felony charges of retail theft by the taking of merchandise, as well as receiving stolen property, for an incident that took place on Oct. 29, 2024. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 17 at 1 p.m. before Magisterial District Judge Jodi L. Griffis, stemming from these charges. According to the complaint, this theft occurred at the Home Depot in Plymouth Township, police said.
Gordon was placed in county jail on Nov. 21, unable to pay his $77 cash bail, but according to court documents, that cash bail was paid by Douglas D. Gordon III of Philadelphia, on Nov. 27, allowing his release.
