Jersey City municipal court employee is charged with stealing cellphone after police watch surveillance video

Saturday, April 16, 2011

A Jersey City municipal court employee snatched a cellphone from a courthouse bench Wednesday and has been charged with theft, Jersey City police said.

Joselyn Pascua, 43, who works in the data entry department, was seen on a surveillance camera taking the phone - valued at $600 - from the bench at 1 p.m., reports said. The phone had been left there by a court officer who returned a short time later and found it was no longer there, cops said.

Police watched the surveillance video and an announcement was made twice, asking anyone in data entry if a cellphone had been found, cops said, adding that Pascua remained silent each time.

Police then arrested Pascua, who has worked at the courthouse for three years, and found the stolen cellphone in a coat in a bag inside her desk drawer, reports said.

Pascua has been suspended without pay from her $30,000-a-year job, said Jersey City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill, who added that Pascua filed records in the data entry department and did not deal directly with the public.

RON ZEITLINGER