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Police dog stops burglar in Gloucester Township

A Williamstown man barked up the wrong tree Friday when, authorities said, he burglarized 10 cars in Gloucester Township, Camden County, then came face to snout with a determined police dog.

A Williamstown man barked up the wrong tree Friday when, authorities said, he burglarized 10 cars in Gloucester Township, Camden County, then came face to snout with a determined police dog.

Joseph A. McLaughlin, 40, of the 1800 block of the North Black Horse Pike, is accused of breaking into vehicles in the township's Cobblestone development shortly after 3 a.m. when a resident called police, authorities said.

Officers showed up with a police dog, which caught the burglar's scent from one of the cars, quickly located the fleeing suspect, and took him down, authorities said.

The man tried to run a second time, only to be again stopped by the dog, police said.

He threw punches at the K-9 and officers before being subdued, investigators said. No one was injured.

Police later determined that the suspect had arrived in a vehicle that had been reported stolen in Monroe Township.

McLaughlin was being held Saturday on charges of aggravated assault on a police officer, assault on a police dog, resisting arrest, 10 counts of burglary from a vehicle, and receiving stolen property.