Social media tips lead to theft arrests for Glouco men

New Jersey State Police are crediting their social media followers with helping investigators find the suspects wanted in scrap-metal and gun theft cases.

Police said three Gloucester County men have been arrested after tipsters identified them from surveillance photos posted on the department's Facebook and Twitter pages.

A camera captured the thieves taking scrap metal from a Pilesgrove Township property on Aug. 7. Images of the suspects were seen by more than 100,000 people on social media after the photos were posted on Aug. 15, police said, and investigators received a flood of tips.

Based on information from those tips, troopers took 24-year-old Joshua Figarola and 52-year-old Theodore Figarola, both of Williamstown, and 27-year-old Robert Mayers, of Mullica Hill, into custody this week.

Joshua and Theodore Figarola were also identified as suspects in a May 5 burglary in Monroe Township, in which a handgun and jewelry were stolen from a home, police said.

Joshua and Theodore Figarola are facing charges that include burglary, theft, unlawful possession of a weapon, and possession of hollow point ammunition.

Mayers has been charged with theft.