DNREC Parks & Recreation Natural Resources Police Park Rangers arrest Wilmington woman in ‘smash-and-grab’ incident at Bellevue State Park

WILMINGTON – DNREC Parks & Recreation Natural Resources Police Park Rangers arrested a Wilmington woman Monday evening in connection with a “smash-and-grab” incident that occurred earlier in the day in Bellevue State Park.

Photo of Yolanda Bowden
Yolanda Bowden

Yolanda Bowden, 32, was arrested on an assortment of charges that included six felonies and four misdemeanors related to the incident. Charges included burglary third degree; possession of burglary tools; forgery second-degree; unlawful use of a credit card; criminal mischief; theft, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Bowden was committed to Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution in Wilmington for lack of $12,600 secured bond. She was also wanted on outstanding charges in Delaware related to shoplifting, and had outstanding warrants from Whitpain Township, Pa. on similar offenses.

Natural Resource Police Park Rangers were called to the main parking lot of Bellevue State Park in midafternoon Monday to investigate a vehicle break-in, with the victim telling Rangers that valuables, including credit cards, had been stolen. The victim’s credit card companies reported that new purchases had been made at various stores in the Philadelphia Pike area. Natural Resource Police Park Rangers viewed surveillance video at several of the stores, and linked a vehicle in several videos to a woman making the purchases reported to the victim by the credit card companies.

Later the same day, a family member of the theft victim identified the described vehicle in the parking lot of the Home Depot store off Miller Road in Wilmington. Natural Resources Police Park Rangers and the Delaware State Police waited for the driver to get back into the vehicle, at which time they identified the driver as the suspect in the smash-and-grab incident, and took Bowden into custody without incident.

Media Contacts: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902, or Chief Wayne Kline, DNREC Parks & Recreation Natural Resources Police, 302-739-9232

Vol. 46, No. 313