2 arrested in Holyoke following alleged crime spree, $10K worth of stolen items recovered

HOLYOKE, Mass. (WWLP) – Holyoke Police arrested two men on Thursday after they were caught allegedly attempting to steal thousands of dollars worth of products from the Stop & Shop on Northampton Street.

According to Holyoke Police Detective Hamel, police were called to the Stop & Shop for two people that were inside the grocery store allegedly stealing health and beauty products. The officers that arrived to the store encountered the suspects as they were attempting to leave the store with the merchandise.

Both suspects ran from police and one tried to get into a vehicle nearby. However, both men were arrested in the shopping plaza. They have been identified as 25-year-old Jayson Johnson from Queens, New York, and 19-year-old Sequanne Madden from Queens, New York. The Stop & Shop Loss Prevention team recovered more than $5,000 worth of merchandise from the suspects.

The vehicle that one of the suspects tried to escape in was searched and officers found several full trash bags with more stolen merchandise that still had the security tags from nearby stores in the community. It is estimated the stolen products combined were worth more than $10,000. More than 300 items were recovered from inside the vehicle, which was registered in New Jersey.

While being booked, both men provided false names but were correctly identified through their fingerprints. Both suspects had multiple extraditable warrants from multiple states for similar charges.

Jayson Johnson was charged with the following: 

• Organized Retail Crime 
• Receiving Stolen Property over $1200 
• Larceny over $1200 
• Disorderly Conduct 
• Resisting Arrest 
• 5 Fugitive from Justice warrants

Sequanne Madden was charged with the following: 

• Organized Retail Crime 
• Larceny over $1200 
• Receiving Stolen Property over $1200 
• 6 Fugitive from Justice warrants 
• Furnishing a False Name