Wilmington woman arrested in ‘smash-and-grab’ incident at Bellevue State Park

DNREC Parks & Recreation Natural Resources Police Park Rangers reportedly arrested a Wilmington woman Monday evening in connection with a “smash-and-grab” incident that happened at Bellevue State Park.

According to the report, Yolanda Bowden, 32, was arrested on an assortment of charges that included six felonies and four misdemeanors related to the incident. Officials say that harges 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 reportedly committed to Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution in Wilmington for lack of $12,600 secured bond, and she was also wanted on outstanding charges in Delaware related to shoplifting, and had outstanding warrants from Whitpain Township, Pennsylvania on similar offenses.  

Natural Resource Police Park Rangers were apparently called to the main parking lot of Bellevue State Park on 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 reportedly 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.

Officials say that 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 reportedly 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