Somerset 18-Year-Old Charged in Three Somerset County Burglaries, Including Bridgewater Home Invasion
An 18-year-old from Somerset was arrested Nov. 4 and charged in October burglaries in Bernards Township, Green Brook and Bridgewater, including a home invasion in which a woman was hurt, the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office said.
What happened
Where it happened
- Bridgewater, Somerset County.
What remains unclear
- A joint investigation by the prosecutor's office and the Bernards Township, Green Brook and Bridgewater police departments tied the three cases together, officials said; investigators pointed to similarities that included clothing, a helmet and a distinctive bracelet.
Three homes. Three towns. Ten days. In the last one, prosecutors say, a Bridgewater woman was hurt inside her own house and her phone was taken so she could not call 911.
An 18-year-old from Somerset was arrested Nov. 4 in Edison and charged in burglaries in Bernards Township on Oct. 19, Green Brook on Oct. 22 and Bridgewater on Oct. 29, Somerset County Prosecutor John P. McDonald said.
In Bernards, someone got into a Basking Ridge home through a shattered basement window, ransacked it and took a jewelry box of costume jewelry, the prosecutor's office said. In Green Brook, a man tried to force a front door, left, then came back and climbed in through an unlocked window, taking about $800 in cash and costume jewelry.
Two of the three break-ins happened in broad daylight. The Bridgewater case, just before 10 a.m., was the most serious: prosecutors say the intruder assaulted a woman, leaving her with a cut to her wrist, took her phone and about $2,850 in jewelry, and rode off on a dirt bike-style electric bicycle. She was treated for her injuries.
A joint investigation by the prosecutor's office and the Bernards Township, Green Brook and Bridgewater police departments tied the three cases together, officials said; investigators pointed to similarities that included clothing, a helmet and a distinctive bracelet. He is charged with first-degree home invasion burglary, second-degree burglary, third-degree theft, and third- and fourth-degree criminal mischief, and was taken to the Somerset County Jail pending a court hearing.
The charges are accusations, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. The prosecutor's office Burglary Unit asks anyone with information to call 908-231-7100.
Source: Somerset County Prosecutor's Office. Originally reported by RLS Media.
Photo: 4300streetcar / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, cropped.
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