News
Stolen Car Found Ablaze In Middletown
At approximately 5:34 a.m. on Tuesday July 7, Officer Savino Capilupi was dispatched to Hartshorne Road in the Locust section of Middletown Township for a vehicle fire. Officer Capilupi discovered an unoccupied 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee with New York license plates off the roadway near the Navesink River and completely engulfed in flames.
Navesink Fire Company responded and extinguished the fire. A record check on the registration of the car revealed the car was stolen from the Town of Kent located in Putnam County, New York.
Officers Anthony Gigante, Andrew Micalizzi, Stephen Keller and Christopher Dee responded to the Hartshorne Road area to assist Officer Capilupi. Residents from the neighborhood reported seeing two males near a wooded area not far from the car. The officers searched the area and located Thomas Nole, age 23, of Brainard Avenue in the Port Monmouth section of Middletown and Emilio Fernandez, age 20 of Grant Place in Little Silver, hiding in the woods.
The police investigation determined Nole and Fernandez were responsible for abandoning the Jeep and lighting it on fire in an attempt to destroy any forensic evidence associating them with the car and they were arrested without incident. Police also discovered the two possessed marijuana and assorted drug paraphernalia.
Fernandez had been in New York earlier and had stolen the car. He returned to the Middletown area with the car, met Nole and explained to him how he had gotten the car. The two rode around in the car for awhile before abandoning it on Hartshorne Road and lighting in on fire.
Both men were charged with Arson, Possession of a Stolen Motor Vehicle, Possession of Marijuana in Excess of 50 Grams and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Bail for Fernandez was set at $14,000 with no ten percent option, and Nole was released on his own recognizance for a future court appearance.
