News
Middletown Police Charge Two With Burglary At Sears
On Monday, September 21, 2009, at approximately 10:41 p.m., officers from the Middletown Township Police Department were dispatched to Sears Department store on Route 35 after receiving alarm activation from the interior of the store. The store was closed at the time.
Sgt. Jeffery Barner responded to the store with Officer Anthony Dellatacoma, Officer Michael Nolan and Officer Adam Colfer. Sgt. Barner saw a person attempting to hide behind a clothing display and requested additional police units to the scene. The responding officers secured a perimeter around the store until a representative from Sears could respond to unlock the door. Officer Kevin Geoghan and his K-9 partner, Memphis, from the Hazlet Township Police Department, responded to assist with the search of the building.
When the officers entered the store they discovered the glass jewelry display counters had been smashed and the merchandise was missing from the cases. Electronic items were also taken from their displays.
Memphis led Officer Geoghan and Sergeant Barner to a clothing rack where two men were found hiding. Salvador Roman, 32, from Livingston Ave., and Jose Luis Morales, 32, from Sanford Ave., both in New Brunswick, complied with the officers' commands and were arrested without incident. Duffle bags were found containing the merchandise taken from the cases.
The police investigation revealed Roman and Morales had hidden in the store at closing and waited until all employees had left. They proceeded to smash the glass display cases and load the jewelry into the duffle bags but their movements inside the store activated intruder alarms and initiated the police response. Extensive damage to store displays was done by the two suspects.
The two men were charged with burglary, theft, criminal mischief, unlawful possession of a weapon (a hatchet that was used to smash the displays), possession of burglar tools and conspiracy to commit burglary and theft. They were held on $45,000 bail with no ten percent option. Morales was also being held on $100,000 bail on a warrant issued by the Superior Court in Middlesex County for failing to appear on a previous robbery charge and was transferred to the Middlesex County Correctional facility. Roman was transferred to the Monmouth County Correctional facility in lieu of bail.
