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Crime & Safety

Alert Residents' Calls Assist in Four Arrests

Three people breaking in at a Warren Street home and a hit-and-run suspect are all arrested thanks to citizens' tips, Chief Mike Mastronardy says.

 

Never underestimate the value of having your neighbors watching out for you. Two calls from residents over the weekend resulted in the arrests related to a break-in at a home and a hit-and-run accident involving a pedestrian.

Two men and a 17-year-old were arrested on Friday night after neighbors reported seeing suspicious activity at a home on Warren Street, according to Police Chief Michael Mastronardy.

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Nicholas Cereghini, 19, of Vaughn Avenue, Dashwawn Harrison, 20, of Coolidge Avenue, and the juvenile were arrested and charged with breaking into the Warren Street home and taking a laptop computer, and LCD television, a BB gun and cash by Cpl. Louis Sulsent and Officer Thomas Herbst, who responded to the neigbor’s phone call. Most of the property was recovered, Mastronardy said.

Cereghini and Harrison were taken to the Ocean County Jail and held on $10,000 bail with no 10 percent option. The teen was released to his mother.

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On Saturday, a 27-year-old Lakewood man was walking along the shoulder of Route 9 near Whitty Road when he was struck from behind by a black vehicle that then left the scene. The pedestrian suffered arm and facial injuries in the incident, and the vehicle lost its side mirror, Mastronardy said.

The man was taken to Kimball Medical Center for treatment.

A short time later, the chief said, a resident called police to report that a man had run into the woods off Ferro Drive after parking a car and examining its smashed windshield. The car also was missing a mirror.

Robert Montgomery, 28, of Franklin Corner Road in Lawrenceville, was found hiding behind a tree on Priscilla Court. He was arrested by Officer Travis Seaman and charged by Traffic Safety Officer Steven Schwartz with driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident and having an open container of alcohol in a vehicle.

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