Crime & Safety

Toms River Man Charged in 9 Boat Burglaries, Battery Thefts

Two-month investigation results in arrest

Toms River police say they have captured a man responsible for a spate of boat burglaries and battery thefts in the township's Silverton section.

Michael Campanalonga, 27, of Cedarhurst Drive, is facing nine counts of burglary and theft after he was arrested on May 5 when officers stopped his vehicle after a citizen reported a man suspiciously boarding a person's boat at a marina on Bay Breeze Drive.

The citizen took a photo with their cell phone and called police, spokesman Ralph Stocco said, telling officers that they had seen a maroon four door car with its trunk open next to a boat at a nearby marina.

Eventually, the detectives determined that the suspicious person in the photos was Campanalonga, Stocco said.

The investigation encompassed a two month time span in which boat owners realized they were victims of battery thefts from their vessels when they began spring preparations, Stocco said. All of the thefts were from the Silverton section of town near the home of the suspect. The batteries were sold to a local scrap yard for between six and ten dollars each.

Campanalonga was arrested and charged with nine counts of burglary and theft and was being held in the Ocean County Jail on $50,000 bail. The investigation is continuing, Stocco said, and anyone who believes they were also a victim should contact Detective DiMichele at 732-349-0150 extension 1333.


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