BY TOM CAIAZZA
Staff Writer
Kevin M. Coleman Five days after the kidnapping and robbery of a 61-year-old Edison resident, police say they have a suspect in custody.
Kevin M. Coleman, 48, of Plainfield was charged on May 23 with carjacking, kidnapping, robbery, aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and unlawful possession of a weapon. He is being held at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center on $1 million bail with no 10 percent option, according to Edison police Lt. Joseph Shannon.
Coleman turned himself in to Metuchen police the morning of May 23 after learning that there was a warrant out for his arrest, Shannon said.
Coleman is charged with allegedly abducting an older woman by forcing her at knifepoint to get into her car and driving her around the Edison/ Metuchen area. Coleman allegedly forced the woman to write more than one check for amounts upward of $8,000 and cashing them at the Commerce Bank drive-through tellers in both municipalities, according to Shannon. The original abduction occurred in an Oak Tree Road parking lot around 1:30 on the afternoon of May 19. After the bank transactions yielded about $3,600 in cash, Coleman allegedly dropped the woman off a few blocks from where she was abducted and left her car parked where the original abduction took place.
While not willing to release the full details surrounding the investigation because of its ongoing nature, Shannon did say that they identified Coleman “shortly after his arrest.”
Shannon felt that there was some level of planning involved in the crime, citing the possession of a 12-inch hunting knife.
“There was some planning involved,” Shannon said. “It seemed like he was waiting in the parking lot for someone to come by. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”