RED BANK – A 19-year-old male resident was arrested Feb. 26 and charged with armed robbery, according to the Red Bank Police Department.
Prince Johnson, of West Westside Avenue, was arrested at his home at 9:43 a.m. about six hours after police were summoned to a Harding Road apartment for a report of a burglary and robbery at 3:41 a.m., according to a Feb. 26 press release from the police department.
The victim, a 19-year-old male acquaintance of Johnson’s, alleged that Johnson and two other males had stolen a large sum of money and additional items from his bedroom, according to the release.
In addition to Johnson, a number of people who were acquainted with the victim were visiting the victim’s apartment on Feb. 26, police said.
The victim said that Johnson left the apartment and shortly after leaving, contacted one of the other persons at the apartment, asking to be picked up on the street in downtown Red Bank, according to the press release.
The victim told police that the other persons left the apartment to pick up Johnson, leaving him home alone.
At this point, the victim stated that he then learned that Johnson had apparently stolen a large sum of money that was hidden inside his bedroom, according to police.
The victim said that a few minutes after the other people left to pick up Johnson, he heard a noise coming from his bedroom, according to the police press release.
The victim then tried to enter his bedroom and discovered that his bedroom door had been locked from the inside. The victim told police that he forced his bedroom door open and saw that Johnson had returned with two other unknown subjects, and they were in the process of stealing additional items from his bedroom, according to the press release.
Entry had apparently been gained through a window, according to police.
The victim described the other two suspects as black males, approximately 19 to 20 years of age, short in stature, wearing dark-colored hooded sweatshirts, according to police.
The victim said one of the unknown subjects pointed a silver handgun at him and forced him into another bedroom, according to police.
The victim said that all three suspects then fled the apartment. The other persons who had left to pick up Johnson returned when the police were already on the scene and said that they could not locate Johnson, the press release stated.
Johnson was charged with armed burglary, armed robbery and theft, and bail was set at $345,000.
According to police, another burglary was reported at the same address in which a safe was stolen from inside the same victim’s apartment on Feb. 23, but at this time it is not known if the two cases are related.
The investigation into the burglary and the two unknown subjects is continuing.