OLD BRIDGE – Police are investigating a motor vehicle break-in that occurred while the car owner was inside a Route 9 business recently.
The theft reported in the parking lot of the Madison Variety Store Discount, located on Route 9 between Route 516 and Throckmorton Lane, at 5:38 p.m. May 24. The victim was reportedly inside the store when threemen pulled into the parking lot in a blue 1998 Volkswagen Passat.
The two men who were in the front seat got out of the car and approached the victim’s 2006 GMC Envoy. The driver allegedly rolled his hand up in a shirt and smashed the passenger-side window of the SUV.He then reached into the car and stole a Garmin GPS system, worth $300, before fleeing the scene.
The two suspects who got out of the car during the incident were described as Hispanic men; one with a short ponytail and the other wearing a black and white baseball cap. The suspect who stayed in the rear of the car was described as a black male.
Patrolman Richard Mustacchio later went to Ellen Heath Drive, off Route 34, to follow up on the investigation, and saw threemen in a vehicle thatmatched the description from the break-in. Police spoke separately to each of the three suspects, one of whom was a juvenile. However, the officers did not find a GPS device in the car after the men consented to a search.
Authorities said the investigation is ongoing.
Several other incidents of theft from a motor vehicle occurred in the township last month, but are still under investigation and may not be related.
On May 1, four separate car burglaries in which windows were smashed and GPS devices stolen occurred onWells Drive, Gorniak Drive, Westminster Boulevard and Athens Avenue. On May 2, a suspect smashed the driver-side window of a 2002 Subaru vehicle and stole a Garmin GPS navigational unit at the Inverness Park and Ride. Two days later, all four rims and tires were stolen from a 2007 Honda Fit parked on Van Delft Drive.
A week later, on May 10, two male suspects stole rims and tires from a vehicle parked onAppletree Lane before fleeing the scene in a silver 2007 Honda Fit. On May 19, an unknown suspect smashed the window of a car on Parkwood Drive and stole two air bags.
Anyone with information on any of the incidents is asked to call the Old Bridge Police Department at 732-721-5600, ext. 3280.