MANALAPAN — A two-month multijurisdictional investigation into numerous landscape equipment thefts throughout Monmouth County ended with the arrest of Jose Tavarez, a former resident of Freehold Borough.
Manalapan Deputy Police Chief Michael Fountain reported Tavarez’s arrest in a press release. He said the investigation stretched over June and July.
Tavarez, 26, is a resident of Hillside, Union County. He is unemployed, according to the press release.
From mid-June through the end of July, representatives of numerous landscape companies reported thefts from their landscape trailers as they were working at various locations in Monmouth County. In mid-July, Manalapan detectives identified Tavarez as the suspect, Fountain said.
Attempts to locate Tavarez were unsuccessful until the early morning hours of Aug. 4. On that day, a resident of Manalapan’s Covered Bridge adult community alerted police when he heard a car alarm go off across from his residence.
The resident observed a man leaving the area of the alarm. The resident provided police with a description of the suspect and the suspect’s vehicle.
A short time later, officers patrolling the area located the vehicle in a Wawa parking lot on Union Hill Road, just outside an entrance to Covered Bridge.
The suspect was later identified as Tavarez and police determined he had outstanding warrants from Old Bridge and Howell. Tavarez was arrested, according to the press release.
The multi-agency investigations led detectives from Manalapan, Marlboro, Colts Neck and Holmdel to charge Tavarez with multiple counts of burglary and thefts of landscaping equipment.
Tavarez was also charged with multiple counts of burglary and theft from vehicles in Manalapan. Proceeds allegedly resulting from vehicle burglaries were recovered from Tavarez’s vehicle. He was placed in jail on bail totaling more than $100,000. The case is pending court.