Crime News

Eight township residents were among 24 people arrested on drug-related charges following a seven-month investigation County law enforcement officials dubbed “Fire and Ice.” Ten of those charged were arrested on February 16, 10 were arrested on March 2 and two remain at large, according to a press release from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office. Twenty search warrants executed on the …

Update: Two New Brunswick men have been charged with the murder of Lorenzo Hill Staten. Police said the killing was not random, and all three knew each other. The shooting death of a Franklin man is under investigation by New Brunswick police. City police responded to Seamen Street and Remsen Avenue on a call reporting a shooting at about about …

Police are investigating an October 2 shooting that left two people wounded. Neither of the unidentified victims – a township woman and an Edison man – suffered life-threatening injuries, according to a press release from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office. Police were dispatched to the Fuller Street-Franklin Boulevard area at about 10:33 p.m. on a call of shots being fired, …

Two New Brunswick men were arrested late last month on unrelated gun charges stemming from law enforcement “Quality of Life” efforts. The first arrest occurred at about 2:46 p.m. on May 17, when township police and members of the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Organized Crime and Narcotics Task Force Street Crimes Unit were conducting teh Quality of Life investigation around …

Update: Two township men have been arrested in connection with the murder. The men, one 20 and one 22, were arrested separately on May 19, according to a release from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office. The men are detained in the Somerset County Jail pending a bail hearing, according to the release. Original Story: A 23-year-old Township man was stabbed …

A 38-year-old Franklin Park man was struck by a car and killed on South Middlebush Road on May 19 after the car’s driver suffered a medical emergency, law enforcement officials said. The man, Harishbha Patel, was walking along the road’s shoulder near Old Vliet Road at about 5:40 p.m. when the 40-year-old driver of a 2010 Toyota Corolla suffered a …

The Rev. Douglas Haefner, center(File photo). The Rev. Douglas Haefner, the former pastor at St. Matthias Church on John F. Kennedy Boulevard, pleaded guilty on May 19 to one count of theft, admitting that he stole more than $500,000 in parish funds. Haefner entered the plea before Superior Court Judge Peter J. Tober, sitting in Somerville. Haefner was released on …

A New Brunswick man suffered a non-threatening gunshot wound while driving his car early in the morning of May 16, according to a press release from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office. The man, who was not identified, was struck while driving in the area of Hamilton Street and Franklin Boulevard at about 3:58 a.m., according to the release. The man …

The number of violent crimes reported in Franklin during 2020 decreased compared to the previous year, but the township saw an increase in the number of reported non-violent crimes. The increase was enough to kick the total number of reported crimes up a bit, from 855 in 2019 to 859 in2020, according to statistics provided by the township police department. …

Police are trying to discover why 27 bullets – one of which hit a moving vehicle – were fired late on April 21 in the area of Baier Avenue and Philips Road. There were no reported injuries in the shooting, according to a press release from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office. Township police officers responding to a 9-1-1 call of …