Crime News

More than $5,000 worth of damage was done to two soda vending machines at Quail Brook Golf Course, New Brunswick Road, police said. A golf course employee told police that sometime between April 1 and 2, two machines were damaged and soda and cash were stolen. Police said one of the machines looked as though it had been pried open …

The township police department is one of 10 Somerset County departments to receive a $5,000 grant to aid in its participation in the “U Drive. U Text. U Pay” crackdown on distracted driving. The effort, which was developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, runs through April 21. Statewide, 60 police departments received $300,000, according to a press release …

Township police played an unspecified but “integral” role in the April 1 arrest of an Edison man who authorities said burglarized homes in Middlesex and Bergen counties. Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey D. Soriano said in a release that Herbbie Sheffield, 46, was arrested in Old Bridge by members of the Somerset County Burglary Task Force after he was found in …

An 18-year-old Franklin High School senior who was “violently assaulted” early in the morning of April 26 remains in critical condition, officials said. A $2,500 reward is being offered by Crime Stoppers of Somerset County for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the person responsible for the attack on the 18-year-old woman, according to a release from the Somerset …

A Lumberton man was convicted March 27 of 1st Degree Armed Robbery in connection with an October 2011 robbery at a township Radio Shack store. Michael Mitchell, 31, was convicted after a trial in state Superior Court, Somerville, according to a press release from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office. In the release, authorities said Mitchell and an accomplice, Emendo Bowers, …

A “limited number” of St. Matthias School students were evacuated for a short time March 10 after a written bomb threat was found on a door of a 4th grade classroom, police said. Police said the threat was found by a teacher at the John F. Kennedy Boulevard school shortly after 8 a.m. The not said that a bomb was …

A Franklin Greens apartment resident reported March 1 that someone stole a metal table from their patio. Police said the apartment is located on the first floor of building facing John F. Kennedy Boulevard. The 40-inch table, valued at $150, was described as being made of brown metal with a glass top. The owner said they last saw it on …

A 7-year-old township child is being treated at St. Barnabas Burn Center after sustaining 2nd degree burns over 30 percent of his body, police said. Police responded to a 9-1-1 call at about 4:42 p.m. to find that the boy had accidentally pulled a pot of boiling water onto himself. Emergency medical personnel from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital responded …

A January incident in which a 3-year-old was left on a Franklin Park School bus all day was deemed by a state agency to not be a case of child abuse or neglect, but rather one of “miscommunication.” But the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office and township police are still reviewing the matter for possible criminal charges. That was the update …

A 16-year-old township resident has been arrested in connection with the Feb. 27 fire that briefly emptied out Franklin Township High School. In a release about the incident, Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Capt. Jack Bennett said the youth has been charged with 2nd Degree Aggravated Arson. Bennett said the youth used a lighter to set fire to a piece …