Crime News

A Somerset County Grand Jury returned indictments against several township residents on Sept. 19. Oliver Fields, 43, of Somerset was indicted on charge of endangering the welfare of a child. Authorities allege that between April 10, 2013 and July 5, 2013, Fields possessed “film and/or a computer program” depicting a child in prohibited sexual acts. Ashis Ashish-Sharma, 22; Trevor Dawes, …

More than $300 in cash and items was stolen from a car owned by Sheliza Bacchus of John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Somerset. Bacchus told police that she discovered the burglary at about 8:44 a.m. Sept. 19. Police said Bacchus told them she did not lock the car. Stolen was an iPod Touch valued at $150, a GPS navigation system valued …

A Somerset County Grand Jury on Sept. 18 indicted Jarret Jackson, 18, of Lewis Street, on burglary and theft charges Jackson is charged with being the lookout for another unnamed man who broke into a Lewis Street home on Aug. 18 and robbed the occupant of a gold chain valued at $300. In an affidavit supporting the charges, township Det. …

In the fifth reported car burglary in the township in the last week, a Rachel Court man told police that someone entered his car and stole $250 from his wallet. Lawrence C. Labirt told police Sept. 17 that the burglary occurred sometime between late Sept. 15 and early Sept. 16. He said he did not report it right away because …

Two purses and a wallet valued at a total of $560 were stolen sometime between Sept. 15 and 16 from a car owned by Kristen Martinez of Amberly Court, police said. Martinez told police that someone broke the front passenger’s side window on her car and stole a Coach purse valued at $300, a Long Champ purse valued at $160 …

Four Mum shrubs were stolen sometime late the night of Sept. 16 or early the next morning from the Cedarhill Cemetery on Wortman Street, police said. A cemetery employee reported the theft shortly before noon on Sept. 17, police said. The employee told police that the shrubs, valued at about $20, were located near the rear of the property, by …

A watch valued at $5,000 was one of the items stolen in three car burglaries that occurred sometime late in the night of Sept. 12 or early the next morning, police said. In the first case reported, at about 9:18 a.m. on Sept. 13, Prashant Kumar of Green Hill Manor Drive told police that someone had stolen a pair of …

An accident investigation Sept. 13 resulted in summonses for a member of the Franklin-Somerset First Aid Squad for allegedly making an improper U-turn on Easton Avenue and misuse of the emergency lights on the ambulance he was driving. The first aider, Evan M. Shegoski, 23, of Somerset, told police that he thought he had an emergency call to respond to …

The township police department formally received its certificate of accreditation from the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police at the Sept. 10 Township Council meeting. The designation is awarded after a lengthy review of a department’s policies and procedures and interviews with community members. Harry Delgado, the association’s accreditation manager, said that only about one-third of those departments …

A ceremony recognizing the recent accreditation of the Police Department by the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police is set for the Sept. 10 Township Council meeting. The department was evaluated by a team from NJSACOP in February, according to a release from the department. “Verification by the team that the Franklin Township Police Department meets the Commission’s …