Crime

Township police are looking into why a 15-year-old Franklin High School student took a fake gun to school on Dec. 5. The gun fell out of the student’s backpack in-between classes, at about 9:30 a.m., prompting school security to call for a school lockdown, according to a press release from the FTPD. The lockdown lasted only about five minutes, police …

A Dec. 1 fight among Franklin Middle School students ended with one of the combatants being temporarily placed in custody by the Franklin Township Police Department. Police released few details because the incident involved juveniles. But FTPD spokesman Lt. Phil Rizzo did provide an emailed statement. “Our School Resource Officer and School Security were alerted to a fight at the …

Some of the computers stolen from two district schools since the start of the 2017-18 school year have been recovered. the township’s top school administrator said on Nov. 30. Although some of the electronic devices stolen from Hillcrest and Conerly Road schools were found, no arrests have been made as yet, a Franklin Township Police Department spokesman said. Thieves broke …

Update: Police said the incident was not a threat, simply a parent who was not familiar with the school’s pick-up procedures trying to get their children. No children were threatened. Original Story: Police are investigating an incident involving children that occurred Nov. 27 at Pine Grove Manor School, according to district officials. According to a statement released on the school …

Update: Police said that Mark Rodgers died from his injuries at 2:50 p.m. on Nov. 28. Original Story: A 63-year-old township man was listed in serious condition Nov. 25, one day after a deer crashed through his car’s windshield on South Middlebush Road. Police said that Mark Rodgers of Somerset was driving his 2017 Hyundai Elantra on South Middlebush, just …

Another township school was hit by electronics thieves, who got away with about 50 computers, police and district officials say. Sometime in the overnight hours of Nov. 19, a window at Conerly Road Elementary School was broken, allowing entry for the thieves, said FTPD spokesman Lt. Phil Rizzo. A total of 50 computers were taken from a laptop cart, said …

A Franklin Township Police officer who shot a man who had broken into his home was one of the state PBA’s “Valor Award” recipients Nov. 18. Officer Keith Hermann was one of 11 state PBA members to win the association’s “Bronze” award. Hermann’s actions came in March, 2017, when he confronted 19-year-old Tyree Cook of Manville, whom he found in …

Police are investigating the Nov. 14 shooting of two Franklin Township residents as they sat in a car on Winston Drive. Both unidentified men, aged 23 and 24 years, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to a press release on the incident from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office. As part of their investigation, authorities are trying to determine whether two handguns found …

Nov. 9 A Carriage Trail resident told police that someone entered her home and stole her purse, and the $11 cash in it. Nov. 10 A man was seen looking into parked cars early in the morning on Whittier Avenue. Surveillance video showed the man was about 5’5″ to 6′ tall, and was wearing a large dark, puffy coat and …

The man a Franklin Township Police sergeant allegedly pulled a gun on and pursued in a car in southern New Jersey was an off-duty police officer. That was just one of the revelations Nov. 8 during a pre-trial detention hearing for the township officer, Sgt. Teddy Cerra. Cerra was arrested on multiple charges by State Police Nov. 1 after he …