Crime

A 22-year-old township resident was convicted of drug-related charges after a 2-day trial in Somerville. Jose Lozada-Rojas was found guilty of 2nd Degree Distribution of a Controlled Dangerous Substance after trial in state Superior Court, according to a press release from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office. According to police, Lozada-Rojas on July 16, 2015 met with an undercover detective in the …

Police are investigating a suspected suicide near a strip shopping center on Easton Avenue. At 10:11 p.m., police received a call of an unresponsive man in a parked car in the parking lot of 1830 Easton Ave., according to a press release from township police. Police found a 30-year-old man locked in the car, unconscious and unresponsive. Police said that …

Update 3: Isaiah “Ike” J. Bell was arrested the morning of Sept. 14 in a Staten Island, NY apartment, according to a press release from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office. Somerset County detectives, along with detectives from New York City’s 120th Precinct and detectives from the Staten Island Warrant Squad, arrested Bell without incident at about 9:45 a.m. Bell was …

Update: Bertha Dyer has been found in Philadelphia and reunited with her family, police said. “I would like to thank of the agencies involved for their tireless efforts in this case,” township Chief of Police Lawrence Roberts said in a release. “I am thankful that Ms. Dyer was found safely and reunited with her family.” Original Story: Township police are …

Update: A GoFundMe campaign has been created to help the family. Donations can be made by clicking here. Superintendent of Schools John Ravally has issued the following statement: “On behalf of the Franklin Township Board of Education and the entire school community, our deepest condolences are extended to the Russoniello family. We will continue to offer whatever support we can …

A 45-year-old township man faces charges that he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old in June. Felipe Dasilva was arrested Aug. 17 after an investigation by the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit and the Franklin Township Police Department, according to a press release from the prosecutor’s office. Township police were notified on Aug. 11 that Dasilva sexually assaulted the …

A Perth Amboy woman was arrested Aug. 17 on a charge that she cheated a township business out of more than $89,000. Veronica Cardozo-Cabrera, 37, was charged with 2nd Degree Theft by Deception in the scheme, in which authorities said she fraudulently credited the credit cards of relatives and friends while working at Forever Collectibles on Cottontail Lane. Also charged with 2nd Degree …

8/10 Sometime in the overnight hours an unknown actor entered an unlocked vehicle on Runyon Ave and took an iPod valued at $125. Sometime in the overnight hours an unknown actor entered an unlocked vehicle on Pine Grove Avenue and took a cell phone charger valued at $20. Following a motor vehicle stop on Ray Street and Matilda, Patrice Athanazie, …

A 34-year-old Somerset man was one of eight people in the state indicted Aug. 16 and charged with running a “pill mill” that distributed “tens of thousands” of high-dose pills of oxycodone. Donn Rush was indicted with six other people from Somerset, Middlesex and Burlington counties and a Warren-based doctor in what the state Attorney general’s Office has dubbed “Operation Busted Script.” …

Three people were injured and Cedar Grove Lane as closed for about one hour during the evening of Aug. 14 after a three-car collision. Police said that at shortly after 5 p.m., a 2001 Nissan Altima driven by Jeffrey Georgiana, 55, of Somerset was traveling north on Cedar Grove Lane when it collided with a 2007 Honda Odyssey, driven by George …