Man Beaten, Bound, Robbed During Home Invasion

Update, May 30:

On Tuesday (May 29), Lawrence Township police Lt. Mark Ubry confirmed that police are now investigating the incident on Lanning Avenue as a residential burglary. After making the initial report to police Monday morning about their Toyota Corolla having been stolen from their driveway, residents later realized that someone had entered their home and stolen the keys to the Toyota.

Ubry said a screen leading onto the home’s enclosed porch was found to have been cut. He added that it is possible that a door leading into the house from the porch had been left unlocked. The stolen Toyota had still not been found as of Tuesday afternoon. Nothing other than the Toyota’s keys so far appears to have been taken from the home, he said.

Ubry urged residents to help minimize their chances of becoming a crime victim by keeping the doors and windows of their homes and vehicles locked.

Original Story, 3:57 p.m. May 28:

A Lawrence Township man was dragged from his bed, beaten and bound by three men who broke into his home and stole thousands of dollars worth of property, including his work van, early this morning, township police have confirmed.

In addition to that home invasion/robbery on Betts Avenue, Lawrence Township police are busy investigating a separate car theft that took place this morning on Lanning Avenue, located just a few blocks away from Betts Avenue in southern Lawrence Township near the Trenton border.

It was about 12:20 a.m. today (Monday, May 28) when the crime on Betts Avenue was reported to township police.

The 47-year-old victim told police “he was lying in bed when he was accosted by three black males who had entered his house,” said Lawrence Township police spokesman Lt. Mark Ubry. “They proceeded to strike him and bind him. They then proceeded to steal various items from his house, including the keys to his vehicle.”

The victim estimated the three men were in the house for as long as a half-hour before they fled in his Ford Econoline work van, Ubry said.

“After they left, he was able to free himself and alert a neighbor, who called police,” he related.

The victim’s injuries were treated at the scene by a township ambulance crew, Ubry said. Township police, meanwhile, immediately began searching the area for the stolen van, and alerted police in neighboring municipalities about the crime.

In an alert broadcast early this morning by Lawrence Township police to law enforcement agencies throughout Mercer County, it was noted that none of the three men displayed a weapon but they allegedly threatened that they had a gun.   

Ubry said the property stolen from the house included electronics, jewelry and cash, but he said the victim had not yet had a chance to do a thorough search of the house to identify everything that was taken.

At about 1 a.m. today, Trenton police located the victim’s van abandoned on a street in the city’s West Ward, Ubry said. The van had been full of work tools and materials but the victim has not yet had a chance to look through it to determine if any of those items were stolen, he said.

Township police are still trying to determine how the three men entered the residence, but Ubry said it is possible the victim left a door unlocked.

He said two of the three home invaders were described as short black males in their 20s wearing dark clothing, while the third man was black as well but taller and older – in his 30s – with a thin build and long hair.

Ubry said it is not known at this time if the victim was specifically targeted by the three men or if his home was selected at random.

Because of similarities between the crimes, police are working to determine if there is a link between this morning’s home invasion and (May 24), Ubry said.

He said police are also looking for similar ties with the car theft on Lanning Avenue this morning.

It was 6:31 a.m. today, he said, when a resident of Lanning Avenue called police to report that sometime overnight her 2012 gray four-door Toyota Corolla was stolen from her driveway. Valued at $19,000, the vehicle had a temporary license number affixed to its rear window.

He said police are still investigating how the Toyota was stolen and if the residence on Lanning Avenue was burglarized as well.  

Detective Robert Potter and Officer James Larkin are leading the investigation into the Betts Avenue home invasion, while Officer Bryce Dowers is handling the Lanning Avenue crime.

Anyone with information that could aid their investigations is asked to call them at (609) 896-1111.