Police Blotter: Teen Charged With Sex Crime, United Way Office Burglarized & Police Search With Dogs...

Sex Crime

A 15-year-old Ewing Township boy was arrested on Thursday, Nov. 3, and charged with criminal sexual contact in connection with a crime that allegedly took place a day earlier at the Lawrence Township headquarters branch of the Mercer County Library, according to Lt. Charles Edgar, spokesman for the Lawrence Township Police Department.

Edgar said a 21-year-old part-time library employee contact police at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 2, to allege that while she was working at the library in the 2700 block of Brunswick Pike (Business Route 1) earlier that day she was touched on her buttocks in a overtly sexual way by a young male. The woman told police the male left the library after she protested his actions.

Edgar said Officer Steve Simon and Detective Scott Caloiaro investigated, identified the 15-year-old as a suspect and took him into custody.

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Burglary

At 7:47 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 2, Lawrence Township police were notified of a burglary that had taken place at the office of the United Way of Mercer County, located within the Crossroads Corporate Center in the 3100 block of Brunswick Pike (Route 1), Edgar said.

Eight laptop computers – worth an estimated total of $4,000 – had been stolen from various cubicles in the office sometime between 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 1 and 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 2, he said, noting that police are still investigating how the burglar gained entry to the office.

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Investigation     

Lawrence Township police returned to the Crossroads Corporate Center in the 3100 block of Brunswick Pike (Route 1) late in the evening on Wednesday, Nov. 2, after a burglar alarm activation was reported there about 10:35 p.m.

When they arrived, officers spotted a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot and an open door inside the building, Edgar said. Aware of the earlier burglary at the United Way office in the building, township police requested assistance from the New Jersey State Police and Ewing Township Police Department for tracking dogs.

Edgar said officers searched the area with the canines but were unable to locate any suspicious individuals and could find no evidence that anything new had been stolen. He said the matter remains under investigation.

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Marijuana Possession     

Arman A. Elliott, 24, of Azalea Way, Hamilton Township, was arrested about 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 2, and charged with possession of under 50 grams of marijuana, Edgar said.

He said police went to Elliott’s place of employment, the Applebees restaurant in the 3300 block of Brunswick Pike (Route 1), to interview him about an unrelated matter and, in the course of that investigation, allegedly found him to be in possession of a small quantity of marijuana.

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Driving Under the Influence

Adolfo Rojas, 31, of Harmony Avenue, Lawrence Township, was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving after he allegedly fled the scene of a multi-vehicle traffic accident involving injuries on Sunday, Oct. 30, Edgar said.

He said the four-vehicle crash occurred after the vehicle being driven by Rojas rear-ended another vehicle about 6:45 p.m. on Route 1 (Brunswick Pike) just north of Franklin Corner Road. He said Rojas allegedly ran from the scene but police found him about a half-mile away with the keys to his vehicle on him.

After he performed poorly on field sobriety tests, he was arrested and charged with driving under the influence. He was also charged with nearly a dozen other offenses including reckless driving, being an unlicensed driver and assault by auto because two people from the other vehicles – one of whom was a pregnant woman – were injured in the crash and had to be transported to local hospitals for treatment, according to Edgar.

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Vehicle Theft

About 3 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 31, a 30-year-old Trenton man notified police that someone had stolen his gray 1988 Toyota Camry from the parking lot outside the Lord & Taylor department store at Quaker Bridge Mall in the 3300 block of Brunswick Pike (Route 1) sometime after he parked it there about 7 a.m. to go to work, Edgar said.

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Theft

About 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 1, an 82-year-old resident of Colts Circle notified police that she had been the victim of a $13,000 international scam, Edgar said.

The woman told police that during the last week of October she was contacted by a man claiming to be her grandson. The man told her that he had run into "trouble" while in Rome and needed her to send money fast.

Several days after she wired the money to Italy, the woman came in contact with her real grandson. She realized she had been scammed after he told her he hadn’t been out of the country, Edgar said.

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Theft

At 10:12 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 2, police were notified that a man driving a black Infinity had fled the Sunoco service station in the 1700 block of Brunswick Pike (Business Route 1) without paying for $65 worth of gas he had received, Edgar said. A detailed description of the man was not available.

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Theft

At 6:17 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 3, a resident of Eldridge Avenue contacted police to report that sometime between 10 p.m. on Nov. 2 and about 6 o’clock that morning someone had stolen about $2,100 worth of landscaping equipment – chainsaws, two backpack blows, a weed whacker and other items – from his 2006 Chevrolet pickup truck, Edgar said.

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Criminal Mischief

At 9:13 p.m. on Halloween, Monday, Oct. 31, police were notified that a street sign at the corner of Yeger Drive and Carver Place had been damaged. Edgar said the pole was bent over at its base, but it was unclear if it had been hit by a vehicle or by some other object.

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Criminal Mischief

At 10:55 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 1, police were informed that someone had knocked a curbside mailbox – valued at $200 – off its post and damaged a “For Sale” sign in front of a residence on Bergen Street, Edgar said. He said the crime is believed to have happened sometime between Oct. 29 and Oct. 31.

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Trespassing

Derrick J. Jackson, 22, of the 700 block of Sturwood Way, Lawrence Township, was arrested and charged with defiant trespassing after he was found in the area of the Lincoln residence hall on the Rider University campus in the 2000 block of Lawrence Road about 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 1, Edgar said.

He explained that Jackson had previously been banned from the campus by university officials following an incident there allegedly involving alcohol.

Anyone with information about any of the above crimes is asked to call Lawrence Township police at (609) 896-1111.

A copy of Lawrence Township's police dispatch log for Friday, Oct. 28, through Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011, can be viewed from the PDF box above. This log lists all significant calls for service and incidents for which officers filed a written report. Routine administrative assignments are omitted. Some data has been redacted to protect the identity of crime victims.