County Warns Residents of Area Burglary Ring

The Union County Prosecutor's Office released a statement mid-day Wednesday warning area residents of a burglary ring that has been hitting local homes.

Prosecutor Theodore Romankow said that the group is responsible for at least 27 burglaries and two attempted burglaries between Nov. 25, 2008, and Aug. 6, 2009. The majority of the burglaries have occurred in Berkeley Heights, where 16 have been reported since last November. Westfield, Mountainside and Springfield have also reported similar thefts. 

The prosecutor's spokesman, John Holl, told Patch that while they're not linking the burglary ring to any crimes in Scotch Plains or Fanwood right now, all Union County residents should be alert and report anything suspicious to their local police departments.
 
Most of the burglaries have occurred between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m., when homeowners are away. The burglars are believed to spend less than five minutes at each location, but nonetheless have made off with a considerable amount of jewelry and cash.

“The suspects likely ring the doorbell to see if anyone comes to the door,” Romankow said. “In some cases, when someone answered, the would-be burglars made up an excuse that they were looking for someone else and had come to the house in error.”
 
The burglars have been known to only target rooms where expensive jewelry would be kept. In the few cases where alarm systems were activated, the burglars were gone from the scene by the time police arrived. 

Scotch Plains Police Lt. Brian Donnelly said that there's only been one reported home burglary in the township this summer.

"Just because we're not getting these residential burglaries doesn't mean we say not us," Donnelly said. "We're always on the lookout."

Union County Crimestoppers is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for the arrest and indictments for the people responsible for these burglaries. All calls are kept anonymous and confidential. Crimestoppers may be reached at 908-654-TIPS.