Two Township Residents Arrested for Burglary of Scotch Plains Home

After a weeklong investigation, Scotch Plains police arrested two township residents for the burglary of a house on Hunter Avenue.

Kenneth Washington, 55, of Willow Avenue, and Michael Sweeney, 39, of Portland Avenue were arrested at their homes on July 6. They were processed and taken to Union County Jail after failing to post bail of $50,000.

Washington has since returned home, pending his court date July 26. His lawyer, Tom Russo, said Washington plans to plead "not guilty." Sweeney could not be reached for comment.

On June 27 at about 2 p.m., neighbors of the Hunter Avenue house said that they observed Washington and Sweeney walking in and around the home and leaving with plastic bins, Detective Lieutenant Brian Donnelly, the police department's public information officer, said in a phone interview. The house was not occupied at the time.

Some of neighbors recognized Washington and Sweeney, he said. Others wrote down the license plate of the car the two men used. Later that day, the neighbors called the homeowner to ask whether he had been expecting two men at his house. The homeowner said no, and he filed a police report at 7 p.m.

Detective Mark Lynch investigated the burglary. He learned that the men had entered the house by pushing open an unlocked window. He interviewed the neighbors, and ultimately arrested and charged Washington and Sweeney.

The homeowner is still checking which items he thinks were stolen, Donnelly said. "It's odds and ends – a hammer, a lamp. Nothing like a TV." 

Washington and Sweeny claim that they were allowed to take the items from the house. "I really think this is a misunderstanding," Russo said. "Mr. Washington does a collection of scrap metal, and he heard from his friend, the other man who was arrested, that there was scrap metal there."

Russo later added that one of the men did yard work at house, and that he had entered the garage to find a weed whacker. 

Donnelly said that daytime burglaries are not unusual. "People are at work, they're not home. Contrary to what you see on TV and Hollywood dramas, these guys don't want anyone to be in the house."

He added, however, that township residents have generally proven watchful of each other's houses. "Just a couple months ago, we had someone call us with a car burglary," he said. "That's all we ask: don't get involved, just call 911."