Police: 3 Charged in Whiting Weekend Burglary

Three South Toms River residents — including one juvenile — were arrested and charged for allegedly burglarizing a Whiting home last weekend, police said. 

Brian J. Slocum, a 22-year-old from Tilton Avenue, Daniel Z. Brown, 19, of Carnegie Street, and a 16-year-old male juvenile whose name was not released by police, were charged with breaking into a home on Camden Avenue in Manchester's Roosevelt City section Sunday evening, said Capt. Lisa Parker. 

Police said that the trio originally planned to steal scrap metal from the home while the owners vacationed, but then forced their way inside and took other goods including "various pieces of electronic equipment, U.S. currency, jewelry as well as copper tubing and other metal objects from within the residence and a shed located on the property," Parker said. 

Slocum, who works for the victims, then used a company truck to transport the items, Parker said.

Police were able to recover "numerous pieces" of stolen electronics and money from all of the suspects' South Toms River homes, according to Parker.

The burglary was discovered by a neighbor who came by to check on the pets in the home, police said. 

Slocum and Brown were taken to the Ocean County Jail in Toms River and held on $5,000 bail for burglary, theft and criminal mischief charges. The 16-year-old faces the same charges and was released to family pending a county Family Court date, Parker said. 

Manchester police officers Ptl. Paul Bachovchin and Det. Sgt. Joseph Howell investigated the burglary with the help of the Ocean County Sheriff's Department Criminal Investigative Unit and South Toms River police.