Holmdel Burglary Suspect Had Been Previously Arrested by Holmdel Police

The 18-year old Holmdel resident arrested and charged by police Tuesday for burglary had also been arrested on Jan. 28 and charged with robbery, theft and conspiracy, according to Holmdel Police Det. Sgt. Louis Torres.

Timothy A. Kegley, 18, of 54 Duxbury Court, was arrested after an incident involving three other Holmdel juveniles, all 17. According to police, Kegley drove a person who said he was interested in buying marijuana to Yarmouth Court. There they were met by the three juveniles known to Kegley, who the victim said punched him several times and robbed him of $70.  The victim reported the assault to Ptl. Michael Hughes that same afternoon. 

The police report was released today in response to a request from Holmdel Patch. 

On March 1, Kegley was arrested in connection to reports of two burglaries  off Centerville Rd. in the early morning of that day. The police quickly apprehended the three suspects with stolen goods, the department said.

Police said they arrested Kegley, a student at Holmdel High School and twin 18-year old brothers Thomas W. Norman and Samuel J. Norman, 108 Michael Lane, Manalapan. All three were charged with burglary, theft, conspiracy, and criminal mischief, according to a police report released Tuesday afternoon.

The report disclosed the following details:

Maacka Drive

At 1:07 a.m., a Maacka Drive resident reported being awakened from a sound sleep by the ringing of her doorbell, followed by the sound of breaking glass on the ground floor of the back of her residence.  

The resident, who was home alone with her child and fearful of a home invasion robbery, told officers she left her bedroom and locked herself in her son’s bedroom for safety and called police.  

With the dispatcher on the line, the resident screamed loudly and tried to make noise by stamping her feet on the floor in an effort to scare off the burglars, who police said used an aluminum baseball bat to break the glass. The rear sliding door was broken, but the screen door was intact, so police believe the homeowner’s instinct to alert the burglars that the house was occupied scared off the suspects before they entered the home, said Det. Edward Martinez.

The resident said she saw three persons run from her yard, get into a mini-van, and leave.  The resident provided a description of the vehicle to the police dispatcher, which was immediately broadcast to responding officers.  

Sunrise Circle

As officers were responding to the first incident, they received an additional call regarding a burglary at a house on Sunrise Circle.  

The male owner said he was awakened from a sound sleep by the sound of breaking glass on the first floor of his residence.  The suspects had tried to gain entry via a double-paned window in the door, but then smashed a window and entered through it instead. When the homeowner went downstairs to investigate, he noticed several lights that were previously off had been turned on and that there was damage to the kitchen window. 

He further discovered his home office had been ransacked.  The resident contacted police at 1:20 a.m. and Cpl. Gerard Burke and Ptl. Andrew Kret responded.  Items from the man's office later recovered by police included a Blackberry cell phone, a watch, a digital camera and a baseball, signed by a Little League team,  from a display case.

The arrest

Patrol cars rushed to the scene from two directions to find the grey 2004 Chrysler Pacifica, which was seen fleeing the Maacka Drive burglary, and stopped it on Centerville Road.  “The officers converged on the area from Red Coach Run and the area of Maple Leaf, so the suspects, were in essence, cornered in,” said Martinez.

Ptl. Michael Moore, Ptl. Thomas Struble, Sgt. Shawn Bailey and Ptl. Andrew Kret made the stop and arrest at 1:13 a.m.  The vehicle, owned by a relative of the Holmdel suspect, has been impounded.

 "One suspect said the only reason he could offer (for the burglary) was that he needed money," Martinez said.  He said the suspects were not deemed to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and were not tested for them.

All three subjects were placed under arrest, transported to headquarters for processing, and  transported to the Monmouth County Correctional Institute, Freehold, NJ, in lieu of bail set at $50,000 each  by Judge Mary Casey JMC.