>Crime Scene Middletown: Arrest Made In Burglary Case And Other Recent Activity Around Town From The Week 5/10/11 – 5/16/11

>PREPARED BY DETECTIVE LIEUTENANT STEPHEN DOLLINGER

On May 10, 2011 Detective Adam Finck arrested Corey Throckmorton, age 25, who currently resides at Wagoner Prison in Bordentown, NJ, for Burglary, Theft and Criminal Mischief in connection with a burglary that took place on March 5, 2008 at the Raceway Gas Station located on Highway 35 in Middletown.

Throckmorton was charged after evidence found at the scene at the time of the burglary linked him to the crime.

On May 10, 2011 at approximately 8:35 pm Sgt. John Werner was on patrol in the area of McMahon Park when he observed a suspicious person in the area of the hockey rink. Sgt. Werner approached the subject, a 16 year old male juvenile, and conducted an investigation which resulted in the discovery of a switchblade knife with a brass knuckle handle being found on the juvenile.

The juvenile was placed under arrest and was transported to police headquarters where he was charged with Possession of a Prohibited Weapon. He was processed and released to his parents.

On May 11, 2011 at approximately 4:45 pm Patrolman Jason Caruso assisted the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Task Force Bayshore Unit with arresting Andrew Mullins, age 24, from Monmouth Parkway in Middletown on warrants signed by the task force. The officer located Mullins at his residence and took him into custody.

While arresting Mullins, Officer Caruso located a baggie which contained Marijuana and a glass pipe used to smoke Marijuana in the bedroom where Mullins was taken into custody. The officer conducted a further investigation which resulted in the arrests of Christopher Duley, age 20, from Doris Lane in Middletown and Ryan Dunn, age 29, from Walnut Street in Keyport, NJ, who were also present in the room.

All three subjects were transported to police headquarters. Duley and Dunn were each charged with Possession of under 50 grams of Marijuana and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and were released pending a court date. Mullins was charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Possession of under 50 grams of Marijuana, Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance, Possession of a Prescription Legend Drug and Distribution of a Controlled Dangerous Substance.

On May 13, 2011 at approximately 12:50 am Patrolman James Beirne and Corporal Bernie Chenoweth responded to the area of Apple Farm Road in reference to a subject who was refusing to pay his cab fare and who was screaming at the cab driver.

Upon arrival the officers located the subject, Brendan Corridon, age 30, from Corn Lane in Middletown, who was intoxicated and was yelling at the cab driver while attempting to strike him with his fists. Corridon was placed under arrested and was transported to police headquarters where he was charged with Disorderly Conduct. He was processed and released pending a court date.

On May 13, 2011 at approximately 1:00 pm police responded to Middletown High School North in reference to an assault that had taken place in the assistant principal’s office. Upon arrival Patrolman Charles Higgins was advised that a 17 year old female student had walked into the office and had assaulted a 16 year old female student.

Patrolman Higgins conducted an investigation which resulted in the 17 year old female being charged with Simple Assault. She was arrested and transported to police headquarters where she was processed and released to her mother.

On May 13, 2011 at approximately 9:00 pm Patrolman Frank Mazza and Detective Lieutenant Stephen Dollinger were assigned to the Cops in Shops detail at the Old Village Pub when they observed a subject enter the store and purchase Jack Daniels Whiskey and Budweiser beer. The officers recognized the subject, identified as Robert Lo, age 19, from Jersey Avenue in Middletown and knew that he was not old enough to purchase alcohol.

The officers conducted an investigation and determined that Lo had used a fake New York driver’s license to make the purchase. The officers also determined that Lo had received money from two 15 year old juveniles and one 16 year old juvenile to purchase the alcohol for them.

All four subjects were placed under arrest and were transported to police headquarters for processing. Lo was charged with Purchasing Alcohol Underage and Purchasing Alcohol for others who are underage. He was processed and released pending a court date. The three juveniles were charged with having someone else purchase alcohol for them while being under the legal age to possess alcohol. The three juveniles were processed and released to their parents pending a court date.

On May 14, 2011 at approximately 2:35 am Patrolman James Beirne was on patrol in the area of Highway 36 when he observed the driver of a vehicle not wearing her seatbelt . Officer Beirne stopped the vehicle, approached the driver, identified as Virginia Finley, age 27, from Concord Avenue in Leonardo and detected a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from her breath.

Officer Beirne continued his investigation which resulted in Finley being arrested for Driving While Intoxicated. She was transported to police headquarters where she was processed and released pending a court date. Ms. Finley was also issued additional additional summonses for Failing to wear a seatbelt and Reckless Driving.

>Interesting Timing Behind Bamm Hollow Resolution

>With all the hoopla surrounding the redevelopment of the Avaya industrial site in Lincroft which is calling for 342 housing units to be built, I find a resolution on the docket for approval at tonight’s Township Committee meeting in Middletown interesting in it’s timing.

Resolution No. 11-169 , which authorizes the settlement agreement between Bamm Hollow builders and the Township, seems to be an attempt by the Township to sugarcoat the history behind the redevelopment of the Bamm Hollow Country Club property, in a way that show outspoken community groups like SONIC and the Lincroft Village Green Association that the Township Committee is really looking out for their best interests and are not really interested in building high density housing in Lincroft.

Unfortunately though we know differently.

Bamm Hollow developers originally wanted to build 200-300 homes on the site when plans were first proposed with no COAH units, I was told. The Township objected to the initial development due to the it’s size and wanted the developers to scale it back a bit.

After further discussions took place, the Township approached the Bamm Hollow developers, along with several other land owners, wanted to know if they would be interested in having their properties included in the Township’s Master Plan for residential development. Many of them (including Bamm Hollow) agreed to join the Township’s planned most of them then had their properties rezoned from commercial properties to residential (Avaya being an example).

From what I had been told, the Bamm Hollow property and the Avaya property where then (on paper) combined to make one large development. It was only after plans were leaked out that the development of the Avaya site would not include Bamm Hollow, that Bamm Hollow decided to revise their plans from 200 or so single units to the 1200 units with COAH housing.

The developers knew at the time that Middletown had failed to meet it’s COAH requirements so they decided to seek a “Builder’s Remedy” in the courts to have the property zoned to the way that they had originally wanted. The 1200 units were a bluff by the builder and would have never been built with COAH in mind because the site did not meet the conditions to satisfy COAH requirements on its own.

So now that the Bamm Hollow case has been settled in courts (pretty much to the way Bamm Hollow had originally wanted in the first place), the Township is attempting to show residents of Lincroft and the rest of the Township, that they are fighting for their best interests (after spending hundred of thousands of dollars) by fighting Bamm Hollow in the court and winning so that now, the “little” (in caparison ) 342 unit redevelopment of the Avaya property doesn’t look so big and bad to those that live in the area.

I’m sure that there will be some discussion about this tonight that will be very interesting and somewhat revealing, it will make for a great show. The meeting starts at 8:00 if you wish to attend.

>Cantalupo’s Resignation From Brookdale Exposes Shady Ties To Lillian Burry and County

>Over the weekend, front page news on the cover of the Asbury Park Press announced the resignation of Brookdale Community College Lawyer John Cantalupo.

Cantalupo job as legal counsel for Brookdale, came under intense fire from Freeholders Amy Mallett and John Curley over the past few months, when the contract details of Brookdale’s former President, Peter Burnham, came to light back in February after he criticized the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders for funding cuts that would have lead to an 8% tuition hike(since rescinded). Both Amy Mallet and Curley called for Cantalupo’s, as well as Howard Birdsall’s (Brookdale Board of Trustees President), resignation at the time.

Some at the time questioned why former Freeholder Director Lillian Burry, remained silent on the subject and seemed to be overly supportive of Burnham. Little did they know that Burry’s support for Burnham and silence on demands for Broodale trustees to step down, was driven by guilt through association rather than a need to hear the facts first.

As I first pointed out back in April, John Cantalupo and Howard Birdsall both were/are so intertwined within Monmouth County through political donations and public contracts, that Burry must have felt it wasn’t in her best interest to speak out publicly against them at the time.

I also pointed out that Cantalupo is a close personal friend of Burry’s and was until this past week, acting as her campaign treasurer for a number of years. During Cantalupo’s tenure as Brookdale’s lawyer, he negotiated the terms Peter Burnham’s Brookdale contracts. Given Cantalupo’s status as personal friend and campaign treasurer, I found it hard to believe that Burry had no idea of over the years, what was contained in Burnham’s employment contracts.

And here’s why:

Lillian Burry has sat on the Board of School Estimate since she has been a Freeholder. The Board of Estimate is comprised of three Freeholders and two Trustees and it is their responsibility to look over the budgets presented to them by college’s board of trustees. Burry consistently voted for the college’s budgets and sang songs of praise year after year, never finding flaws. These budgets contained all expenses including presidents and attorney’s contracts.

Ethically, she should never have had a seat at that table knowing her relationship with Cantalupo. She has been supporting and is embedded in all that is wrong with this system, which is interesting when you read how Cantalupo praised her, “She’s a great lady and has the highest ethical standards,” in the APP article that announced his resignation as the attorney representing the Board of Trustees and General Counsel for Brookdale.

It should be noted that Freeholder Mallet recently attended the Board of School Estimate meeting and reminded them that she called for the resignation of John Cantalupo in early April. She copied an email to all Freeholders and Board of Trustees members about it but never received a response from anyone.

The country club is still alive and well here in Monmouth County and anyone who thinks otherwise is either delusional or uninformed. The only way to change is is to support Freeholder Mallet’s petition to impose term limits on county board and commission appointees, many of whom are political insiders who have sat on these boards for twenty or more years. Having people serve on such boards for such lengths of time only leads to graft, corruption and complacency and this needs to end.

Sign the petition Here