Police, Fire & Courts

Cops: Brick Man Broke Into Scrap Metal Business Seven Times, Bit Police Officer

by
Daniel Nee
May 19, 2015

Handcuffs (Shorebeat File Photo/ banspy/ Flickr)

A Brick man is facing charges of breaking into a scrap metal business at least seven times in order to steal various amounts of scrap materials.

In addition to burglary and theft charges, Andrew R. Thomas, 39, of Rocky Mountain Road, is accused of possessing burglary tools, attempting to flee from police officers when they acted to arrest him May 16, and biting a police officer.

All of the burglaries and thefts Thomas is accused of perpetrating occurred at Lertch Wrecking, located on Belmar Boulevard in Wall Township. Thomas is accused of breaking into the business and taking various amounts of scrap metal on seven dates between April 18 and May 16, according to Monmouth County court records.

Police apparently caught up to Thomas on May 16, but when they attempted to arrest him, Thomas fled the scene and ultimately physically struck and bit a Wall Township police officer who was trying to take him into custody, according to the court filing. Thomas faces an aggravated assault charge stemming from that portion of the case.

Thomas was being held at the Monmouth County Correction Institution, Freehold, in lieu of $153,000 bail. A photo of Thomas was not available.