10 days, 3 towns, 3 house break-ins: Somerset teen arrested

🚨 An 18-year-old Somerset man is charged in three home invasion burglaries across Somerset County.

🏠 The break-ins happened in Bernards Township, Green Brook and Bridgewater over just 10 days.

⚠️ A Bridgewater victim was assaulted, injured and had her cellphone taken to prevent her from calling 911, prosecutors said.

A Somerset County teenager has been arrested and charged in connection with a trio of home invasion burglaries last month, Prosecutor John P. McDonald announced.

The home burglaries occurred over the course of 10 days in Bridgewater, Bernards Township and Green Brook Township, and Mohamadu J. Betts, 18, of Somerset, has been identified as the suspect in all three, McDonald said.

Three Somerset County home invasions in 10 days

The first burglary unfolded on Monday, Oct. 19, at approximately 9:32 p.m. in Bernards Township. Police responded to a home on Whitenack Road in Basking Ridge after a resident came home to find a shattered basement window with possible blood droplets and the home ransacked.

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The resident told police a jewelry box containing costume jewelry was taken. Surveillance footage showed the suspect had short blonde and brown dreadlocks.

Three days later on Thursday, Oct. 22, at approximately 2:21 p.m., officers from the Green Brook Township Police Department responded to a report of a suspicious man trying to break through the front door of a house on Warrenville Road.

That same individual was reported to have been seen sitting across the street from the residence for quite some time, McDonald said. The man was described as wearing a black jacket, dark pants, black sneakers, a half-lid motorcycle helmet, a balaclava covering his mouth, and a bracelet.

When police arrived, the suspect was gone. But about a half hour later, Green Brook police received another call that the same man returned to the residence and had entered the home through an unlocked window.

In this incident, the resident reported that costume jewelry and $800 in cash were taken.

Bridgewater home invasion victim assaulted and injured

The third and final burglary took place a week later on Thursday, Oct. 29, just before 10 a.m. in Bridgewater.

Police responded to a 911 call about a home invasion on Chimney Rock Road. The victim reported the suspect had assaulted her, left her with a laceration on her wrist, took her cell phone to stop her from calling 911, then took about $2,850 worth of jewelry from the home before fleeing on a dirt bike-style e-bike.

She said the suspect was wearing a black helmet, black mask, black and grey jacket, black shoes, and a bracelet similar to the one reported in the Oct. 22 Green Brook home burglary.

Somerset teenager arrested in all three burglaries

A joint investigation from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office, Bernards Township, Green Brook and Bridgewater police departments led to the identification of Betts in all three incidents.

On Wednesday, Nov. 4, Betts was arrested in Edison. He was charged with two counts of first-degree home invasion burglary, two counts of second-degree burglary, third-degree theft, and third-degree and fourth-degree criminal mischief.

Jail is pending following a court hearing on this matter.

Anyone with information regarding these burglaries should contact the SCPO Burglary Unit at 908-231-7100.

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