Doors Kicked In, Rooms Ransacked in Two Home Burglaries Wednesday

Two Washington Township homes were forcibly entered and burglarized within hours of each other Wednesday, police said.

Officers responded to a residential burglar alarm at a Bartley Road residence at about noon Wednesday, Lt. Mark Niemynski said. Officers found the back door of the residence had been kicked in, Niemynski said.

The burglar then kicked in an interior garage door and went to the master bedroom, where numerous pieces of jewelry were stolen, Niemynski said.

A second burglary was reported at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday at a home on South Four Bridges Road where the front door was kicked in and bedrooms were ransacked, Niemynski said. Evidence from both scenes showed the burglaries were committed by the same person, Niemynski said.

Police would not yet comment on the total value of goods stolen and said it was too early to tell if the residential burglaries were in any way connected to a recent rash of car break-ins.

West Morris Central High School's campus is connected by Bartley and South Four Bridges roads. The first alarm went off shortly after school was let out for an early dismissal. 

Since July, car burglaries and break-ins have come in bunches, including a spree of nine one night, another of 15, another of 11, and another of eight. In October, a Mercedes Benz was stolen from a Long Valley homeowner’s driveway. Ending the month, three more cars were broken into and had computers and cash stolen from them.

In the past month, a Long Valley resident was arrested and accused of breaking into and stealing from a Fairview Avenue home, while another brazen assailant tried breaking into a Naughright Road home while the owners were present, according to police. 

Copper piping was also stripped from a vacant home on Bartley Road. 

Police are asking anyone with information to contact Det. Sgt. Chris Bratus at 908-876-8306.

For questions about this post, please email jason.koestenblatt@patch.com.