When a burglar scampered up the driveway of a house on Swain Avenue in Toms River Tuesday evening, he had no idea that his moves were caught on surveillance cameras. He also didn't know the house he was breaking into belonged to the town's police chief.
"It is comforting as a victim to know exactly what happened, how it happened and this gives you the answer, said Toms River Police Chief Mike Mastronardy. "I just installed the cameras two weeks ago."
Police have been investigating 48 residential burglaries in Toms River over the last two weeks. And the surveillance video gave detectives just the break they needed.
"We had a vehicle description," said Toms River Police Captain Bruce Burgess. "We had the video with the clothing description and we started putting together information, pieces of the puzzle through different witnesses. And it all came together. We were very fortunate."
Two unemployed men from nearby Beechwood were arrested Wednesday night on burglary charges.
"Maybe they didn't even know that was the Chief of Police," said neighbor Maritza Ortiz. "They picked the wrong house, that's for sure. I bet they never do that again."
Chief Mastronardy's wife arrived home while the burglar was in the house. He went out the front door with some jewelry, cash and prescription medicine.
She doesn't want her face on camera, but tells me she really didn't think they needed the surveillance system at the house.
"I asked my husband, 'What's the big deal, why are we getting cameras?'" she told Action News. "He said, 'Just because. What if we could catch a guy?'"
Two weeks later they helped catch a thief.
The chief says it cost him about a thousand dollars to install the security cameras. Considering how this played out, they were worth every cent.
