Police: Teen Smashed Manchester Store Window, Stole Cigars

An 18-year-old from Whiting has been jailed on charges he broke into a convenience store and stole cigars, Manchester police said Tuesday.

Gary M. Feiner III of Pilgrim Court is charged with one count each of burglary, theft, criminal mischief, and obstruction of justice, and is being held at the Ocean County Jail, Toms River, in lieu of $7,500 bail, Capt. Todd Malland said.

Feiner is accused of smashing a hole in the front window of the Country Farms at 550 Route 530 about 8:30 p.m. on Monday and reaching in through hole to steal $28 worth of Swisher cigars, he said.

Manchester Patrolmen Kyle Rickvalsky and Michael Steffen responded to a commercial burglar alarm at the store and found the front door had been shattered as had the front glass window. As Rickvalsky checked the store, Steffen saw a white male carrying a blue duffel bag attempting to get away on a bicycle. Steffen pursued him through the parking lot at the Crestwood Shopping Center and across Route 530 before apprehending him in the parking lot of the CVS, Malland said.

The investigation showed a white male -- identified as Feiner -- caught on the video surveillance of several stores as he attempted to throw a large concrete landscaping block through the door of the Country Farms. When that failed, he threw a landscape rock through the window, causing a large hole. He was then seen on video reaching through the hole to grab the cigars, Malland said.

Assisting in the investigation was Detective Adam Guker of the Manchester Township Police Department’s Investigations Bureau and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigations (CSI) Unit.

(Photo Credit: Ocean County Correctional System)