Marlboro Resident Charged In Ocean Twp Residential Robbery

MARLBORO, NJ - A Marlboro resident and varsity baseball player at Monmouth University was arrested and charged last week after allegedly breaking into an Ocean Township residence. Anthony J. Brienza, 19, was arrested and charged with robbery, burglary, theft and possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to an alert issued by the Ocean Township Police Department, surveillance video showed the Monmouth University student entering an Old Farm Road house through an unsecured door in the early morning hours of Sept. 13. Brienza then attempted to dismantle the security system, grabbed items from the household and ultimately fought the homeowner inside the master bedroom.

Officers from the Ocean Township Police Department responded to the scene at approximately 4:53 a.m. after the homeowner reported an unknown person inside the residence. Brienza was detained by the homeowner when authorities arrived to the scene.

Although the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office requested that the Marlboro man be held at Monmouth County Jail, Superior Court Judge Paul X. Escandon ordered his release at a Thursday virtual hearing, according to the Asbury Park Press.

Escandon mandated that Brienza must abstain from alcohol or drugs, undergo a substance evaluation and report to a probation officer.

At the virtual hearing, Escandon reportedly told Brienza that he was kept awake all night after reading reports of Brienza’s “bizarre and disturbing” case and that if the altercation with the homeowner had played out differently, Brienza “could have had had his head blown off.”

“If you so much as spit on the sidewalk or violate any of these conditions, you’re going right back to jail,” Escandon told Brienza, according to the Asbury Park Press.

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