Three brothers nabbed in car thefts, break-ins
Borough residents charged in Jan.-Feb. crime spree
BY BRIAN DONAHUE
Staff Writer

SPOTSWOOD - Police have arrested three brothers who live in town in connection with the recent rash of motor vehicle thefts and burglaries in the borough.

Anthony J. Prisco, 40, Christopher P. Prisco, 32, and James S. Prisco, 29, were charged following a five-week police investigation of car burglaries and thefts that took place in Spotswood between Jan. 19 and Feb. 21.

Police connected the suspects to motor vehicle break-ins and thefts on Brooklyn Avenue, Adirondack Avenue, Hudson Avenue, Ellenel Boulevard and Wyoming Avenue.

Anthony was charged with two counts of vehicle theft and possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia.

Christopher was charged with one count of vehicle theft, four counts of burglary to vehicles, three counts of attempted vehicle thefts, failure to appear in court, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

James was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and failure to appear in municipal court.

Police said the failure to appear warrants were for unanswered offenses in Spotswood Municipal Court.

Anthony and Christopher were each held at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center, North Brunswick, on $10,000 bail, while James' bail was set at $500, according to Spotswood police.

The charges stem from incidents dating to late January, when a Toyota pick-up truck was stolen from the front of a home on Brooklyn Avenue, and was later found by Newark police abandoned in that city. The same weekend, there was an attempted theft of a work van parked in front of a Hudson Avenue home, police said, and an unsuccessful attempt to hot-wire a Nissan Altima outside an Adirondack Avenue residence. In that case, the suspect made off only with the victim's cell phone.

Other instances were a Feb. 12 motor vehicle theft reported on Wyoming Avenue. The resident told police he had parked the vehicle in his driveway at 9 a.m. and went inside the house. Five minutes later, the car was gone.

On Feb. 21, a resident of Ellenel Boulevard reported his 1995 Ford dump truck, with a snow plow and sander attached, stolen from in front of his home.

Spotswood Police Sgt. Chris Bierman said the suspects would use the stolen vehicles for transportation to get to and from the Newark area, where police believe they were involved in drug transactions.

Though the brothers live in the same Spotswood home, none of the reported crimes took place on their street. The break-ins and thefts occurred on nearby blocks, Bierman said.

He credited the arrests to excellent police work and help from the community. The investigating officers were detectives Gene Scheicher and Joseph Vitale.

"This was an ongoing investigation. As soon as the break-ins started happening, we aggressively went after trying to solve the crime," Bierman said.

Police received more than one anonymous call about "suspicious people" that ultimately helped in the investigation, he said.

"Without the public's help and the diligent efforts of the police officers, we would not have been able to solve this as quickly as we did," Bierman said.