Crime & Safety

21-Year Old's Crime Spree Also Included Old Bridge, Police Say

James Jeffrey, 21, formerly of Aberdeen has now been charged with holding up a 7-Eleven and a a taxicab driver in Old Bridge.

The list of criminal charges facing 21-year old James Jeffrey continues to grow. 

The former Cliffwood Beach resident who police say held a pocket knife to a female cashier's throat to rob the Matawan Quick-Chek late Saturday night, then tried to break into a Matawan residence at the crack of dawn on Sunday, stole a motorcycle, then crashed in Belford Monday fleeing a police stop and wound up in the hospital, is now being fingered for two crimes that happened earlier in nearby Old Bridge. 

James Jeffrey is now charged with using a knife to hold up the 7-Eleven on Morristown Road around 6:13 a.m. on Saturday, as well as a cab driver back on March 26.

Capt. Arthur Carullo of the Old Bridge Police Dept. said Jeffrey threatened a male cashier at the 7-11 with a pocket knife, demanded all the cash in the drawer, three packs of cigarettes and three $10 scratch off lottery games before fleeing the area. 

Old Bridge Police say he also is the man who held up a taxicab driver on March 26, demanding cash and a cellphone, while brandishing a silver blade, wooden-handle kitchen knife before exiting the cab at Daleron Place at Alexandria Parkway, outside the Bridgepoint at Harbor Heights development. 

Old Bridge Police Detectives Michael Blahota and Michael Machen were alerted to Jeffrey's arrest by Matawan Police Detective Joseph Lovallo. Matawan Police said Jeffrey admitted to the 7-Eleven break-in in an interview.

Old Bridge Police charged Jeffrey with two counts of robbery by injury or threat, possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. Capt. Carullo said bail was set at $100,000, no ten percent option, or these alleged offenses.

Matawan Police charged him with the same offenses, for which his bail was set at $272,500. 

Middletown Police charged Jeffrey with receiving stolen property and eluding, said Lt. Stephen Dollinger.

In a new development announced Thursday night, Aberdeen Police said Jeffrey conspired with a Belmar man to threaten and rob a La Costera taxi cab driver at knifepoint on April 9 in Aberdeen. See April 17 article on Matawan-Aberdeen Patch.

Jeffrey told police that his most recent address was State Route 812 in Harrisville in northern NY and that he is a former resident of Cliffwood Beach in Aberdeen. According to Aberdeen Police, his last known address was on Woodland Drive.  

An arrest is not a conviction, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless found guilty in a trial. 


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