Man Broke Into Middlesex Boro Italian Restaurant, Cops Say

MIDDLESEX BOROUGH, NJ — Police say a New Brunswick man smashed a glass window at this Italian restaurant on Lincoln Blvd. early Wednesday morning and stole the restaurant's cash register.

Police were called to Jozanna’s Casual Italian Restaurant at 409 Lincoln Boulevard at 5:30 a.m. this past Wednesday, Dec. 5. The owners reported that a glass window had been shattered and an unknown individual had stolen a cash drawer earlier that morning.

That same afternoon, the Middlesex police department's detective bureau teamed up with detectives from the New Brunswick police department, who were investigating a similar “smash and grab” burglary that occurred in their city at 8:30 a.m. that day. It was quickly confirmed that the same individual was allegedly responsible for both burglaries, identified by New Brunswick police as Gabriel M. Bay, 50, of New Brunswick.

Detectives Sean Flanagan and Paul Steffanelli were able to develop intelligence from various sources that Bay was staying at a New Brunswick address and arrested him without incident at 4:40 p.m. that same day. He is charged with burglary, theft and possession of burglary tools.

Bay is currently being held at the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Facility pending an initial court appearance.

Photo: Exterior of Jozanna’s Casual Italian Restaurant via Google Earth.