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An off-duty Ocean Township police officer arrested a 27-year-old Asbury Park man who fled on bicycle after he was confronted by the occupant of an Oak Avenue residence police say he attempted to burglarize, according to a news release from Ocean police.

Township police received a call alerting them to the burglary attempt shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday.

The intruder, 27-year-old Asbury Park resident Robert McAlonie, encountered an occupant in the Oak Avenue residence he had entered in the Wanamassa section of the township and fled on a bicycle.

Police Capt. Earl Gifford, who was not on duty at the time, overheard the radio transmission and the subject’s description and tracked him down on Sunset Avenue in the area of Asbury Park High School. The man was positively identified as McAlonie, the home intruder, the release stated.

McAlonie is also a suspect in a separate burglary on North Wanamassa Drive that occurred earlier this year along with other burglaries in Deal and Interlaken, the release stated.

McAlonie was charged with two counts of burglary from Ocean Township and two counts of burglary and one count of theft in Deal.

Bail was set at $50,000 with no option to post ten percent by Ocean Township Municipal Court Judge Timothy McGoughran.

He was transported to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in Freehold where he awaits a future court hearing, according to the state department of corrections website. 

McAlonie is on currently on parole from a December 2012 burglary incident that occurred in Union County.

Officers Jason Lester, Daniel Weber, Mark Powoski, Casey Larrison and Sgt. Brendan Bruther were also involved in the incident.

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