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A 27-year-old Neptune man was arrested Monday and charged in connection with four burglaries in the Wanamassa section of Ocean Township, according to a news release from Ocean Township Police.

Just before 3 p.m. police received a call from woman reporting her teenage son heard a knock at the front door of their Sunset Avenue home, the release said.

After the initial knock, the teen heard a loud noise from the rear of the home and was confronted in the hallway by an intruder who had forcibly entered the residence, the release said.

The intruder was seen leaving the area on a bicycle after he fled the home, the release said.

Responding authorities set up a perimeter and the bicycle, which had been abandoned, was located through the assistance of a Tinton Falls Police K-9 unit, the release said.

Ocean Township Police Officer Kathleen DeLanoy saw a man that matched the description of the individual in a taxi cab within the area, the release said.

An investigation identified the man in the cab as Nicholas Zimerla, who was found to be the individual who broke into the Sunset Avenue home as well as three other homes in the area that same day, the release said.

Zimerla was arrested and charged with four counts of burglary, three counts of theft, three counts of criminal mischief and one count of possession of a prescription legend drug [hydrocodone], the release said. He was transferred to Monmouth County Correctional Institution in lieu of $95,000 bail with no 10 percent option.

Anyone with information in regard to the incident is asked to contact the Ocean Township Police Detective Bureau at 732-531-1800.

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