Livingston Township police are investigating a string of burglaries that occurred overnight on November 5.
According to police, Mr. Sahmir Hughes, 23, of Newark broke into multiple occupied homes during the night in an attempt to rob them. He also stole a vehicle from one of the residences while fleeing from the homeowner.
Police report that on Thursday at approximately 1:20 a.m. a resident of Beverly Road was awakened by a noise in his home. The homeowner went to investigate and found a man in his living room trying to steal a TV.
According to the investigation, the burglar had climbed in through a kitchen window. When confronted, the intruder fled the house and got into the homeowner's Infiniti Q50 using a key he had stolen from the home. The thief fled the area in the stolen car.
According to police, around 2:20 a.m., while officers were at the Beverly Road residence, they received a call of another burglary in progress on South Ashby Avenue.
Police report that when officers arrived on South Ashby they discovered the Infiniti Q50 that had been stolen from Beverly Road parked in front of the house.
Officers saw a man leaving the house and approaching the Infiniti. Officers ordered the man to stop but he ran from the officers. After a brief foot chase, he was taken into custody.
Police report that a flat-screen television, computer monitors and gaming systems were found in the stolen car. One of the gaming systems was found to have been stolen in a third residential burglary that was committed overnight, on Dorothy Avenue.
The investigation revealed that the burglar had entered through a window at the Dorothy Avenue home.
According to authorities, the burglar, who was later identified as Hughes was charged with multiple counts of burglary, theft, criminal mischief, credit card theft, possession of Suboxone, MV theft and resisting arrest.
He was also found to have an outstanding warrant from the Essex County Sheriffs Office. Hughes was transported to the Essex County Jail and his charges were referred to the Essex County Prosecutors Office.