Police: Brick Man Assaulted Woman, Resisted Arrest

A Chambers Bridge Road man was jailed Friday after police said he assaulted a township woman.

Michael Barao, 28, was charged after police responded to a residence on the 200 block of Chambers Bridge Road on a report of an assault, police said.

Barao broke a 22-year-old woman's nose and then held her and two of her friends against their will in the victim's residence by confiscating their cell phones, police said. However, the women distracted Barao, and the alleged assault victim was able to escape to a neighbor's home, where she called police, Capt. John Rein said.

Barao fled the home before police arrived but later returned, where he was arrested. However, he failed to comply with officers' orders and kicked and flailed his arms when police attempted to take him into custody, Rein said.

Barao was charged with resisting arrest, criminal restraint and aggravated assault. He was lodged in the Ocean County Jail in lieu of $35,000 bail.

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A Lakewood man was arrested Friday after police said he stole a computer from Walmart and later fled investigating officers.

Dorian Tyler, 40, of Joe Parker Road in Lakewood, left the Route 88 store with a Dell desktop worth more than $500 just after noon Friday, police said, and fled in a white Ford Taurus.

Patrolmen Joseph Doyle and David Thergesen encountered the Taurus while on patrol and initiated a traffic stop at the Delta gas station at the intersection of Lane Mill Road and Route 88. Tyler fled on foot, but Thergesen apprehended him as he attempted to climb a fence behind the Delta station, Rein said.

Tyler was charged with shoplifting, obstruction and operating a vehicle with a suspended driver's license. He was released on his own recognizance.

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Brick police are investigating an apparent arson to furniture behind a business on Midstreams Place.

At 3 a.m. Friday, Patrolman John Pawlowicz said he observed three chairs, wood pallets and a satellite dish in flames behind 210 Midstreams Place. The fire also damaged a fence around a nearby dumpster as well as the building itself, owned by Indusco.

Surveillance footage from an adjacent property revealed a male, 5'10" to 6'0" tall, wearing jeans and a dark sweatshirt, walk toward where the fire was set. He departs in a four-door late-model Honda a short time later with the fire visible, police said, in the direction of Route 88. 

Investigator Ronald Pisar from the Brick Township Bureau of Fire Safety, and Brick Detective Erik Olsen are investigating. Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact Olsen at 732-262-1120.