Man Accused of Stealing Landscaping Equipment in Mount Olive

A Long Valley man was arrested this week for a pair of thefts in the township and in Mount Olive, police said.

Christian Fretes-Silguero, 21, is now being held at the Morris County Correctional Facility in lieu of $30,000 bail with no 10 percent option for an alleged theft that occurred in the township, Officer Michael Russell said. Some of the items in Fretes-Silguero’s possession, however, matched the description of a Mount Olive burglary last week, Russell said.

A Mount Olive business owner on East Forest Road told police about $2,800 worth of landscaping equipment—three chainsaws, a saw, weed-whacker, and backpack leaf-blower—were all stolen from a motor vehicle trailer, Russell said.

Mt. Olive Detective Sgt. Lou Sanchez and Detective Cpl. Jessica Groblewski were contacted by Washington Township Police to say they had a suspect in custody, Russell said.

Upon arrival to Washington Township Police headquarters, Sanchez and Groblewski interviewed Fretes-Silguero  and the man confessed to the burglary on Hacklebarney Road in addition to burglaries in Mount Olive and Stanhope, police said.  Detective Thomas Falleni was able to recover proceeds from all three burglaries, police said. 

Fretes-Silguero was turned over to Mount Olive Township Police Department and remanded to the Morris County Correctional Facility.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Fretes-Silguero was from Washington Township in Warren County.

For questions about this post, please email jason.koestenblatt@patch.com.