MyCentralJersey

WOODBRDIGE – An Ocean County man was arrested Thursday and charged with stealing up to 1,600 N95 masks from a township business that were intended for a hospital donation.

Kevin Brady, 49, of Point Pleasant Beach, has been charged with one count of theft by unlawful taking and one count of conspiracy to commit theft, Middlesex County Acting Prosecutor Christopher L.C. Kuberiet and Woodbridge Police Director Robert Hubner said in a release.

Brady was charged after a joint investigation by the New Jersey State Police – Cargo Theft Task Force, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, the Woodbridge Police Department, and the Point Pleasant Beach Police Department, based on a referral from the National Hoarding & Price-Gouging Task Force headed by New Jersey U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito, according to the release.

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The investigation determined between March 27 to April 1, Brady was employed as an on-site electrician and was working at Prudential Financial in the Iselin section of the township. During his employment, he had unrestricted access to the Prudential offices and allegedly entered a caged storage area in the basement and stole seven to eight cases of N95 respirator masks; each case contained 200 masks, the release said.

Prudential Financial had intended to donate the masks to a local hospital at the time the theft was discovered, the release said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Brian Vella of the Woodbridge Police Department at 732-634-7700.

Authorities ask COVID-19 fraud, hoarding, or price-gouging be reported to the National Center for Disaster Fraud’s National Hotline at 866-720-5721 or email disaster@leo.gov.