Crime & Safety

Escaped Inmate Apprehended at Blackbeard's Cave In Bayville

Terrence Feeney and another man escaped from a work detail in Burlington County this afternoon; second inmate arrested in Manchester Township

Berkeley police arrested an escaped inmate from the Mid-State Correctional Facility early this evening at Blackbeard's Cave on Route 9 South in Bayville.

Terrence Feeney, 42, was apprehended around 6:45 p.m., just 10 minutes after Berkeley police received information from the Ocean County radio room that he was in the area, Police Chief Karin T. DiMichele said.

Feeney and Joseph Brandt, another inmate, were on a work detail at a military cemetery in Burlington County when they escaped around 1 p.m., said Matt Schuman, a state Department of Corrections spokesman.

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Both Feeney and Brandt were classified as full minimum custody inmates. Inmates who fall under that classification are the only ones allowed to leave the facility for work details, he said.

Brandt was seen walking along Route 539 and was taken into custody by Manchester police at 7:09 p.m., Schuman said.

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They are both being transported to New Jersey State Prison, he said.

"I guarantee you they are not escaping from there," Schuman said.

Feeney had been incarcerated since May 12, 1989. His DOC record lists a number of drug possession and distribution charges, robbery, making terroristic threats and violation of parole from a number of counties, including Middlesex, Atlantic and Cumberland.

"As a result of this, he could get another three to five years," Schuman said.

The Berkeley officers who made the Bayville arrest were Patrolmen Henry Ganski and Scott Degisi and Lt. Robert Andrews, DiMichele said.

Manchester Chief of Police Brian Klimakowksi said that Patrolman Arthur Cronk was on a patrol in Whiting when he saw Brandt emerge from a wooded area on the westbound side of Route 539. Brandt was disheveled, wearing boxer shorts and had no shoes, the chief said.

"[Cronk] knew right away that something wasn't right," Klimakowski said.

A retired Manalapan police officer also spotted the man at around the same time and ran into a Manchester auxiliary police officer at the Whiting WaWa and relayed the information to him. The two returned to the scene and assisted Cronk with the arrest as other units rushed to the scene.

Brandt appeared to be intoxicated and kicked at the patrol car's rear side window after being placed under arrest, Klimakowski said, though protective bars prevented any damage to the vehicle.


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