The Curious Case of NJ State Senator's Ray Lesniak's Break-In

Let's just say that the police are investigating the matter further is a polite way of saying that what New Jersey State Senator Ray Lesniak said occurred the other night doesn't totally add up.

Alone in his ranch house, state Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Union) said he was awakened in the early morning hours Saturday by a rustling noise.
Raymond Lesniak

He opened his eyes to two figures standing a few feet away in his darkened bedroom. The young men had appeared as surprised as he was, Lesniak said -- perhaps because they had expected the house in a quiet residential section of Elizabeth to be empty.

"Shoot him," one robber said. The other disagreed. "No, no, stay cool," Lesniak recalled him saying.

Lesniak, 62, who said he never saw a gun, lost cash, a cellular phone and the keys to his car, before the pair fled.

Police labeled the home invasion "highly unusual." Lesniak's neighborhood, consisting mostly of stately colonial homes near Kean University, is usually peaceful, although it borders a high-crime area around the Oakwood Plaza apartment complex.

Lt. Andrew King said the two men had broken in through a basement window, removing its plastic cover and smashing the glass. They apparently rummaged through several basement closets before climbing to the ground floor, when they encountered Lesniak.

"We just want some money -- just don't do anything crazy," Lesniak recalled one saying, as he lay in bed. "We're good people, we're just in a bad place right now."

He claims that two assailants broke into his Elizabeth, New Jersey home, and while they had time to chat with him for several minutes, and Lesniak showed them into the kitchen where he stashed his money and car keys, the robbers didn't take a Rolex watch or the car. They did take his Blackberry.

Lesniak then claims that he walked several blocks to the closest fire station where he called police since he doesn't have a regular land-line at his home (and he claimed the robbers took his Blackberry).

With all that time, do we have a description of the assailants and why did Lesniak not attempt to call on his neighbors to call the police, which would have given the police a chance to catch the robbers. Instead, the delay gave the robbers time to make their getaway - and to commit more crime down the road.

Meanwhile, ABC News notes that the robbers apparently broke in through a basement window, and took a cellphone, cash, and the keys to his car.

Here's hoping that the robbers are caught.