Old prints solve 1999 criminal mischief case BY CHARLES W. KIM Staff Writer SOUTH BRUNSWICK — A set of fingerprints of a security guard applicant helped solve a five-year-old case this week, according to police. South Brunswick police charged a 21-year-old man this week with breaking into an unoccupied home on Kimberley Court in 1999. The man, who was 16 at the time, was charged as a juvenile with burglary and criminal mischief, according to police spokesman Detective Jim Ryan. Police were investigating the break-in to an unfinished new home owned by AST Development Corporation of Lavallette in Ocean County. Ryan said there was between $200 and $1,000 worth of damage done to the inside of the home during the incident. According to Ryan, Patrolman Scott Reeves gathered evidence at the scene including the prints. "There was very little evidence there," Ryan said. "Reeves took his time and found the prints." Ryan said that police ran the set of prints lifted at the scene of the crime in May 1999 through the New Jersey State Police Automated Fingerprint Identification Unit last month. The statute of limitations on the crime would have expired in 22 days, Ryan said. When the prints were run through the NJSP AFIS system, a match was discovered, according to Ryan, who said the suspect had a set of prints in the system in August 2001. According to Ryan, the suspect was applying for a security guard job. "Certain professions like casino workers and health-care workers give prints," Ryan said. Ryan said that the man, now 21, seems to have changed his life since the time of the incident. "He is a different individual," he said, adding that the suspect would likely get probation and have to pay restitution if convicted.