VERNON POLICE

Nov. 24 Vernon police charged Gerald W. Stadtler, 24, of Kearney, with burglary and theft of a motor vehicle. He was charged with entering then taking a Chrysler Concorde from a home on Old Coach Road in the Pleasant Valley Lake section of Vernon Township. The vehicle was taken during the early morning hours of July 19, 2009, and was later recovered in Newark, crashed on Route 21. Police linked Stadtler to the vehicle using DNA from blood recovered from a deployed airbag in the vehicle. Kearney Police arrested him on Nov. 24 after Vernon Police alerted them of the warrant. He was transported back to Vernon and lodged in the Sussex County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail set by Vernon Municipal Court Judge James Devine. A subsequent investigation connected Stadtler to a burglary of another home on Old Coach Road that occurred during the daytime hours on Sept. 17, 2009. Charges are pending in this case and the investigation is still ongoing.