Springfield Police Arrest Man Suspected of String of Liquor Store Robberies

Springfield police have arrested a man suspected of breaking into and robbing from liquor stores in several Union County towns.

According to a Springfield police report, Michael Ayler, 45, of Elizabeth and Neptune, broke into Springfield’s Stew Leonard's Wines on May 27 at 4:40 a.m. by prying open the front doors. He reportedly quickly fled in a tan four-door sedan after finding the store’s cash register drawers were open and empty.

Springfield officers arrived shortly after Ayler reportedly left, responding to an alarm at the liquor store. Springfield Police detectives Keith Doherty and James Mirabile reviewed forensic evidence and video images from the store’s surveillance tapes and notified all police agencies in New Jersey. Police quickly surmised the same suspect was believed to have committed identical burglaries to liquors stores in Mountainside and Linden.

Detectives from all three departments worked traded information that enabled them to identify the suspect in all of the liquor store burglaries.

The suspect was identified as Michael Ayler, age 45, who has known places of residence in both Elizabeth and Neptune. Attempts to locate and arrest Ayler were initially unsuccessful, but on Wednesday, June 20, the detectives learned Ayler was due to appear in the Plainfield Municipal Court on a traffic ticket. Detectives arrested him after his court appearance.

Ayler was charged with Burglary, Criminal Mischief and the Possession or Use of Burglar Tools and was remanded to the Union County Jail in Elizabeth in lieu of $50,000 bail. He was also charged and arrested for liquor store burglaries by both the Mountainside and Linden police departments on June 20. He has an initial court appearance in the NJ Superior Court of Union County on June 27.

“As both crimes and criminals are highly transient, many times suspects may only commit a single crime in a town believing that by doing this their chances of getting arrested are very low,” Springfield Police Chief Cook said in an email. “This investigation highlights how detectives from several departments working cases together and pooling information can ultimately have each detective bring enough pieces to the puzzle which when all placed together enabled this transient type of criminal to be both identified and apprehended.”