Alleged Stalker Was Spurned Would-Be Lover, Say Toms River Police

Infatuation with a Toms River woman allegedly drove a township man to stalk and threaten her - and take police on a wild chase.

David Agatielli, 37, is charged with terroristic threats, eluding police, driving with a suspended license and other charges resulting from events that unfolded last Thursday, according to Toms River investigators.

Police responding to the Parkridge apartments at 11:30 PM on June 13 were met by a 42-year-old woman claiming that a man, identified as Agatielli, was trying to break in her door.

Agatielli raced away in a Buick Lucerne, driving over parking-lot medians, grass and a curb onto Park Crest Drive with officers in pursuit, authorities said.

He ran a stop sign and barreled up James Street to Route 166, nearly clipping a car driven by Officer Sean Smith, authorities said. They stopped the chase and obtained a warrant for Agatielli's arrest.

In an ensuing discussion with the victim a short time later, the victim told Smith that the two were longtime friends but that Agatielli sought a deeper relationship and began trailing her, investigators said.

According to police, an eyewitness described him kicking her door and screaming that he would have someone enter the house and shoot her with a shotgun.

Two days later, in the afternoon of June 15, a bystander on Agatielli's home street of Mount Hood Lane reported to police that he was acting suspiciously.

He was arrested and placed in the Ocean County Jail, with bail set at $30,000.