Friday Briefs From WOBM News

News from around Ocean County and New Jersey.

WALL  (AP) -- New Jersey Natural Gas says it will cut customers' bills this winter as natural gas supply costs drop. The company, which is a unit of New Jersey Resources, says it will offer to credit residential and small business customers' bills for gas usage between December 1st and January 31st.

TOMS RIVER - The body of a Toms River businessman is discovered by a fisherman on the shore in Avon early Thursday morning. The victim is identified as 41-year-old Paul Tran, the owner of a nail salon in Toms River. Monmouth County prosecutors say they're trying to determine the cause of Tran's death but don't believe it's suspicious.

BARNEGAT - Sweet Jenny's restaurant is back in business after being destroyed by fire last year. Reports say, the popular Barnegat food establishment was reopened in the historic Hurricane House on East Bay Avenue, considered to be one of the oldest ice cream parlors in Ocean County.

BRICK - A Brick Township resident's front door is kicked in during an attempted daytime house burglary. Reports say, last Friday, a female resident on Lanes Mill Road first heard a knock at the front door at around 11:15 before a male suspect kicked the door open and stepped inside. Police say the young white male suspect fled when he saw the resident. Neighbors are urged to report suspicious activity.

FREEHOLD - A former Freehold attorney is facing charges of bilking $200,000 from a client. The Monmouth County prosecutor says Deidre Przygoda of Freehold is charged with theft and misapplication of entrusted property. Allegedly the attorney was given money by a client to refinance their mortgage which she diverted from business escrow to a personal account. She was released on $35,000 bail. If convicted of either charge, Przygoda faces a maximum sentence of 10 years.

MANALAPAN - Two men are in the hospital after an in ground pool they were working on in Manlapan, fell onto them from a crane. Police say two employees of LGD Contracting, identified only as a 25 year old Howell resident and a 38 year old from Point Pleasant, were leveling the ground below the pool when it fell injuring both men. They were flown to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunsick with non life threatening injuries.

BARNEGAT - Suspicious activity lands three southern Ocean County men on the wrong side of the law in Barnegat. Police say that the behavior of James Minarik of Barnegat, John Hammell of Manahawkin and brandon Carroll of Waretown prompted members of the narcotics unit to accost them on Burr Street at Railroad Ave. Investigators say all three were found holding heroin. Minairik was charged with possession, distribution and intent. Hammell and Carroll were given possession counts.

WASHINGTON D.C. - US military veterans who meet skills for jobs in the Department Of The Interior would get preference for openings, if a proposal by shore congressman Jon Runyan is enacted. The Republican's amendment is tacked onto a bill that reorganzies the Mineral Management Service within the Interior, approved Thursday by the House Natural Resources Committee.

ASBURY PARK - The new developers of Asbury Park's Esperanza development plan a smaller and more detailed project than the original. I-Star Financial Vice President of Quality Development Brian Cherpika Thursday told the city's Chamber of Commerce that the project is of great value to the firm and they want to get it right. I-Star envisions a condo complex rising no more than eight stories, with streetside landscaping upgrades twenty-eight townhomes on asbury avenue are due for completion in late 2012.

NEWARK - The last of eight defendants to plead guilty to a gunpoint robbery spree through Woodbridge, Milltown, Livingston and New York in 2009 is given 145 months in prison. Twenty-five-year-old Raffaele Danise was sentenced Thursday in Newark. Another defendant, 30-year-old Brian Parolin of Freehold, took a 79-month prison term, three years supervised release and a $3000 dollar fine.

NEWARK - An Ohio man with business and law degrees faces up to 20 years imprisonment on each of six counts of distributing kiddie porn in New Jersey by mail. Twenty-six-year-old Andrew Cox pleaded guilty Thursday in a Newark federal courtroom. Monmouth County detectives led by prosecutor Peter Warshaw assisted in Cox's arrest. He admitted sending catalogs last April and mailing videos six times in May and June, taking payment through Paypal. Cox also surrendered his computer and accessories.