From Montgomery Township Police | July 16, 2025
Scammers are using technology to spoof legitimate police phone numbers and impersonate law enforcement officials to deceive residents. These scams often involve claims of outstanding warrants, unpaid fines, or missed jury duty, and demand payment via gift cards or other methods to resolve the issue, which is not how law enforcement operates.
On July 8, a Skillman resident reported receiving suspicious phone calls from someone claiming to be from the Montgomery Police Department. The phone number was a spoofed number for the police department non-emergency line.
The caller told the resident there was a warrant for his arrest. This is a common scam that attempts to coerce residents into paying money to a scammer to avoid “arrest” on a fake warrant.
Montgomery folks who receive a call from someone claiming to be from the Montgomery Police Department should know there are ways to verify the authenticity of the call.
Obtain the name, rank, and badge number of the person calling, as well as a phone number where the caller can be reached.
The resident should then call the Montgomery Police using the non-emergency number (908-359-3211), and ask to speak with a supervisor to verify the call.
On July 10, a Hillsborough resident reported the theft of two checks mailed at the Skillman Post Office. The resident informed the Montgomery Township police that the checks were altered and deposited into unauthorized accounts, totaling a loss of $7,000.
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Montgomery police responded to Parsons Court in Pike Run Village for a reported reckless driver who struck several parked cars on July 9 at about 9 pm.
Police arrested the driver, Manish Shere, 55 of Belle Mead. Police said Shere allegedly struck four vehicles while attempting to park. While speaking with Shere, officers said they determined he consumed alcoholic beverages. Police charged Shere with driving while intoxicated, refusal to submit to breath testing, reckless driving, careless driving, failure to report an accident, and driving an unregistered vehicle. Shere was transported to MTPD HQ for processing, released, and is scheduled to appear in Montgomery Municipal Court.
On July 13, at 7:37 am, Officer Shawn Dwyer arrested Joshua Bess, 39, of Princeton for an active warrant out of Princeton. Officers were aware of the active warrant, and observed Bess at the Wawa store on routes 206/518. Upon exiting, Officer Dwyer placed Bess under arrest. Bess was turned over to Princeton police.
