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Manhunt: 12-Hour Search Ends In Franklin Lakes Following Fair Lawn Burglary, Pursuit, Crash

What began as a home burglary in Fair Lawn ended with a crash in Franklin Lakes and the arrest of the driver exactly 12 hours later.

Paul E. Carter

Paul E. Carter

Photo Credit: Boyd A. Loving (file photos) / BCJ (mugshot)

An out-of-town resident reported remotely seeing two burglars on a security camera in her Koenig Court home just off Route 208 at 8:06 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20, Fair Lawn Police Sgt. Eric Eleshewich said.

The superintendent arrived and saw the pair flee through a living-room window, the sergeant said.

Responding officers rolled up on two men and a vehicle parked on northbound Route 208 moments later.

The driver got back into the car and sped off, leaving his partner, who ran away, Eleshewich said.

Officer James Iandoli spotted the car near the North Colonial Road exit ramp off the highway moments after an alert to surrounding law enforcement agencies was broadcast, Capt. Mark McCombs said.

A brief pursuit followed.

Iandoli briefly lost sight of the vehicle on High Mountain Road, then discovered it crashed and disabled on private property, McCombs said.

The driver was gone.

Police from Wyckoff, Oakland and North Haledon joined an intense manhunt that included a Bergen County Sheriff’s Department K-9 Unit and a New Jersey State Police helicopter.

They searched through the night and after the sun rose on Thursday, to no avail.

Then Franklin Lakes police got a call -- at 8:06 a.m. -- of a suspicious person on Summit Avenue.

They rushed to the area and seized Paul E. Carter, 38, of Jersey City.

Carter, who had an outstanding warrant from Union Township, was charged by Franklin Lakes police with evading and hindering apprehension, then was turned over to their colleagues in Fair Lawn.

They charged Carter with burglary, theft, eluding and criminal mischief, then sent him to the Bergen County Jail.

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