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Alert staff leads police to ex-con lurking outside grade school

CLIFFVIEW PILOT HAS IT FIRST: Fair Lawn police this morning arrested an ex-con who they said wandered around outside a grade school, a month after he’d gone inside looking for things to steal. A sergeant credited “the vigilance of school staff” and “a timely 911″ call that led to his arrest blocks away.

Photo Credit: Cliffview Pilot

Edward Proctor

The call came in at 7:46 a.m., Sgt. Richard Schultz said. When officers arrived at Lyncrest Elementary School, staff told them that the man — identified, ironically, as Edward Proctor — also showed up at the school on Sept. 27, claiming he was checking on his nephew, the sergeant said.

“Proctor was seen by a member of the school staff this morning walking around the school grounds,” Schultz said this afternoon. “The school staff continued to watch [him] as he walked around the school and was able to provide police with a detailed description of him as well as the vehicle he drove away in.”

Officers Sean Macys, Mark Wyka, and Sean Nagle, along with Detective Lt. Michael Uttel and Detective Jeffrey Welsh searched the school and the surrounding area.

Macys stopped Proctor’s car moments later at Plaza and Cambridge Roads.

A published media report quotes a school official mistakenly saying that robbery was Proctor’s motive.

Actually, it was theft, police said.

The 6-foot-2-inch Proctor, 38, who was released from custody in March after serving a four-month sentencing for criminal trespassing, admitted that he was looking for “readily available” items to steal, such as pocketbooks, wallets and cell phones, Schultz said.

Proctor was released without bail and has an Oct. 26 court appearance scheduled.

“The school staff should be commended for their quick response in obtaining detailed information which they gave to police in a timely manner,” Schultz said.



 


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