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Officers responding to a break-in at what was then the Happy Diner on Broad Avenue in 2018 found a damaged and emptied cash register outside the Honey Pig Bossam next door, Detective Sgt. Alex Monteleone said.
They contacted the owners of both businesses, one of whom reported finding an iPad and $100 missing – along with a soda can that had been left on a counter, he said.
Sgt. Sean Cotrrell secured the can, which was sent to the New Jersey State Police DNA Laboratory.
After three years, police recently got word that a match was found.
James Joseph Vietzen, 36, of Ridgefield has a criminal history that began soon after he turned 18. That fall, he and two others hit a Ridgefield man with a bottle and robbed him in Leonia. He was charged with first-degree robbery and aggravated assault.
Over the years, he’s been busted for drugs, burglary, theft, resisting arrest and shoplifting, among other offenses.
Vietzen has been in custody since last August. He was sent to state prison last October to continue serving a three-year maximum term for another Palisades Park break-in from 2018.
That same year, Palisades Park police also charged him and an alleged accomplice with trying to fence shoplifted steak on Craigslist.
SEE: Palisades Park PD: Repeat Offender Couple Tried Selling Stolen Steak On Craigslist
During an interview with Monteleone and Detective Martin Kim at Trenton State Prison, Vietzen “admitted her was there” the night of the burglaries. But that’s as far as he’d go, the sergeant said.
Monteleone and Kim ended up charging Vietzen with two counts each of burglary and theft.
Capt. Shawn Lee, the department's officer in charge, said the results -- beginning with the work officers did in 2018 through the follow-up by detectives -- show commitment and dedication.
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