Fort Lee police help Paramus catch suspect in Route 17 generators theft

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Witnesses helped police track down a suspect in the theft of $5,000 worth of portable generators from a Paramus business.

Jerry DeMarco

10/16/2013 7:37 p.m.

Police responding to the burglary call Sunday afternoon found the front door of the Tool Town store on Route 17 pried open, Paramus Police Chief Kenneth Ehrenberg said this afternoon.

Passersby who witnessed the crime gave police the license plate of a 1999 Dodge van that they said the thief was driving, Ehrenberg said. The plate number was then broadcast to area police departments.

Moments later, Fort Lee Officers Laki Pothos and Jay Makroulakis spotted and stopped the van on Route 4 eastbound near the Jones Road exit.

They took the driver — identified as 52-year-old Jose A. Portalatin-Boigue of West New York — into custody and held him for Paramus police, Ehrenberg said.

Portalatin-Boigue was being held on $15,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail, charged with burglary and theft.

#youreaditherefirst

MUGSHOT: Courtesy PARAMUS PD

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