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Moonachie Police Officer Scott Lemongello viewed the footage from a neighboring building on Hollister Road in Teterboro soon after the theft early Sunday, Oct. 9.
It showed Christopher Mason, 58, most recently of Morrisville, PA, pulling up in a van, parking and then heading into the lot next door, where he began testing door handles on parked trucks, Police Chief Richard Behrens said.
Finding one open, he disconnected a trailer and drove off with its tractor, the chief said.
Mason abandoned the stolen truck in Newark before catching a ride back to the area to retrieve his van, Behrens said.
As luck would have it, Lemongello was still there.
The officer stopped the van on Route 46 and arrested Mason – who, it turns out, had been wanted on warrants out of Westhampton Township and Bucks County in Pennsylvania.
He also didn’t have a valid driver’s license, the chief said.
Mason’s local criminal record stretches back to the early 90s. It includes arrests mostly for burglary, theft, drugs in several Bergen County towns, as well as for probation violations, records show.
Moonachie police charged Mason with theft and with being a fugitive from justice. He remained held Wednesday, Oct. 12, in the Bergen County Jail pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court.
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