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“Evidence discovered by Rutherford Detective Sgt. Michael Garner and Detective Kevin Scannell proved inconsistent with” the account given by Jose Saavedra, a 20-year-old Bergen Community College student, Russo said tonight.
“Over the course of the next several days, further investigation led to [his] admission that he fabricated the details,” the chief said.
Saavedra, who worked part-time at an area restaurant, also admtted that “he stabbed himself with his own knife,” which folds and has a plastic handle and a silver blade three to four inches long.
Police found the knife along with Saavedra, who was lying near a curb on Vreeland Avenue when they responded to his 911 call around 10 o’clock last Friday night.
He conscious and taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he was reported in stable condition, they said.
Saavedra told them he stpped his car and got out after seeing the woman in trouble, the chief said. The woman ran off and the man pulled the knife on him and demanded his wallet, he said.
After emptying the cash, the robber threw the wallet down, said he wanted the victim’s gold chain and reached for it, Saavedra told police.
He said he knocked the assailant’s hand away and was stabbed in the abdomen, Russo said tonight. The robber then ran off, Saavedra said.
Saavedra described him as white, in his early 20s, just under 6 feet tall, with an average to athletic build, black or dark medium-length hair, wearing regular fit dark jeans with a plain black hoodie.
He described the woman as white, in her early 20s, thinly built and about 5-foot-4 inches tall, with long black hair and wearing a red or maroon long-sleeve top and jeans.
Saavedra, who was still recovering from the wound, is charged with creating a false public alarm, making a false report to law enforcement and illegal weapons possession.
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