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As it turned out, the masks were actually promotional knit caps with eyelet cutouts that were stolen from a van parked in an industrial part of town.
“Many different aspects combined to reach a successful conclusion,” Police Chief Robert Kugler told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “There was forensic analysis of evidence left behind, massive dissemination by various media of the video, a professional network of investigators — and the self-initiated actions of a New Jersey Transit officer.”
All images: Courtesy SADDLE BROOK PD
Saddle Brook police released a portion of the 20-minute video in the hopes of identifying the four vandals responsible for an estimated $40,000 worth of damage in the early evening on March 8.
They also released certain details — one of which caught the attention of the transit cop:
The vandals split up after completing the rampage outside the Saddle Brook Maaco Auto Body Shop on North Fifth Street. Two went in one direction and the others toward NJ Transit’s Plauderville train station in Garfield.
One of the two headed toward the station had a cast on his left wrist, while his companion wore a jersey with retired New York Rangers defenseman Brian Leetch’s name and number (2) on the back.
The Kiss “mask”: a wool cap
On a hunch, NJT Officer Jason Conrad reviewed surveillance video from that night and spotted the train station pair without their masks.
“He took it upon himself to review the video and, lo and behold, there they were,” Kugler said. “The new Plauderville station is state-of-the-art, and so is its surveillance cameras. They walked right past without their masks on.”
Working on the assumption that the youths could be from Garfield, police began knocking on doors.
A visit early this evening turned up the boy in the cast, the chief said. An Elmwood Park boy was also detained. The other two are from Garfield and Rochelle Park.
(NOTE: Juveniles in New Jersey aren’t technically “arrested.” They’re “detained” and issued complaints to be answered in the Family Part of Superior Court.)
Paul Stanley of Kiss
Kugler noted that the promoter whose van was burglarized saw the original story about the vandals and went to tell police of the thefts.
More than two dozen hats in all were taken after someone broke into the vehicle, parked off Midland Avenue near the railroad tracks, he said.
“We were this close to releasing an image of the hats, hoping that someone would put two and two together,” the chief told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “But it turned out that wasn’t necessary.
“Garfield police put in a tremendous amount of manpower as did our department, including Detective Sgt. Tom Johnson,” he said. “Between the transit officer and a network of Sgt. Johnson working with Garfield Officers Marc Amos and Mario Pozo, it all came together.”
ALSO SEE: With car vandals caught, Saddle Brook police seek stolen Kiss hats
The vandals — wearing masks similar to the painted face of Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley — can be seen in the video wielding metal pipes, a shovel, a fire extinguisher and cans of white-colored spray paint.
The group spray-painted profanity and crude symbols on the vehicles, which also had their windshields and windows smashed and bodies dented.
The van the Kiss hats were stolen from
At one point, the alarm sounds on a 2010 Mercedes Benz S400 and the quartet runs off — only to return and resume the onslaught after the alarm stops moments later. At another, two of them chest-bump.
Managers called police after finding the Saturday wreckage that Monday morning.
Saddle Brook Maaco is located in a desolate area off Route 46 near the NJ Transit tracks.
It can’t be seen from the residential areas of Fifth Street and is easily accessible through the railroad property, the deputy chief said.
Police had some clues to work with: fingerprints taken from two of the cars, as well as a shovel the marauders left behind as they fled across the tracks.
ALL IMAGES: Courtesy SADDLE BROOK PD
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