Police Chase: Rochelle Park Officers Nab Postal Box 'Fishing' Thieves, Feds Interested

A pre-dawn police chase ended Friday when a trio Rochelle Park officers caught a group of thieves from Queens believed to be members of a large metropolitan-area ring that fishes checks and cash from postal boxes, authorities said.

FROM LEFT: Justin Taria-Lawrence Ysaguirre, Raymond R. Thomas, Jaylen Isiah-Unique-Nyrell White
Photo Credit: *MUGSHOTS: Courtesy Rochelle Park PD*

Jerry DeMarco

02/15/2019 12:01 p.m.

Officer Brian Gallina spotted the three tampering with a group of boxes on Rochelle Avenue just after 5 a.m., Police Chief Robert Flannelly said.

“They were using a Snapple bottle with a ribbon tied around it wrapped in a sticky pad,” the chief said.

Seeing the officer, they immediately took off in a car parked nearby, leading a chase down Route 17 that ended in Lodi, Flannelly said.

Gallina and Officer Nick Mercoun and Jorge Orihuela grabbed all three, he said.

Two of them were being sent to the Bergen County Jail on charges that include theft and eluding: Jaylen Isiah-Unique-Nyrell White, 19, and Justin Taria-Lawrence Ysaguirre, 20, the chief said.

Released under New Jersey’s 2017 bail reform law was Raymond R. Thomas, 19.

Investigators from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service were investigating along with borough police.

Click here to follow Daily Voice Hackensack and receive free news updates.