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Both from Passaic, the accused stickup men were first spotted in Passaic outside a Dunkin Donuts — one of their more frequent targets. They were arrested after one of them went to Paterson to pay a ticket while the other waited at a nearby Wendy’s, police said. Otherwise, authorities are saving how they identified and tracked the pair for their prosecution.
Jesus Ortega, 21, and Carlos Lopez, 22, are charged with 16 stickups, including robberies at Dunkin’ Donuts shops in Paramus and Rockaway, two Radio Shock stores in Clifton, a Burger King in South Hackensack and a cell phone store in Paterson.
The weapon? A pellet gun.
Both men are being held on more than $1 million bail each at the Passaic County Jail.
The bandits had clearly been getting bolder, so police decided to pool resources and try to hunt them down before someone got hurt.
The special task force of officers from Bergen, Passaic and Morris counties had begun mapping strategy the last week of April. By month’s end, they’d hit paydirt.
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