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Officers responding to the 400 block of Valley Brook Avenue found a 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe registered to James Defazio, 43, of Nutley, Detective Lt. Vincent Auteri said.
Witnesses reported seeing Defazio park and then walk away from the vehicle, which the lieutenant said had front-end damage -- and was missing the front right tire.
Police impounded the SUV because it posed a hazard, then searched for any area hit-and-run reports.
Defazio showed up at headquarters later that night and was told that detectives were investigating the cause of the damage, Auteri said.
Defazio claimed that it was old and that he'd "pulled off to the side of the road after suffering a tire blowout,” the lieutenant said.
Police told him to return the next day to pick up the vehicle.
Before he arrived, Lyndhurst police received a report of a residential burglary in the area where it had been abandoned. A township employee also discovered several items that had been dropped or discarded behind the municipal building.
Police reviewed exterior surveillance video and saw Defazio dumping the items before entering the building, Auteri said.
He returned to headquarters the following day and was promptly arrested, the lieutenant said.
Detectives armed with a warrant found additional proceeds from the burglary during a search of Defazio's car and apartment. They also learned that he'd previously worked for an HVAC company from Nutley that had done work at the burglarized residence.
Defazio was charged with burglary, theft and three counts of possession of stolen property. He was sent to the Bergen County Jail, where he remained on Friday pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.
Auteri thanked the Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification, which collected fingerprints and other evidence.
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