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Nathaniel James-Booth -- whose 25-year criminal history includes recent arrests for kidnapping and robbery -- was immediately seized by police who found him in a car driven by John Ingallinera near the corner of Lehigh and Essex streets, said Capt. Darren DeWitt.
They charged James-Booth, 42, with illegal possession of Percocet, DeWitt said.
Ingallinera had been summoned to property he owns in Hasbrouck Heights on Thursday to address a purported problem with a building awning, the captain said.
While he was there, James-Booth convinced Ingallinera to let him into his car, he said.
It would be 18 hours before the violent ex-con let him go.
"They apparently went to Paterson to buy drugs [for James-Booth], then continued driving around," DeWitt said.
Although Ingallinera said he wanted to go home, James-Booth wouldn't let him, he said.
NJ State Police issued a Silver Alert for his vehicle, while city police enlisted the help of Daily Voice in trying to track down the missing man, whose son is a Hackensack deputy fire chief.
Ingallinera was transported by ambulance to Hackensack University Medical Center, DeWitt said.
James-Booth, meanwhile, was sent to the Bergen County Jail -- only to be ordered released by a judge on Saturday, under New Jersey's 2017 bail reform law.
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