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Officer Donald Wilson spotted two occupied cars parked on Franklin Avenue with their lights off while on patrol just after 2:30 a.m., Detective Lt. John Bakelaar said this morning. As he approached, both took off.
Wilson pursued the vehicles west into Oakland and then onto Route 287 before finding both abandoned a quarter-mile or so apart in a residential area.
One of them, a 2005 Mercedes Benz E Class, was reported stolen out of Ho-Ho-Kus.
Found in that car was a briefcase stolen from a 2010 Cadillac Escalade on Knollwood Road in Franklin Lakes earlier last night, Bakelaar told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. It contained an iPad, jewelry, New York Giants tickets, $500 in cash and assorted papers, the lieutenant said.
The second vehicle, a 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe, was stolen earlier last night from a Cottonwood Drive resident in Franklin Lakes. Up the street, police later found a 2008 Toyota Sequoia stolen from a Shoshone Trail residence.
Then, after dawn this morning, Wanaque and Pompton Lakes police reported vehicles stolen not far from where the two were abandoned following the chase.
“At this point we’re investigating a possible connection between the incidents,” Bakelaar told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “It seems likely given the circumstances.
“These guys may very well have been laying low overnight and then used [the stolen vehicles] to make their getaway, although we don’t know for sure. We’re pursuing a few good leads.”
Participating in the investigation were Sgt. Andrew Cacciatore, Detective Sgt. Jeffrey Jost, Officer Donald WIlson and Officer Gregory Albert.
Assisting were Oakland PD, Pompton Lakes PD, Riverdale PD, Wanaque PD, the Passaic County Sheriff’s Dept K9 Unit, the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office BCI and the NJ State Police.
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