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The burglary location — just off Franklin Turnpike within minutes of Route 17 — along with their hometown and modes of operation make the pair potential suspects in several jurisdictions.
A Ho-Ho-Kus police sergeant was on patrol yesterday morning when he spotted a suspicious-looking vehicle with New York license plates on Edgewood Drive, Police Chief John Wanamaker told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this morning.
“There was a passenger but no driver,” the chief said, adding that the man quickly made a cellphone call.
Questioned by the sergeant, the passenger said the driver was relieving himself in the woods, Wanamaker said.
The sergeant quickly called for backup, and a patrol officer quickly found the second man hiding in the woods, he said.
After bringing him back to the street, he and the passenger gave officers conflicting accounts of what they were up to, the chief said.
So a K9 unit from the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office was called in.
“The dog tracked straight to a house on Edgewood,” Wanamaker said.
There, officers found a broken window, along with an iPad, earrings and cash that apparently had been dropped or discarded by whoever stole them, the chief said.
Both men — one of whom was charged last year with robbing a deli with a toy gun — are being held on $15,000 bail each in the Bergen County Jail. CLIFFVIEW PILOT is withholding their identities at the request of police while investigations by various departments continue. Among them: Hillsdale, Saddle River, Waldwick and Washington Township.
“A lot of towns are looking at these guys,” Wanamaker said. “There could be more charges.”
So far, the driver is charged in Ho-Ho-Kus with burglary, theft, receiving stolen property and possession of burglar tools and drug paraphernalia. The passenger is charged with burglary, theft and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Wanamaker thanked Waldwick and Ridgewood police, along with the sheriff’s office, for their quick and thorough assistance.
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