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It began when an attendant at the Citgo on Livingston Street told a customer that a thief had just snatched the card from her car while she was in the station’s mini-mart section the night of Aug. 19, Police Chief William Essmann said.
A review of surveillance video showed three men pulling up in two cars, the chief said Monday.
Two of them tried to buy cigarettes in the mini mart, but the card was declined, he said.
The third, meanwhile, remained by the pumps, then reached into the victim’s car and took her card, Essmann said.
The attendant confronted the trio, who got into their cars and fled, the chief said.
Soon after, they tried using the card at the Closter Target, he said.
As it turned out, one of the vehicles was rented out of Connecticut, Detective Sgt. Robert Pizzi learned.
Pizzi matched the rental information to one of the suspects, and arrangements were made to drop the vehicle off in Northvale.
Northvale and Closter police were waiting on Wednesday when all three suspects showed up, Essmann said.
Detectives seized a credit card access device and laptop computer and arrested the trio – one from Albany and the other two from Brooklyn. They were later released under New Jersey’s 2017 Bail Reform & Speedy Trial Act.
Police were withholding their identities while an investigation continues.
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