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Shakir Q. Major already was facing burglary charges out of Cresskill, Tenafly and Franklin Lakes when Wyckoff Detective Sgt. Soto tied him to a Feb. 11 break-in on Highview Drive, in which jewelry, electronics and gift cards valued at $26,850 were reported stolen. He’d apparently used the gift cards to buy clothing, Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox said this morning.
Burglary and theft charges filed by Fox’s department today hiked Major’s combined bail at the Bergen County Jail by another $75,000 — to a whopping $970,000.
Major was free on bail from a February home break-in in Cresskill when members of a special task force — organized by Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli in response to a string of burglaries in the area and in Greenwich, CT – said they watched Major, 26, park his car on a Tenafly street in the early afternoon hours of May 21.
Moments after the car pulled away, Tenafly police got a burglary call at an area residence, they said.
Detectives stopped Major in Dumont and arrested him a short time later, then got a search warrant for his residence, where they found “a large amount of suspected burglary proceeds and burglary tools,” Molinelli said earlier this month.
Making Major’s arrest out of Cresskill possible was a sharp-eyed witness who dialed 911 after seeing a burglar shoulder open the front door of a neighbor’s home, then described him and the large black SUV he sped off in.
Along with evidence collected by the Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification at the burglarized home, Cresskill detectives had enough information to share with colleagues from the task force.
Major has been arrested for a host of offenses in Bergen County the past seven years — among them, burglary, assault and child abuse, records show.
Northvale police arrested him on burglary and theft charges last November. Greenwich police also have charged Major with an April 19 attempted burglary, Molinelli said.
The list of towns where Major might have operated could grow, as authorities continue eyeing possible connections to other burglaries in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.
MUGSHOT: Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office
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