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Xhonatan Gaba, 20, was sitting in the passenger seat of a Chevy pickup owned by a tenant at the Williamstone Manor Apartments on William Street when Officer Joseph Montemurro rolled up around 3:15 a.m. Saturday, Police Chief James Walters said.
Montemurro was cruising the area after finding another vehicle unlocked with its emergency lights flashing and car alarm blaring on Jackson Street about 15 minutes earlier, Walters said.
Gaba – who’d been released from jail 10 days ago following a vehicle burglary in Garfield -- told Montemurro he lived in Apartment #43 in Building C.
He’d come outside the clean his van and smoke a cigarette, Walters said Gaba told the officer.
The thing is: There is no Apartment #43 in the complex.
The hole got deeper from there, Walter said: Gaba first said the van belonged to his father, then said it was a shared vehicle but couldn’t identify the registered owner.
Montemurro notified the actual owner before arresting Gaba, who was carrying stolen credit cards, sunglasses and cash, the chief said.
He “also had a glass pipe in his back right pocket that he stated was used to smoke crack,” Walters said.
Gaba, who has several drug-related arrests on his adult criminal record, remained held Sunday in the Bergen County Jail, charged with burglary, credit card crime, impersonation and receiving stolen property, among other offenses.
Those may increase depending on the outcome of an investigation into several other vehicle break-ins from the same area, Walters said.
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