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Allen Ernst, 28, and an accomplice bolted from a Palisades Park home when a resident who lives there returned around 4:30 p.m. July 14, said Capt. Anthony Espino, the officer in charge of the department.
The pair – who apparently entered through an unlocked sliding rear door -- dropped a pillowcase full of valuables as they fled, the captain said.
Police from Leonia and Ridgefield and a Bergen County sheriff’s K-9 unit helped establish a perimeter, but the thieves slipped through, Espino said.
It turns out they’d walked to the nearby ShopRite and were picked up by someone there, he said.
Detectives worked the case, interviewing witnesses and retrieving surveillance video. A license plate number led him to the vehicle owner – and eventually to Ernst, who was arrested on Aug. 9.
Here's the catch: Given the third-degree burglary charge filed against him, Ernst was freed under New Jersey’s 2017 bail reform law.
He was back behind bars on Aug. 22 -- and has remained there since -- after Bergen County prosecutor’s detectives charged Ernst with driving the getaway car for an ex-con who robbed an Uber customer at knifepoint in Saddle Brook.
SEE: Uber Driver, Accomplices Stage Knifepoint Holdup Of Passenger At Saddle Brook Hotel: Prosecutor
Espino said the accused Uber robber, ex-con Antonio Bowen of Fair Lawn, doesn’t fit the description of Ernst’s companion in the Palisades Park home burglary.
“The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information please call us,” the captain said.
Palisades Park PD: (201) 944-0900
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