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Brandon Segar, 33, of New York City, was arrested with two of his co-defendants at the Ridgefield Park Hampton Inn in October 2011 after one of them put a gun to the officer’s head, only to be surrounded by backups.
Segar posted bail, then went on the lam for more than two years before being arrested this past August.
Another defendant, Yohan Balcacer of Queens, escaped in another car, menacing police and crashing into vehicles on Route 46 before being arrested the next day.
Both were part of a scheme hatched by Jose Rodriguez of Union City and Ronald Green, also of Queens.
Green, a friend of Segar’s, invited him along the morning of the botched robbery. He was convicted at trial, as was Balcacer.
Segar, like Rodriguez, took a plea.
In exchange, he will have to serve a minimum of 11 years and nine months in state prison before he will be eligible for parole.
He’d have faced as much as 20 years on an armed robbery charge alone if he’d been convicted at a trial, along with additional time for being an ex-con in possession of a handgun, Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor James Santulli said.
Segar admitted in court yesterday to engaging in the conspiracy to offer cornmeal wrapped to look like heroin to the undercover buyer, then surprise him and steal his money at gunpoint.
He drove a silver Chevy Malibu to the hotel, with Green as his passenger and a Smith and Wesson handgun on the seat, he said.
“Yes, sir, it was a working gun,” Segar told the judge.
The purpose, he said, was to intimidate the victim so that he would give them the money.
As back-up units moved in, a Toyota Camry driven by Balcacer suddenly barreled toward the officers, hitting several cars in heavy traffic before speeding off.
Sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 19.
Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor James Santulli, defense attorney Michael DeBliss, Brandon Segar (STORY/PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
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