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Police, Prosecutors Unite To Probe Pair Charged In Bergen Gunpoint Robberies

UPDATE: Two men charged with the gunpoint robberies of an Edgewater massage parlor and a private escort at a Rutherford hotel are suspected in a statewide crime spree investigated by nearly 20 law enforcement agencies, authorities confirmed Monday.

Dajan Divine Mindingall, Christopher Ojeda

Dajan Divine Mindingall, Christopher Ojeda

Photo Credit: MUGSHOTS: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY SHERIFF

One of the two, Dajan Divine Mindingall, 27, of Eatontown, is a U.S. Army reservist from Monmouth County who was preparing to report this past weekend when he was captured Thursday in Asbury Park, Daily Voice reported Friday.

A Bergen County Regional SWAT team went to Monmouth County to assist with arresting Mindingall, who was considered armed and dangerous a senior law enforcement official said at the time.

Three guns were recovered from his vehicle, as well as masks that were used in other crimes, he told Daily Voice.

SEE: National Guardsman Charged In Edgewater, Rutherford Robberies, Suspected In Hudson Rape

Mindingall is charged in both Bergen County crimes with Christopher Ojeda, 31, of Howell Township.

Both men "are suspects in similar robberies that have occurred throughout the state and the investigation into those robberies is continuing," Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Monday.

Mindingall and Ojeda, who was arrested Thursday in Howell, "targeted massage parlors and in-call escort services," committing crimes "from Bergen County to Cherry Hill," a senior law enforcement official told Daily Voice.

Mindingall also "committed a bunch of solo robberies," he added. "They're not connected to everything."

He's also suspected in a rape in Hudson County, the official said.

Both men robbed $2,000 at gunpoint from customers and employees at a Route 5 spa in Edgewater on Jan. 14, authorities said. 

That was followed by a Jan. 28 holdup at the Extended Stay America Meadowlands in Rutherford, they said.

Mindigall forced one of the victims to strip, bringing a charge of aggravated sexual assault during a robbery, in addition to a host of other counts, they said.

He and Ojeda remained held Monday in the Bergen County Jail pending a detention hearing in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack on various robbery, kidnapping, conspiracy and weapons offenses.

Musella thanked police in Edgewater, Rutherford, Eatontown, Asbury Park, Howell, Woodbridge, South Plainfield, North Brunswick, Green Brook, West Long Branch, Cherry Hill, Linden and Secaucus, as well as the Monmouth, Hudson and Middlesex county prosecutor's offices for their assistance in the ongoing investigation.  

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