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Ronald A. Benitez Santana, a 31-year-old Dominican national who lives in the Bronx, was nabbed by New Jersey State Police who stopped him for a traffic violation and found a warrant for his arrest in connection with the Feb. 10 incident, city Capt. Fred Pulice said.
Santana was so intent on intercepting a particular delivery that day that he staked out the local postal annex, Pulice said.
He also took cellphone photos of the contents of the carrier's truck while it was parked outside Towne Centre at Englewood, a residential/commercial building on West Palisade Avenue, the captain said.
"Can I help you?" the carrier asked Santana when he found him peering into the vehicle.
Santana said a package intended for him was inside, then showed the carrier a tracking app on his phone that listed a package in transit, Pulice said.
The carrier told police he retrieved the package, then explained to the stranger that he only needed to see some ID before he could release it, the captain said.
When Santana said he didn't have any, the carrier told him he was sorry but had to follow the rules.
Santana then grabbed hold of the package and a struggle ensued, Pulice said.
The two fell to the ground, wrestling, he said, before Santana suddenly shouted, "Where's my knife? Where's my knife?"
The carrier said he let go at that point and the mugger ran off with the delivery.
Curiously, police had been called to the postal annex on Smith Street earlier in the day. Two suspicious men were reportedly walking around the facility as if they were looking for something, Pulice said.
Officers found one of the men sitting in what turned out to be an unregistered vehicle, the captain said. He told them that he and his cousin had come looking for a specific delivery but that his cousin had left.
Police impounded the unregistered vehicle and issued him a summons for it, Pulice said.
Then came the incident on West Palisade.
Englewood detectives quickly identified Santana and obtained the arrest warrant that turned up during the NJSP stop late last week.
Santana remained held in the Bergen County Jail on Monday, March 7, charged with robbery and conspiracy.
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