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A Wood-Ridge resident called police around 1 o’clock Monday afternoon to report the Sixth Street break-in.
Rutigliano said he was joined in flooding the area by Detective Lt. John Korin, Lieutenants Michael O’Donnell and Scott Drotos, Detective Joseph Biamonte and officers from Carlstadt and Moonachie.
Biamonte, who was the first officer at the scene, spotted two men running away and immediately grabbed one of them, the chief said. He was identified as Francisco J. Villafane, 39, of Summit Avenue in Union City.
Based on Biamonte’s description of the second man, O’Donnell and Drotos arrested 45-year-old Daniel Trinidad of Beech Street in Jersey City several blocks away, Rutigliano said.
Police found the car abandoned on the wrong side of a nearby street. Inside was a large amount of jewelry believed taken in the break-in, the chief said.
That both Trinidad and Villafane were carrying screwdrivers likely explains pry marks found around the windows of the home, Rutigliano noted.
After identifying the driver as 30-year-old Vanessa Ortiz, they went to Villafane’s home yesterday and searched the area, the chief said. They found and arrested her a short time later, he said.
All three were being held on $35,000 bail each in the Bergen County Jail, charged with attempted burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, attempted theft, conspiracy to commit theft, possession of burglary tools, receiving stolen property, and resisting arrest.
MUGSHOTS: Courtesy WOOD-RIDGE PD
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