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Justinian Rocco, 25, of Allendale was released from custody only two weeks ago. He’d spent two years behind bars for laying down on a railroad track, stopping NJ Transit service and fighting with police who arrested him.
Rocco is already back in the Bergen County Jail, charged with more than a half-dozen burglaries and break-in attempts in Ramsey and Ho-Ho-Kus.
The career criminal got into a frenzied brawl with responding officers in a waist-high stream -- biting and kicking them -- after a local woman found him in her home in 2019, authorities said at the time.
SEE: Allendale Ex-Con Captured After Breaking Into Woman’s Home, Furiously Fighting Police
Freed by a judge pending trial, Rocco was soon back at it. He was wanted for violating a court order in August 2020 when he stretched out on the tracks and forced NJ Transit to temporarily suspend service.
Responding officers who had to fight to subdue Rocco strapped him to a portable stretcher so they could carry him up over an embankment to an ambulance, authorities said at the time.
SEE: Ex-Con Repeat Offender From Allendale Lies On Tracks, Stops NJ Transit Trains
Before then, Rocco served nearly two years in state prison for a string of Bergen County burglaries in 2016 and 2017. He also was convicted of peering into windows.
Police captured him after a manhunt and chase that included tracking dogs and a helicopter.
SEE: Allendale Burglary Spree Suspect Nabbed In Overnight Manhunt, Chase
One of several more arrests involved the burglary in which the female Allendale resident was home.
SEE: Ex-Con Allendale Burglar Who Fought Police Freed, Breaks Into Another House
He spent nearly 10 months in the Bergen County Jail for those incidents before being released.
Then came the railroad incident.
Rocco spent most of the resulting sentence in South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton and the final four months in the county lockup before being released on June 10, records show.
Barely two days after that, the first in a series of burglaries that ended with his arrest on Wednesday, authorities said.
Ramsey and Ho-Ho-Kus police charged Rocco with four counts of burglary, two counts each of attempted burglary and theft and one of receiving stolen property.
He remained in the Bergen County Jail pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.
Ramsey Police Chief Brian Lyman reminded citizens to be sure they’ve locked their homes as well as their vehicles – no matter where or for how long they’ve parked – so that they don’t become victims.
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