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And maybe only in New Jersey will the just-released defendant go to police headquarters to retrieve his things and immediately be arrested.
That’s because while ex-con Ralph Lloyd Wilson was passing through the revolving door of justice, Cliffside Park detectives were finding a gun and drugs in the rented vehicle.
It began with Wilson’s arrest last week by police in neighboring Fort Lee. He'd burglarized a row of businesses in Cliffside Park moments earlier and was beating it out of town when they caught him over the borough line, authorities said.
Wilson, 24, of Brooklyn, dropped the bag he was carrying, which contained $160 in stolen cash along with burglar tools, Cliffside Park Deputy Police Chief Vincent Capano said.
Wilson was still carrying a key fob, though, so police took it and hit the panic button to see what would happen.
Turns out Wilson had parked the getaway car -- a Subaru Outback that he'd rented -- just up the block from where he ended up being caught, the deputy chief said.
Wilson told them he couldn't be arrested because he’s a Moorish sovereign citizen, a group that has claimed -- without success -- to be above the law.
SEE: GOTCHA! Fleeing Cliffside Business Burglar Nabbed By Fort Lee PD, Claims Sovereignty
He also had an unspecified psychological episode that required police to escort him to Bergen New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus, Capano said.
Wilson, who has the proverbial arm's-length rap sheet, was to be evaluated at the hospital while in custody, then would be transferred to the Bergen County Jail to await a first court appearance, the deputy chief said.
This would give detectives enough time to petition a judge in Hackensack for a warrant to search the Subaru -- or so they thought.
Another judge granted Wilson’s release before they'd gotten a ruling on the warrant request.
Wilson showed up at police headquarters in Cliffside asking for his stuff back on Monday, June 26, Capano said.
What he didn’t know was that detectives had finally gotten the OK on a search warrant after waiting nearly two days. Inside the Subaru they discovered a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun, nearly an ounce of cocaine, a half-ounce of heroin and four counterfeit $20 bills, the deputy chief said.
Wilson was quickly back in custody and remained held Tuesday in the Bergen County Jail.
He's charged with several counts of receiving stolen property, as well as drug and weapons offenses -- including possessing a firearm as a convicted felon -- and possession of burglary tools, among various other counts. Fort Lee police also charged Wilson with resisting arrest.
“He doesn’t even live in the state,” Capano said. “If he’d gone back home after being released, we would’ve had to extradite him."
He saved them the trouble.
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