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Jose Mejia, a 32-year-old Salvadoran national, was wanted for a Dec. 28 robbery in a parking lot just off Route 46 and Liberty Street.
He was captured this past Thursday, Jan. 11, records show.
The 39-year-old victim, from Clifton, and two companions told Little Ferry police that an assailant in a ski mask, black shirt and blue jeans hit him in the head with a baseball bat, then snatched a blue duffel bag containing $30,000 in cash and checks.
The trio said they chased the robber across Route 46 before he eluded them through the McDonald's parking lot.
They told police they returned to where they'd been and found a gun on the ground, which were collected along with the bat and other evidence, investigators said.
All four tires on the victim's car had also been slashed.
The victim was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center with a head wound, responders said.
Police, meanwhile, conducted interviews and gathered area surveillance video.
Mejia has remained jailed on charges that include robbery, aggravated assault and illegal weapons possession since his arrest.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed a detainer with the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office that same day. Such detainers are sought whenever immigrants suspected of living here illegally are jailed. If a local judge in Hackensack orders Mejia's release for some reason -- say, bail reform -- immigration agents will have 48 hours to take custody of him.
An immigration judge will hold a hearing in federal court in Newark to determine Mejia's residency status in the United States. With that is whether or not he should be deported -- and if so, when.
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