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Bayonne police said they were watching on a public security camera as Ivan A. Rodriguez, 18, removed envelopes from a box just after 3:30 a.m. Sunday. They also spotted a lookout standing on the corner, they said.
Dispatchers who saw the duo get into a gray minivan notified patrol units, who converged on the vehicle.
Rodriguez, of Downing Street, was driving, they said.
With him were Christopher Mercado, 21, and a 17-year-old boy, both of New York City, police said.
Through the windows of the vehicle, the officers saw “numerous items of mail and US currency strewn about the interior of the van,” they said.
Also inside the vehicle were mail-fishing tools, pot, stolen credit cards and cash, police said.
All three were taken into custody.
Rodriguez and Mercado were each charged with burglary, 19 counts of theft, possession of burglary tools and employing a juvenile in the commission of a crime.
Rodriguez also was charged with 14 counts of credit card theft and possession of a small amount of marijuana.
Police signed delinquency complaints against the juvenile for burglary, theft, possession of burglary tools and hindering apprehension – for “providing false personal identifying information to officers.”
Rodriguez and Mercado were taken to the Hudson County Detention Center and the boy to the Union County Juvenile Detention Center.
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