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Samuel Bender, 22, also was carrying a Glock handgun stolen during a burglary on Long Island, Mahwah Police Chief Stephen Jaffe said.
Township detectives had worked with their counterparts in Westchester’s Mount Kisco and Nassau County’s Woodbury to identify Bender following burglaries in their towns, he said.
Surveillance video showed him entering several commercial buildings and offices located in an unidentified business park and retail business on Ramapo Valley Road in Mahwah and taking cash and electronics between 3 and 5 a.m. on May 12, the chief said.
Video also gave detectives a clear shot of the getaway vehicle, as well, he said.
Also burglarized was the popular Secor Farms, which Jaffe described only as “a retail farm stand business on Airmont Avenue.”
Video showed Bender carrying a small backpack and wearing a black vest, a black hooded sweatshirt, a surgical mask and nitrile gloves, the chief said, adding that he used a large knife to pry open locked doors.
Law enforcement colleagues in New York notified his department a week ago, May 14, that Bender was in custody on Rikers Island after being arrested for another crime, Jaffe said Thursday.
Besides the stolen gun and other proceeds, he “had the same vehicle, bag and knife utilized and seen in Mahwah surveillance footage” when the NYPD grabbed him, the chief noted.
Mahwah police charged Bender with eight counts of burglary, four counts of theft and two counts of possession of burglary tools. He remained held at Rikers pending extradition proceedings, Jaffe said.
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ALSO SEE: Two of Mahwah’s finest nabbed a man who impersonated an Amazon employee in an attempt to collect a fraudulently ordered package, authorities said.
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