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John Petsu, 42, of West Milford failed a field sobriety test administered by Sgt. John Behr after crashing a 2019 Nissan Altima near the interchange for Routes 17 and 46, Detective Sgt. Jeffrey Werner said.
The sedan had been stolen out of Hackensack, although the owner didn’t immediately know it was gone, the sergeant said.
Besides the drugs, Petsu had “multiple items from several car burglaries out of Teterboro,” Werner said.
Petsu has had a string of recent drug court violations, -- beginning in 2015 -- following his release from state prison, records show
He'd served several years of a plea-bargained eight-year sentence for burglarizing a neighbor’s home and then trying to outrun pursuing police in a stolen car on Route 15 in Sparta at speeds of up to 100 miles an hour in December 2006.
This followed a string of offenses that same year, records show.
Petus was arrested on drug charges in 2015 following his state prison stretch, igniting another string of crimes that included another police chase in 2016, records show.
Petsu also was among more than 300 people arrested during a massive Paterson-based heroin sweep led by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office in 2014.
Hasbrouck Heights Police Officer Joseph Olivo assisted in this week's arrest, Werner noted.
Hasbrouck Heights and Moonachie police charged Petsu with various counts of theft, criminal mischief and possession of burglary tools, Werner said. He was booked into the Bergen County Jail only to be ordered released by a judge less than 24 hours later under New Jersey’s 2017 bail reform law, records show.
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