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It helped police identify an 18-year-old Newark man charged with breaking into homes or vehicles in no fewer than three North Jersey counties.
Authorities in Rochelle Park became the latest to charge Zaire Gaskins, with police in even more towns possibly following.
ROCHELLE PARK: Gaskins and two accomplices tried taking a BMW from a residence on West Oldis Street on Sept. 18, Police Lt. James DePreta said. When they couldn’t find the keys inside the vehicle, one of them unsuccessfully tried to get into the front door of the home. A clear Ring image showed a COVID-masked Gaskins, who was identified by Detectives Brian Cobb and Brian Gallina, the lieutenant said.
CLARK: Gaskins and Jashon King, 20, also of Newark, were charged with taking the keys to a BMW 750 from a hook inside the door of a Stiles Street home and then stealing the vehicle from the driveway on Sept. 22. Both men were charged with burglary and theft.
SECAUCUS: A break in the investigation of the two previous incidents came when Secaucus police charged Gaskins and King with trying to snatch a BMW X5 in the area of Humboldt Street and Centre Avenue later that same day.
The thieves had come to the neighborhood in the BMW 750 that was reported stolen hours earlier out of Clark, Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller said.
Detective Sgt. Giacomo Sallustio and Officer Dwight Wise recovered the vehicle in Newark and arrested Gaskins and King in connection with their case, the chief said.
Gaskins was first taken to the Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny, then to the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark on an outstanding no-bail warrant, records show.
Rochelle Park police picked him up there to be processed on their charges on Monday, Oct. 3.
Gaskins, who records show has an 8th-grade education, remained held in the Bergen County Jail on Tuesday. He's charged in Rochelle Park with burglary, attempted burglary, attempted theft and trespassing.
The investigation into identifying and arresting Gaskins’s alleged accomplices was continuing, said DePreta, the Rochelle Park police lieutenant.
Meanwhile, police from several towns are comparing notes to determine whether additional charges are possible.
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