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Facebook motorcycle helmet pics lead to arrest of former Garfield man in armed robbery

YOU SAW IT HERE FIRST: Thanks to Facebook, authorities have caught the alleged accomplice of a heroin-addicted Garfield ex-con charged with being the motorcycle-riding robber who held up convenience stores in Elmwood Park and Wanaque.

Photo Credit: Courtesy ELMWOOD PARK PD
Photo Credit: Courtesy ELMWOOD PARK PD
Photo Credit: Courtesy ELMWOOD PARK PD

Tomasz Maczka, 29, also of Garfield, was arrested by Wanaque police after surveillance photos of helmets of worn by the robbers (above) were matched to those posted on the Facebook of Ariel Drapcyznski (photos above and below).

Authorities say this is Drapczynksi in one of the two recovered motorcycle helmets (SURVEILLANCE IMAGE: Courtesy ELMWOOD PARK PD)

CLIFFVIEW PILOT published the photos after detectives arrested Drapczynksi on Aug. 19 and charged him with robbing the Seven Days convenience mart in the 700 block of Boulevard in Elmwood Park several days earlier.

SEE: Heroin-addicted Garfield ex-con caught, charged with Elmwood Park convenience store robbery

They recovered a motorcycle they believed that he used, a helmet that they said he was wearing and one that they said an accomplice in the Wanaque robbery wore.

Investigators from Garfield and Elmwood Park thought they had Drapczynski holed up — and armed — in a friend’s apartment on Plauderville Avenue in Garfield a day before his arrest.

The street was briefly closed and some nearby homes evacuated before authorities determined that he wasn’t there.

As the search continued, Drapcyznski posted images on Facebook of himself and a friend with two cycles and an ATV (below).

He previously posted photos of himself and others in motorcycle helmets, including one similar to that worn by one of the Wanaque robbers.

This eventually led to Maczka, formerly of Garfield, who police said joined Drapcyznski in robbing a Quick Stop on Ringewood Avenue while wearing the helmets, leather jackets and bandanas over their faces. The robbers fled on a single motorcycle, authorities said.

Maczka, who was arrested late last month, remained held on $200,000 bail today in the Passaic CountyJail.

Drapcyznski remained held on $200,000 bail.

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