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Watching out for neighbors, resident leads police to alleged burglars

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A sharp resident called Fair Lawn police this morning, officers hit the neighborhood quickly, and within minutes three men trying to climb out the rear window of a burglarized home were in custody. All three were found “locked in the bathroom cowering in the shower in an attempt to hide from the officers,” Sgt. Richard Schultz said.

Photo Credit: Cliffview Pilot
Jerry DeMarco

What the intruders didn’t know was that the homeowner was in the house — in the basement.

An Albert Avenue resident called police just after 11:30 a.m. to report three suspicious-looking men “walking up and down the street looking at houses,“ Schultz said.

Officers Paul Donohue, William Hickey and Kenneth Cavanaugh pulled up while Dispatcher Stacey Polanco kept the caller on the phone. Backups arrived within minutes — among them, Detective Captain Glen Cauwels and Officers Thomas Check, William Hickey, Sean Nagle and Mark Wyka.

Polanco relayed descriptions of the men and which way they were headed to the responding officers, who found a side door on Albert Avenue open, the lieutenant said.

As Cauwels, Donohue, Hickey and Nagle went inside to search, Check spotted the trio trying to climb out a rear window, he said.

Check called to his partners inside and they forced their way into the bathroom, Schultz said.

Officers found them carrying burglary proceeds, as well as a black plastic pellet gun made to look like a semi-automatic pistol, he said.

The trio was identified as: Kadeen T. Gaitherm, 21, Nashon R. Fisher, 21, and Quaheem S. Green, 22, all of Paterson. All three are being held on $50,000 bail each at the Bergen County Jail.

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