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Responding to multiple calls, Sgt. Mark CIavirella found a 2014 Chevy Traverse occupied by Melissa Ashmead, 42, of North Brunswick, in the area of New Street where the complaints originated, Capt. Dan Daly said.
Why and how she ended up there didn't jibe, the captain said.
It didn't take long to tie her and Moises Echevarria, 43, of Paterson, to the vehicle break-ins, he said.
A perimeter was established and, with the help of Passaic County Sheriff's K-9 Max, Echevarria was seized a short time later, Daly said.
Echeverria is a repeat offender who's been charged with dozens of various types of break-ins in no fewer than three counties -- Passaic, Morris and Essex -- over the years, records show.
He'd only just been released the end of May after serving nearly a year in the Bergen County Jail for burglary.
Echeverria once made headlines after telling police who arrested him on suspicion of 20 burglaries in Hawthorne: "You already know the deal -- it was me. I did it."
He also tried suing the Bergen County Jail in federal court earlier this year, claiming that he was given only two jumpsuits and shoes “for an extended period of time” after being admitted there in May 2022 for multiple burglaries.
Echeverria, who ended up spending three days short of a year in the jail, claimed that other inmates got more clothing than him and his cellmate.
A U.S. District Court judge in Newark rejected the claim, ruling, in part, that phrases such as "an extended period of time" is too vague on which to base a judgment.
Echevarria and were charged with burglary, receiving stolen property and conspiracy following their arrests in Wayne last Monday, Aug. 7.
Echevarria was sent to the Bergen County Jail, where he remained on Monday, Aug. 14.
Ashmead was released pending trial under New Jersey's 2017 bail reform law.
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