Police arrested the trio after a manager at Elgen/Capital Hardware Inc. in the Bergen County town of Closter reported large quantities of copper missing from the business.
Now-former employee Eliseo Adorno, 47, worked with Alvaro Baca, 27, of Roselle, New Jersey, who was the company's shipping manager, and trucker Dimitris M. Hatsis, also 27, of Norwalk, Connecticut, to steal the metal, authorities said.
Baca “was able to manipulate the computer system to order large amounts of copper and intercept them upon arriving at the business,” Closter Detective Sgt. Vincent Aiello said.
“After concealing the copper in the warehouse, Baca conspired with another employee, Adorno, and an outside truck driver, Hatsis, to remove the copper and sell it in [the New Jersey cities of] Elizabeth and Linden,” Aiello said.
All were released pending first appearances in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.
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