45°
Authorities have moved to extradite Dariel Perez-Grullon and an accused associate, Luis Guzman-Encarnacion, both 22, to New Jersey to face charges.
The first incident literally began and ended in minutes after a 31-year-old livery driver had his Lexus E350 taken by gunpoint outside a home on Pascack Road in Washington Township shortly before 1 a.m. March 23.
Paramus police spotted the vehicle soon after and pursued it northbound on Route 208.
The Lexus exited at Grandview Avenue in Wyckoff and then headed back onto Route 208 -- going south this time -- before continuing east on Route 4 at super-high speed.
It then blew through the tolls at the George Washington Bridge, at which point police terminated the pursuit.
The distance from the spot where the car was taken in Washington Township to the GTB is roughly 21 miles. The driver covered that ground in well under a half-hour, police said.
A little over a month later, on April 25, robbers armed with guns and knives carjacked an 18-year-old New Milford driver in Teaneck, cutting him on the cheek before speeding off in his SUV toward New York City.
SEE: Carjackers With Guns, Knives Drag Out Driver, Steal SUV, New Milford Motorist Tells Teaneck PD
Working with their colleagues in both townships, detectives with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Special Investigation Squad identified Perez-Grullon as involved in two carjackings.
Aided by the NYPD, county detectives arrested Guzman-Encarnacion, a kitchen worker, at his job in Manhattan on Wednesday, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said.
A short time later, they nabbed Perez-Grullon outside an associate’s home in the Bronx, the prosecutor said.
Both men are charged with conspiracy to commit carjacking.
Perez-Grullon, however, is also charged with two counts of first-degree carjacking, promoting organized street crime, eluding, hindering, theft, aggravated assault and various weapons counts.
Musella thanked the New York City Police Department, the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, police from Washington Township, Teaneck and East Rutherford, Port Authority police and New Jersey State Police for their work on the case.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Lower Merion-Narberth and receive free news updates.
