LYNDHURST —
A suspected car burglar was arrested in Lyndhurst last week.
LPD Det. Vincent Auteri gave the following account:
Shortly after 2 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 26, police responded to the 500 block of Willow Ave. to check on a report of a theft from a motor vehicle.
The owner of a Mazda 6 told police his keys, prescription glasses, sunglasses and about $10 in change had been taken from his unlocked vehicle.
While in the area, Officer Steve Batista was alerted by his onboard Automated License Plate Reader that a 2009 Honda Accord reported stolen out of Bloomfield was in the area and was discovered on Willow within close proximity to the burglary.
Police also learned the Honda had different front and rear license plates and Sgt. Andrew Marmorato discovered that the hood of the Honda was warm, which led him to believe it had been recently parked.
As the stolen car was impounded, police called in the K-9 unit from the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office to assist searching the area for a possible suspect.
As police conducted the search, Officer Nick Abruscato spotted a black man jump onto a retaining wall at the front of a home on Willow. Abruscato and Batista gave chase, climbing over the wall, in the process recovering a black backpack containing a series of items believed to be proceeds from thefts from unlocked vehicles in the area.
As police from North Arlington, Rutherford and Nutley set up a perimeter around the search area, the Lyndhurst officers ultimately discovered the suspect lying on the ground in a bed of mulch behind a shrub — several feet from where they found the backpack — and placed him under arrest.
A search of the suspect turned up an assortment of stolen credit cards, $259 in cash and items from the Willow Ave. resident’s vehicle.
Police believe an additional five vehicles were burglarized. Investigation by Dets. Ron Guirland and Mike Lemanowicz reportedly have secured evidence which, they believe, links the suspect to each of the six burglaries.
The other vehicles burglarized were: two cars parked on the 400 block of Post St. – an Infiniti Q40, from which loose change, sunglasses and registration card were taken, and a Hyundai Sonata, from which a wallet with $150 cash and credit cards were taken; a Nissan Rogue parked on the 400 block of Oak St., from which about $10 in change was taken; a Nissan Pathfinder on the 200 block of Page Ave., from which loose change was taken; a Toyota Camry on the 200 block of Forest Ave., from which loose change was taken; and the Mazda 6 on Willow.
The suspect, Daniel Navarro, 34, of Newark, was charged with six counts of burglary to a motor vehicle, four counts of theft, two counts of obstruction, hindering apprehension and resisting arrest.
Navarro was taken to the Bergen County Jail in lieu of $50,000 cash-only bail set by Municipal Court Judge George Savino.
The LPD reminds everyone to lock their cars.
– Ron Leir
