A man who appeared in this week’s Kearny police blotter is in even more trouble after police collared him as a suspect in a burglary to a jewelry store on Ridge Road, Lyndhurst, Det. Lt. Vincent Auteri, the LPD’s public-information officer announced. And it was a parking ticket and some saliva that led to his arrest.
On March 18, 2021, at approximately 6:20 a.m., Lyndhurst Police Officers Brian Kapp and Tom Seickendick responded to Chandel Jewelers, Ridge Road, to investigate a report of an activated burglar alarm. Upon their arrival, they found a door at the rear of the building had been forced open. Upon making entry into the business, they discovered a glass display case had been smashed and jewelry appeared to be missing.
Shortly thereafter, Det. William Kapp responded to the scene and learned 12 to 15 alloy and cubic zirconia rings were missing, worth an approximate value of $100.
Det. Kapp then reviewed surveillance video and observed a white man enter the building before smashing a display case. The suspect removed the rings and immediately fled after a security alarm began to sound.
After Officer Brian Kapp reviewed the video evidence, he recalled seeing a man matching the same description walking along Ridge Road approximately an hour earlier and had made note of his description at that time.
While processing the crime scene, Det. William Kapp discovered traces of saliva near the suspect’s point of entry. The saliva was collected by the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office’s Crime Scene Unit for submission for DNA analysis.
Afterward, Officer Brain Kapp reported he had issued a parking ticket to a vehicle in the area previous to the burglary report. Furthermore, Officer Kapp discovered the license plates on the vehicle had been altered.
Officer Kapp had filed a separate report to document the suspicious incident at the time the parking ticket was issued. When a license plate inquiry was made into the true vehicle registration, it revealed the registered owner to be Anthony Wiedemann of Kearny.
Wiedemann matched the description of the party in the surveillance video and the party Officer Kapp observed walking along Ridge Road.
Det. William Kapp was able to review video evidence from the surrounding area as well and was able to track Wiedemann’s activity during the overnight hours. Det. Kapp learned that after Wiedemann parked his vehicle, he began to walk the surrounding area apparently scouting the location before eventually forcing his way into the jewelry store.
After attempting to locate Wiedemann in the days following, Det. Kapp was notified Wiedemann had been arrested by the Dover Police Department after committing burglaries to parked vehicles there.
Wiedemann was remanded to the Hudson County Jail on an outstanding warrant out of Kearny.
As a result of Wiedemann’s arrest in Dover, Det. Kapp had Wiedemann’s vehicle impounded before obtaining a search warrant. The execution of the search warrant uncovered significant evidence linking him to the burglary.
Wiedemann, 48, was charged by Lyndhurst police with burglary, theft, possession of burglary tools and criminal mischief, in addition to the parking ticket. He remained in the custody at the Hudson County Jail.
“This investigation was solved because of the diligent and meticulous police work demonstrated by Officer Brian Kapp and his brother, Det. William Kapp. Their teamwork and commitment to identifying the suspect is what brought this case to a close,” Auteri said.
The Lyndhurst PD thanked the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office and the Kearny, Dover and Harrison police departments for their assistance in the investigation.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.