CLOSTER, N.J.—They couldn’t get their stories straight when asked a simple question—what were they doing in Closter?
The three occupants of a vehicle smelling of marijuana were soon found to have what police said were burglary tools—ski masks, pairs of gloves, a screwdriver, hooded sweatshirts, and dark sweatpants, specifically.
“We going crazy tonight…”
“We hitting the towns”
Closter Police Patrolman Michael Archer conducted a routine traffic stop of a vehicle traveling north on Piermont Road on June 14 at 3:38 a.m. for a maintenance of lamps violation, he wrote in his investigation report.
The vehicle smelled of marijuana, Archer said, prompting questioning. The occupants—a 21 year old and 19 year old from Newark, and a 17-year-old juvenile—gave conflicting stories about what they were doing in Closter, Archer wrote. Two claimed they were lost, despite having cell phones with GPS capabilities, and another said his GPS guided them to Closter after leaving a relative’s house in Tenafly on their way home to East Orange, the officer wrote.
Closter police redacted the names of all defendants from the investigation report reviewed by Northern Valley Press.
Once backup officers arrived on the scene, a search of the vehicle located the burglary tools, rolling papers, a large marijuana bud under the passenger seat, and two small plastic bags of marijuana in the steering column, Archer wrote.
The three defendants were arrested and taken to police headquarters.
At 5 a.m., Detective Keith Dombkowski was recalled to interview the suspects, who signed forms acknowledging they had been read their Miranda rights.
Dombkowski said one of the adult defendants consented to a search of his wireless phone, which showed multiple messages from the day prior:
“We going crazy tonight ion [sic] wanna hear no bullsh*t from you 100,” “we hitting the towns,” “get the EZ Pass,” some of the messages read, Dombkowski wrote.
The phone also showed GPS searches from Newark to multiple locations in Staten Island, Englewood and Alpine.
Just prior to coming to Closter, one of the defendants received the message “WYA”—or “where you at?”—Dombkowski wrote.
He responded: “Just got to Saddle River.”
“Damn ite [sic], tell [redacted] get something fast so we can go out tomorrow,” the messages said, Dombkowski wrote in his report.
“Igh [sic],” the recipient responded.
The adult defendants were fingerprinted, photographed and issued summonses for possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of burglary tools. Their cell phones were returned to them and they were released from police custody without incident.
The juvenile suspect was released to his mother and served with a juvenile complaint.