YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Two 14-year-old Saddle Brook boys fled empty-handed after breaking into a Fair Lawn store that sells electronic cigarettes — and were then tracked down by a local detective.

Unspecified evidence left at the scene led to the pair, whom Sgt. Brian Metzler said were issued juvenile complaints answerable in the Family Part of Superior Court in Hackensack.

The break-in at Good Karma Vapor on Broadway occurred just before 3 a.m. last Saturday, Metzler said.

A side window was smashed after a failed attempt at prying open a rear door, and the pair fled after an alarm sounded, he said.

Detective Peter Yuskaitis investigated.

UPDATE (THURS NIGHT): The red-wigged female bandit who took at least $112,900 in cash at gunpoint from a Glen Rock bank two weeks ago after robbing a Greenwich, CT bank late last month was arrested by the FBI today at an Atlantic City casino, multiple law enforcement sources told CLIFFVIEW PILOT late this afternoon.

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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A 51-year-old Westchester County woman arrested by the FBI in Atlantic City yesterday for taking at least $112,900 in cash at gunpoint from a Glen Rock bank while wearing a bright red wig two weeks ago and $13,000 from a bank in Greenwich, CT with a pixie cut the month before is a former white-collar executive and bodybuilder who previously served time for robbing a bank 20 years ago. READ MORE….

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The White Plains, N.Y. woman wasn’t immediately identified.

“No other details are being released right now,” a federal law enforcement source told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Those were expected sometime later on Friday.

LEFT: Courtesy GREENWICH (CT) PD
RIGHT: Courtesy GLEN ROCK PD

Investigators expressed optimism a week ago after coming up with an address. Their persistence paid off today.

The irony wasn’t lost on members of law enforcement: A New Jersey state PBA convention is being held in Atlantic City this week.

The arrest answered questions about her gender that were based on bank surveillance photos.

More questions were raised, however, after a quick review by CLIFFVIEW PILOT earlier today found three other female bank robberies in Connecticut in a span of less than two weeks surrounding the Glen Rock holdup:

Feb. 13 in Wethersfield (bottom right);
Feb. 17 in Cromwell (top);
Feb. 24 in Darien (bottom left)

The FBI played a prominent role in tracking down the suspect, who authorities said held up the Glen Rock Savings Bank on Feb. 18 and the Greenwich Bank and Trust Co. on Jan. 30.

The bandit in both the Glen Rock and Greenwich robberies was smallish (5-foot-5 to 5-foot-7), with a medium build, and wore similar white or tan boots, a long woman’s peacoat and dark gloves.

The bandit also pointed a long-barreled weapon — which Glen Rock police said was a paintball gun and Greenwich authorities called a sawed-off shotgun.

Greenwich police described the bandit as about 40. Glen Rock police didn’t use an age.

The robber’s hair in each differed: The Greenwich bandit had a dark pixie cut, as opposed to the long, intense red wig worn by the Glen Rock robber.

She was carrying what sources out of Glen Rock told CLIFFVIEW PILOT was a Louis Vuitton bag into which she stuffed $112,000 to $120,000 taken from the Rock Road bank’s vault.

Images captured from an ATM taken the morning of the Connecticut holdup show the suspected robber going into a Hudson City Savings Bank branch in the Cos Cob section of Greenwich, coming out and crossing the street to a People’s Bank branch and doing the same — apparently casing both banks.

Then came the Greenwich Bank and Trust holdup.

According to a Greenwich Police Department report:

“The pictured suspect, described as a white female, mid 40’s, 5’3”-5’5”, 100-115lbs., entered the bank with a gray Whole Foods shopping bag from New York.

“She then pulled out a sawed off shotgun from the bag and ordered the manager to the ground.

“The suspect then ordered the two tellers to put their hands on their heads and told one of them to retrieve the cash from both drawers.

“The suspect threatened to kill them if there were any dye packs in with the money.

“The suspect received approximately $13,000 in cash, fled the bank and ran towards I-95.”

No weapon was reported shown in the other three Connecticut bank robberies.

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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Hackensack firefighters extricated a driver this morning after his SUV rear-ended a tractor-trailer stopped in the right local lane on westbound Route 80 near Polifly Road.

The driver was taken to nearby Hackensack University Medical Center in critical condition after the 7 a.m. crash.

He was removed from his Honda CR-V, which was wedged under the trailer, in less than 15 minutes.

Emergency responders told CLIFFVIEW PILOT they didn’t initially know why the rig was stopped.

Engines 1 and 2 and Rescue 1 and D/C 2 responded.

New Jersey State Police were investigating.

MORNING CRASHES: Two vehicles skidded off slippery roads on and around Route 17 less than a mile apart in East Rutherford and Lyndhurst this morning.

A white Lexus sedan slid off Route 17, followed by a black Ford SUV just down the road.

The SUV driver apparently skidded out on Union Avenue at the Route 17 exit while looking at the aftermath of another crash. Her vehicle ended up pinned in the fence.

The Union Avenue/Route 17 jughandle was shut down.

PHOTO: Tom Joseph

PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Senior Correspondent Boyd A. Loving

UPDATE: An electrician was in emergency surgery after an MRI machine exploded, injuring two of his co-workers, at the Oradell Animal Hospital this afternoon.

“The back blew off while they were dismantling the machine,” Bergen County Executive James Tedesco told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “The one who was standing behind the machine took the full hit in the chest.”

He was in surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center. A co-worker was also brought there and another to The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood — both with less serious injuries, Tedesco said.

An interior ceiling partially collapsed, blocking a hallway and raising concerns that other people might be trapped inside.

But everyone was accounted for, as were all of the pets.

All staff and pets were moved over to Home & Kidz across the street, Hospital Administrator Alison Maglio told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

“The building is structurally sound. There are no environmental issues,” Tedesco said later, adding that OSHA and borough building inspectors were at the scene.

A search and rescue team joined Paramus firefighters, police, EMS and hazardous materials experts after the call came in just before noon. Hackensack and Clifton firefighters were among several other departments that responded.

PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Senior Correspondent Boyd A. Loving

UPDATE: A fifth-grade boy wasn’t expected to survive his injuries after deliberately jumping from a second-story window at the Grant School in Dumont around noon today.

The 10-year-old youngster apparently had a dispute with another boy over a chess game, then handed a school lunch aide a note before jumping from a window on the east side of the building and landing on the sidewalk below, multiple sources told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Dumont BLS and Englewood ALS treated the boy at the scene before taking him to the trauma unit at Hackensack University Medical Center in critical condition.

Area streets were closed down while authorities investigated so that some parents could pick up their children. Other classes and activities continued into the afternoon.

A teacher also had to be hospitalized.

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A 51-year-old Westchester County woman arrested by the FBI in Atlantic City yesterday for taking at least $112,900 in cash at gunpoint from a Glen Rock bank while wearing a bright red wig two weeks ago and $13,000 from a bank in Greenwich, CT with a pixie cut the month before is a former white-collar executive and bodybuilder who previously served time for robbing a bank 20 years ago.

The New York Post dubbed Michelle C. Cantatore of White Plains the “Buff Bod Bandit” after she was tracked down by the FBI in Miami in December 2001.

Authorities said Cantatore entered a Chase Bank branch in White Plains in 1995 and handed the teller a note that read: “Put all your money in the bag. I have a gun. Don’t look at me. Keep cool.” She sped off in a Camarao but was caught 15 minutes later after a dye pack exploded.

LEFT: Courtesy GREENWICH (CT) PD
RIGHT: Courtesy GLEN ROCK PD

Cantatore was released after serving a year in prison, then was arrested by U.S. Postal Service inspectors in 2000 for stealing credit card numbers. After pleading guilty, she skipped bail and fled to Miami.

U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said Cantatore was due for a first appearance in U.S. District Court in Newark this afternoon after being arrested yesterday at the Borgata Hotel and Casino — as exclusively reported last night by CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

An FBI complaint filed with the court says that Cantatore “demanded money and threatened to shoot and kill the [Glen Rock Savings Bank] employees if her demand was not met” the afternoon of Feb. 18.

When she wasn’t satisfied with the amount, the FBI said, “she directed the bank employees to enter the vault and give her more money.

“Surveillance camera footage shows a white mid-sized SUV leaving the area,” the bureau said.

It was a Cayenne Porsche registered to Cantatore’s father, the FBI complaint says. Records show she’d been stopped in it last May.

FBI agents confirmed that Cantatore used her cellphone in the area at 10:16 a.m. the day of the Glen Rock robbery, and then again at the Borgata at 6:35 p.m.

Surveillance photos show Cantatore “handing two large stacks of cash to the Borgata Casino cashier” at 6:53 p.m., it says.

She’s holding “a handbag similar to the bag used by the robber” in Glen Rock, the complaint says.

Yesterday’s arrest answered questions about her gender that were based on bank surveillance photos.

The FBI today also confirmed that Cantatore is being charged in the Jan. 30 robbery of the Greenwich Bank and Trust Co. Her cellphone was used in the area that day, as well, the complaint says.

A quick review by CLIFFVIEW PILOT yesterday found three other female bank robberies in Connecticut in a span of less than two weeks after the Greenwich job:

Feb. 13 in Wethersfield (bottom right);
Feb. 17 in Cromwell (top);
Feb. 24 in Darien (bottom left)

The bandit in both the Glen Rock and Greenwich robberies was smallish (5-foot-5 to 5-foot-7), with a medium build, and wore similar white or tan boots, a long woman’s peacoat and dark gloves.

The bandit also pointed a long-barreled weapon — which Glen Rock police said was a paintball gun and Greenwich authorities called a sawed-off shotgun.

The FBI today confirmed that the weapon Glen Rock police recovered — as sources originally told CLIFFVIEW PILOT after it was found wedged against pole in a snowbank — was a paintball gun.

Greenwich police described the bandit as about 40. Glen Rock police didn’t use an age.

The robber’s hair in each differed: The Greenwich bandit had a dark pixie cut, as opposed to the long, intense red wig worn by the Glen Rock robber.

She was carrying what sources out of Glen Rock told CLIFFVIEW PILOT was a Louis Vuitton bag into which she stuffed $112,900 to $120,000 taken from the Rock Road bank’s vault last month.

Images captured from an ATM taken the morning of the Connecticut holdup nearly three weeks earlier show the suspected robber going into a Hudson City Savings Bank branch in the Cos Cob section of Greenwich, coming out and crossing the street to a People’s Bank branch and doing the same — apparently casing both banks.

Then came the Greenwich Bank and Trust holdup.

According to a Greenwich Police Department report:

“The pictured suspect, described as a white female, mid 40’s, 5’3”-5’5”, 100-115lbs., entered the bank with a gray Whole Foods shopping bag from New York.

“She then pulled out a sawed off shotgun from the bag and ordered the manager to the ground.

“The suspect then ordered the two tellers to put their hands on their heads and told one of them to retrieve the cash from both drawers.

“The suspect threatened to kill them if there were any dye packs in with the money.

“The suspect received approximately $13,000 in cash, fled the bank and ran towards I-95.”

No weapon was reported shown in the other three Connecticut bank robberies.

UPDATE: Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco this afternoon signed a pair of ordinances folding the county police department into the county sheriff’s office.

With his signature, Tedesco officially moved the Bergen County Police Department into the authority of the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office while setting the table of organization for the sheriff’s Bureau of Police Services.

The move was approved by the county freeholders by a 6-1 vote on Feb. 25.

Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino (CLIFFVIEW PILOT photo)

“This is a win for the taxpayers, law enforcement, and county government,” Tedesco said today. “In the coming months, Sheriff [Michael] Saudino will take the lead on implementing these critical changes.”

Freeholder Chairwoman Joan Voss said: “We’ve worked on this for years and are so happy it has finally become reality. This is a win-win for Bergen County because it will increase public safety and save us hundreds of millions of dollars going forward.”

Freeholder David Ganz said: “Many thanks to Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco for making the Freeholders a part of this realignment and today’s ceremony by giving us the pens that he used to sign the documents. Today, history is being made in Bergen County, and we are all part of it.”

Freeholder Tracy Zur said: “It is so gratifying to see years of hard work come to fruition. We can now begin to implement this realignment plan to help make law enforcement more efficient and save taxpayers millions of dollars.”

Freeholder Tom Sullivan said: “This is a historic day. The best part is that we will save millions of dollars and maintain and even increase the already top-notch law enforcement services we have throughout the county.”

BCSO Chief Kevin Pell (PHOTOS: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY SHERIFF)

Freeholder Steve Tanelli said: “The realignment of the Bergen County Police Department into the Bergen County Sherriff’s Office will eliminate redundancy, streamline services, improve communications, enhance public safety and save hundreds of millions of dollars over the next 20 years. This is a historic day and a wonderful accomplishment for Bergen County.”

Freeholder John Felice said: “It’s a historic day for the people of Bergen County and the future of law enforcement. One of my objectives when I first ran for office was to work toward the realignment of the county police and we achieved that today. What I find most positive about this experience is that we worked across party lines to make this happen. This is what the people of Bergen County wanted, and today it is a reality.”

Republican Freeholder Maura DeNicola opposed the move from the outset, sayng she doesn’t believe it will save money or improve policing.

Tedesco’s November victory over incumbent Kathleen Donovan, who opposed the move, was a referendum of sorts on the consolidation.

The new county executive predicted it would save county taxpayers anywhere from $90 million to $200 million over the next quarter-century.

Tedesco called the move “historic,” saying that it creates “a new law-enforcement agency guided by a true professional.”

One of the signed ordinances ratifies a Memorandum of Agreement that Tedesco signed with Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino and county Prosecutor John L. Molinelli in his first official act as county executive after being sworn in on Jan. 1.

County Executive Jim Tedesco, county freeholders (COURTESY: Alicia D’Alessandro)

The second measure renames the BCPD the Bureau of Police Services and caps the number of officers that the sheriff can hire without freeholder approval.

No one will lose his or her job under the MOU signed by Tedesco, Saudino and Molinelli. No changes will be made to the existing labor contracts, either.

Over the long term, however, the sheriff is charged with reducing what will become a combined total of 255 officers to 201 through attrition.

However, he noted there’s more to it than money.

“[A]n equally significant factor is the need to replace redundancies, to become more efficient in the manner in which police services are provided by county govermment and to actually seize upon opportunities to expand such services offered to the residents of Bergen County through this realignment,” the memorandum of understanding says.

The sheriff will “devise a plan whereby County police patrol services will be deployed on a sector basis throughout all of Bergen County, thus improving response times at area colleges and other County owned or operated buildings,” it says.

Saudino will also “make these officers more accessible to the municipal police departments for purposes of backup, force multiplier services, faster specialized services and prisoner transportation.”

Saudino has been huddling with undersheriffs, advisors and others the past two months assembling the initial framework of the new operation.

The select panel has included new department Chief Kevin Pell, a career law enforcement professional who Saudino said has helped him “quickly formulate a template for a smooth transition.” READ MORE….

UPDATE: A 14-year-old boy with autism who vanished while night snow-tubing with his family at Campgaw Mountain Ski Resort in Mahwah last night was hospitalized after he knocked on the door of an Oakland resident’s house before dawn this morning, Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

“He’d walked quite a distance,” said Saudino, who was involved, along with a K9 unit from his office, in what became a massive search. “He was barefoot when they opened the door.”

PHOTO: Courtesy NEW JERSEY SEARCH & RESCUE

“He was hospitalized for precautionary measures,” the sheriff added just after 5 a.m., moments after word came that the teen had been found.

He originally was seen “going up the hill but not coming down” around 9:30 p.m., Police Chief James Batelli told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

New Jersey Search and Rescue, Mahwah firefighters, members of Mahwah Res1cue and an army of private citizens joined the effort following the 9:30 p.m. emergency call. Reverse 911 calls went out around 2:30 a.m.

The non-verbal teen, who didn’t have a history of wandering off and had been to Campgaw before, turned up at 4:45 a.m., Batelli told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this morning.

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A registered sex offender from Teaneck was back behind bars on underage sex assault charges today.

Details of the alleged February incidents weren’t immediately available, but records show that 41-year-old William Romero Kooney of Farrant Terrace was being held on $750,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail after being admitted this morning.

Kooney is charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault, two counts of sexual assault and four of child endangerment.

New Jersey State Police records show a 2009 Megan’s Law registration out of Passaic County for sexually assaulting a girl under 13 and possession of child pornography.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy NJ DEPT of CORRECTIONS

PHOTO: Dozens of protesters were watched by Closter, Harrington Park and CSX police as they expressed concerns over published reports that at least 7 million gallons per day of highly combustible Bakken crude oil comes through nearly a dozen Bergen towns along the CSX River Line.

Uniformed officers converged on the area to help keep traffic moving along Old Hook and nearby Schraalenburgh roads past the railroad crossing near the Oradell Reservoir.

One lane of Old Hook Road was closed.

Signs included: “Oil and water don’t mix” and “Ban unsafe trains now,” while demonstrators chanted: “Hey hey, ho ho, Bakken crude has got to go.”

The trains carrying the oil must cross a small, wooden bridge that spans the reservoir, which is full of drinking water for an estimated 750,000 customers.

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: One bicyclist remained critical and another in serious condition tonight as the likelihood increased that criminal charges would be brought following a crash on a Paramus street as the two victims headed to work before dawn this morning.

Sources told CLIFFVIEW PILOT that accident investigators were exploring the possibility that the driver was texting at the time of the 4:50 a.m. crash.

Both Paramus residents, the victims were brought to the trauma unit of Hackensack University Medical Center after being struck by a Jeep Grand Cherokee on West Midland Avenue near Cardinal Place.

The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Fatal Accident Investigation Unit took the primary role in the case after responding along with Paramus police and firefighters and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification.

No charges were immediately filed nor summonses issued to the driver as investigators continued interviewing him this morning. There was no immediate evidence of alcohol or drug use, they said at the time.

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PHOTO: Ron Bombaro

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UPDATE: An unwatched pot ignited a three-alarm fire that severely damaged the kitchen and dining room of a Demarest home, responders told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

The only resident home at the time told authorities she’d fallen asleep while boiling water for tea and awoke to the flames around 2:30 p.m.

She was treated for smoke inhalation. A firefighter also sustained a minor shoulder injury in the blaze, which was extinguished within an hour.

Firefighters from Alpine, Closter, Hackensack, Harrington Park, Haworth, New Milford, Norwood and Tenafly joined their Demarest colleagues and Cresskill FAST at the Hillside Avenue fire.

Dumont and New Milford provided mutual aid.

Firefighters had to lay nearly 1,000 feet of hose to reach a hydrant nearly a block from the 114-year-old, 2,400-square-foot home.

PHOTOS: Courtesy REGIONAL FIRE PHOTOS

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A Bergen County Police officer was treated for a head injury and released from the hospital last night after his cruiser slammed into a utility pole on Route 46 in Little Ferry.

Authorities said the driver of a black 2005 Audi4 — which a source told CLIFFVIEW PILOT was possibly stolen out of Edgewater — cut off Officer Gabriel Castellanos in the highway’s westbound lanes just before 10 p.m., then fled.

Castellanos was treated at Hackensack University Medical Center.

The cruiser sustained front and rear damage.

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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: An 18-year-old Franklin Lakes man was charged with a variety of offenses after police said he illegally drove an ATV with a 4-year-old child on board.

Grant Mather tried to flee and then resisted arrest after being chased to his home following the incident on Bentley Drive last week, Police Lt. John Bakelaar said this morning.

The Indian Hills High School graduate was released on a summons to answer charges of obstruction, resisting arrest, operating an all-terrain vehicle on a public street and operating an ATV without a helmet, consent, registration or insurance.

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: On the lookout for a driver being pursued by Teaneck police at speeds of upwards of 100 miles an hour, New Milford police arrested another motorist on warrant and drug possession charges.

New Milford police were searching for the fleeing Mercedes when Officer Brian Carlino spotted an idling Toyota occupied by two men in a parking lot next to the Dorchester Manor Apartments off Columbia Street and Dilworth Road just after 3 a.m. yesterday.

The driver immediately handed over his license, but the passenger, 20-year-old Nicholas Frasse, declined to identify himself other than “Nick,” Carlino said.

Backups arrived and the officers ordered both men out of the car.

The 5-foot-8, 155-pound Frasse continued to be evasive and fidgety, then became argumentative before finally producing identification, they said.

He was taken into custody after a computer check turned up warrants out of Union County — as well as in three Bergen County towns.

A subsequent search at headquarters turned up three small plastic baggies of crack cocaine inside a cellphone case, police said.

Frasse remained held on $10,848 today in the Bergen County Jail.

He’s charged in New Milford with drug possession in Saddle Brook with theft and shoplifting, in Garfield with shoplifting and in Hasbrouck Heights with possession of drug paraphernalia.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy NEW MILFORD PD

PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Senior Correspondent Kevin Teel

UPDATE: A house fire killed a 57-year-old Englewood man and sent another resident to the hospital with a hand injury, responders told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

A city firefighter also was treated Englewood Hospital and Medical Center for burns on his wrist, they said.

Detectives from the city and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Arson Squad were trying to determine the cause of the three-alarm blaze, which broke out around 1:40 p.m., Police Chief Lawrence Suffern told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. The Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification was collecting evidence.

Met by flames at the front door of the 2½-story Shepard Avenue home, firefighters entered the rear of the house and cut through a wall to get to Charles Brown, who’d gone into cardiac arrest, authorities said.

He was pronounced dead at EHMC, Detective Capt. Timothy Torell said.

Hackensack, Leonia and Teaneck firefighters joined their colleagues, while mutual aid was being provided by Bergenfield, Bogota and Ridgefield.

PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Senior Correspondent Kevin Teel

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: One of two bicyclists died yesterday after being struck before dawn on a Paramus street, authorities confirmed this afternoon.

Mandeep Singh, 23, of Paramus NJ suffered a critical head injury after he and a co-worker, 24-year-old Shernjit Singh (no relation), were struck by a 2000 Jeep Cherokee on Midland Avenue as they rode side-by-side to separate service station jobs just before 5 a.m., Police Chief Kenneth Ehrenberg said.

Shernjit Singh, also of Paramus, remained in serious condition Hackensack University Medical Center, where both were taken after the crash.

No charges had been filed nor summonses issued to the driver, 38-year-old Michael Santos of Passaic, who was driving east on Midland Avenue when the crash occurred, Ehrenberg said.

Santos remained at the scene and was interviewed as part of what remains an ongoing investigation by Paramus and Bergen County prosecutor’s detectives, the chief said.

The Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification collected evidence.

PHOTO: Ron Bombaro

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A disturbance involving more than 300 Ramsey teens headed to a high school championship game at the Prudential Center in Newark on an NJ Transit train this afternoon brought police to the Radburn station this afternoon and led to at least one arrest, authorities confirmed.

The Bergen Line train from Suffern to Hoboken, which stops in Secaucus, was delayed 24 minutes as the students were removed, NJ Transit spokesman William Smith told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

The Ramsey fans boarded the train at 3:11 p.m.

The puck was scheduled to drop at 5 p.m. for the title in the State Public B finals between the Ramsey High School Rams and the Middletown North High School Eagles of Monmouth County.

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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Lyndhurst police officers responding to a report of an $110 unpaid cab fare arrested two men after finding pot, mushrooms, generic Xanax, brass knuckles and hollow-point bullets in a local apartment, authorities said tonight.

Called just before 1:30 a.m. today, police said the 39-year-old taxi driver told them that his fare from Queens jumped out and took off toward the Valley Brook Avenue apartment/condo complex.

Footprints in the snow led Officers Charles Giangeruso, Rob Fernandez and Anthony Ricigliano to an apartment where another man answered the door, Capt. John Valente told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

The tenant, identified as Andrew Lee, 24, “denied knowledge of the suspect, claiming that the only other person in the apartment was his roommate,” Valente said.

Lee allowed them to enter, and they spotted “a large assortment of CDS and paraphernalia on table tops, counters and other locations in plain view,” the captain said.

They also found their suspect.

He was identified as Jonathan Rodriguez, 31, of Elmhurst, Queens.

Both he and Lee were charged with four counts of possession with the intent to distribute Alprazolam, two counts of marijuana possession — one with the intent to distribute the drug — and two counts of drug paraphernalia possession, as well as possession of Psilocybin.

Lee also was charged with weapons possession — for the brass knuckles — and possession of .45-caliber and 9mm hollow-point bullets.

Rodriguez also faces a theft of service charge.

Lee was being held on $110,000 bail and Rodriguez on $100,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail.

MUGSHOTS: Courtesy LYNDHURST PD