YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Mahwah police arrested the sister of a man who they said got out of a passenger van and snatched a satchel filled with $150,000 from a local street.
Tamirah Laberth, 32, lied to police to cover for her brother, Jamar Aquil Bludson, who was arrested by Mahwah detectives at a Newark motel yesterday afternoon, Police Chief James Batelli told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
She was arrested yesterday while police were looking for Bludson, Batelli said.
The satchel was inadvertently left on the street by employees of a company that delivers money to ATM machines on July 27.
Mahwah police soon after arrested Alton Harvey, 42, of Hillside, who they said was driving a borrowed GMC Savanna van when Bludson, of Newark, got out and grabbed the bag off a curb on Industrial Avenue near Franklin Turnpike.
Surveillance cameras produced images of the van, which Detective Michael Grassi traced to an Irvington resident hours after the theft.
After finding the van in Irvington, Grassi, Detective Sgt. Kevin Hebert and Detective Eric Larsen spotted a new Chevy Tahoe with temporary New Jersey license tags, ran the number and discovered that it had just been bought, Batelli said.
Detectives later arrested Harvey in Hillside.
They also impounded the van, whose owner was unaware of its involvement in a crime, the chief said.
Harvey “admitted to his role as the driver of the van and also informed detectives that the Tahoe was purchased with cash taken from the satchel,” Batelli said.
Detectives ruled out the possibility of the theft being an inside job following extensive interviews and reviews of surveillance images — which included thefts of used tires dumpd at car dealerships and repair shops, the chief said at the time.
Harvey — who has an extensive criminal history that includes 10 felony convictions for weapons and drug offenses, escape and resisting arrest — remained held on $125,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail.
Bludson was also there on the same bail.
Both are charged with theft of lost property.
MUGSHOT/VAN IMAGE: Courtesy MAHWAH PD
