Two additional suspects in the brazen Nov. 29 smash-and-grab burglary of an ATM at the Kearny Avenue Exxon station have been charged in connection to the crime, Det. John Fabula, the investigating officer, said.
Justin McKinney, 18, of Woodbridge, formerly of Kearny, has been charged on a warrant complaint with burglary, theft, conspiracy to commit burglary, criminal mischief and receiving stolen property. Eliezer Velez, 19, of Newark, has been charged on a summons complaint with burglary, theft, conspiracy to commit burglary and receiving stolen property.
The arrest of these two follows the arrest of Ruben Gonzalez, 19, whose last known address was in Newark, who was taken into custody by Newark police on Nov. 29, after officers in the Newark PD’s 7th Precinct found him in possession of a stolen vehicle, a Porsche taken from Muttontown Village, New York.
After the burglary, Gonzalez and his cohorts reportedly fled in a Range Rover stolen in Franklin Lakes.
Fabula was able to identify Gonzalez based on the clothes he wore in the burglary. Oh, and he also had the key to the aforementioned stolen Range Rover on him when Newark cops picked him up.
Fabula charged Gonzalez with third-degree burglary, third-degree theft, third-degree conspiracy, second-degree receiving stolen property and fourth-degree criminal mischief.
Gonzalez was remanded to the Essex County Correctional Facility based on the charges he faced in Newark. McKinney is behind bars already on an unrelated incident in New York.
At around 2 a.m., Nov. 29, responding police officers arrived at the 514 Kearny Ave. Exxon to find the glass entrance to the mini-mart smashed in with a ransacked interior. The station and mini-mart were closed at the time. The suspects were able to get away with the mart’s ATM.
The three suspects reportedly smashed the mini-mart’s front-door window with a crowbar to gain entry and then loaded the ATM into the aforementioned stolen Range Rover.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off 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 Facebook Live, 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 West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.