MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Maplewood police officers Munoz and Dolias observed two vehicles driving erratically on Boyden Avenue at approximately 1 a.m. on May 25. One vehicle was a dark-colored SUV and the other was a light-colored sedan. Officers were able to check the plate of the sedan and discovered that the vehicle, a 2015 Toyota Corolla, had been reported stolen out of Newark as the result of a carjacking. The officers attempted to initiate a stop of the vehicle, but the vehicle was able to elude them and traveled into Union. A few minutes later, Union Police Department officers observed the vehicle and pursued it from Stuyvesant Avenue onto Chancellor Avenue. The vehicle and its driver crashed the vehicle in the area of Chancellor and Elizabeth Avenues in Newark. William Alvarado-Jones, 19, of Newark was arrested while attempting to flee from the vehicle.
While the initial police action was transpiring, the Maplewood Police Department Communications Center received a report of a woman screaming in the area of Franklin Avenue and Rutgers Street in Maplewood. When officers arrived on scene to investigate, they were approached by an adult female victim who reported that she had just been robbed. The victim reported that she was sitting in her vehicle in the driveway of a home on Rutgers Street while using her cell phone when her vehicle was approached by two black males wearing partial masks. One of the males opened the door to her vehicle, demanded she get out and then took her phone and a bag that was in the vehicle. The males then fled to two waiting vehicles described as a dark-colored SUV and the other a light-colored sedan and drove off at a high rate of speed. The victim was not injured.
Due to the circumstances, police believe that the Toyota Corolla and Alvarado-Jones were involved in the robbery, just prior to Maplewood officers attempting to stop him. As a result of additional information developed by the Maplewood police detectives through investigation, Alvarado-Jones was charged with eluding, robbery and conspiracy, and he was processed and transported to the Essex County Correctional Facility. The investigation is ongoing at this time.
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Ridiculous! Glad they caught the perps.