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Sgt. David Stern and Officer Ray Forsdahl were on patrol overnight Sunday when they call came in and they found 21-year-old Michael Correa of Englewood (left) sitting in a Leonia resident’s car on Highwood Avenue, just west of Palmer Place, after dark, Leona Police Chief Jay Ziegler told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
The beauty of the discovery, a short time after midnight Sunday, was that “the call came from a local resident who had observed the suspicious behavior while walking home,” Ziegler said.
Correa at first said the car belonged to a friend from Englewood, but that was quickly discounted with a registration check, the chief said.
Correa admitted that only three of several car doors he tried in the area were unlocked and that “this was his first foray into Leonia,” Ziegler said. He apparently “had been burglarizing vehicles in Palisades Park for about a week now,” the chief said.
The officer arrested Correa, who the chief said was carrying several stolen items and apparently had been smoking pot.
Correa is being held on $20,000 bail, charged with burglary and theft, among other counts, pending a court appearance tomorrow.
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