By: Richard L. Smith
Two Bronx men have been arrested in connection with an armed robbery outside a Saddle Brook business after a months-long investigation, Bergen County authorities announced.
According to Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella, 27-year-old Ronny Moquete Rosario and 26-year-old Jacob Rodriguez, both of the Bronx, were taken into custody in New York on September 23.
The investigation began after Saddle Brook Police responded to a business on Lanza Avenue at approximately 6:51 a.m. on June 22.
Authorities said the victim had arrived at the establishment and parked nearby. As he exited his vehicle, a masked suspect wearing a black hood allegedly emerged from a white four-door vehicle with dark-tinted windows.
Police said the suspect was armed with a handgun and confronted the victim before taking money, valuables and other personal property.
The suspect then returned to the waiting vehicle, which fled north on Midland Avenue, according to officials.
Detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Special Investigations Squad joined Saddle Brook Police in the investigation and eventually identified the vehicle as a 2018 Acura TLX that authorities said was displaying a bogus temporary New Jersey registration tag.
Investigators subsequently linked the vehicle to Rodriguez and identified Moquete Rosario as an additional suspect in the robbery, officials said.
Both men were charged with first-degree armed robbery, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and aggravated assault by pointing a firearm.
With assistance from the FBI’s New York Field Office and the NYPD, Bergen County and Saddle Brook detectives located both men in the Bronx on September 23.
Authorities said Rodriguez and Moquete Rosario were apprehended without incident and placed in NYPD custody. They were being held by New York authorities pending extradition to Bergen County.