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Joey Labonville (PHOTOS: Courtesy Emerson PD)
The owner called Emerson police after finding his back door pried open and both cash registers smashed just after 4:30 Thursday morning.
“Things were thrown around all over the place. Money was missing,” Emerson Detective Michael McDermott told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
What the burglar didn’t know was that a video recorder captured him at work.
“We could see him hitting the cash registers, removing things,” McDermott said.
It wasn’t difficult to identify a suspect:
Joey Labonville, a barber and former bodybuilder already known in Pascack Valley, recently was released from a treatment facility, Westwood police said in an alert to area departments on Tuesday (Labonville had been convicted of drunk driving earlier this year in Westchester).
Detectives called Labonville’s parole officer, who viewed the video and positively identified him, a source with direct knowledge of the arrest told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
(Labonville is on parole in New York State until 2021, records show.)
Labonville was riding a bicycle from his job early last evening when Emerson, Westwood, River Vale, Old Tappan and Montvale surrounded him.
He was arrested without incident.
Labonville, 37, is being held on $75,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail, charged with burglary, theft and criminal mischief.
McDermott said a search warrant turned up evidence from the break-in at Labonville’s Westwood apartment, which is just across Westwood Cemetery from the bagel shop.
“Westwood police played a key role in helping solve this quickly,” McDermott said. “We thank them and the other departments who assisted.”
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