NY men face burglary charges for car break-ins at NJ parks

🚔2 NY men busted for NJ car burglaries

🚔Vehicles ransacked at parks

🚔Credit cards among items stolen, cops say

A pair of New York City men has been accused of a series of car burglaries at two park areas, roughly 20 miles apart in New Jersey.

The arrests of 28-year-old Jose Cabanzo-Pena and 32-year-old Luis Eduardo Pena-Garzon, both of Queens, involved police in Bernards Township and Hillsborough, as well as the office of Somerset County Prosecutor John McDonald.

On June 24 around 8:30 a.m., a 2011 GMC Acadia was spotted at Mountain Park in Bernards Township, as police began to run surveillance.

Cabanzo-Pena and Pena-Garzon were seen walking in the park and then leaving in the SUV, which was pulled over for an authorized search, McDonald said.

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Officers found items that had been stolen from a car parked at Mountain Park that day, according to McDonald, plus evidence that connected Cabanzo-Pena to additional motor vehicle burglaries and thefts at the same park on May 10 and May 20.

Cabanzo-Pena was arrested and charged with third-degree counts of the following — burglary to a motor vehicle, three counts of fraudulent use of a credit card and theft by deception. He also faced three counts of fourth-degree credit card theft and theft, disorderly persons offense.

Pena-Garzon was charged with third-degree burglary to a motor vehicle, fourth-degree credit card theft and theft, disorderly persons offense.

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Investigators found both men have been targeting parks throughout Somerset County and NJ for motor vehicle burglaries.

Hillsborough police later filed separate charges against the duo, in connection with four different days of car burglaries at Sourland Mountain Preserve.

On July 17, Pena-Garzon was charged with three counts of theft by deception, a disorderly persons offense, related to thefts on May 8 and June 10.

Cabanzo-Pena was charged with two counts of theft by deception, a disorderly persons offense, for thefts on Oct. 19, 2023 and Nov. 8, 2023.

McDonald applauded what he called an “excellent example of collaboration, coordination, and persistence” by municipal and county law enforcement.

'Lock up and take your key/fob'

Law enforcement around NJ has been urging residents for years to take simple steps in helping secure vehicles against such burglaries.

Whether parked in a lot at a public place or in a driveway, drivers have been repeatedly encouraged to remove valuables and lock the vehicle, taking the key or fob with them upon exiting.

Anyone with information on the investigation was urged to contact the Somerset County Prosecutors Office Burglary Task Force at 908-231-7100 the Bernards Township Police Department at 908-766-1122 or the Hillsborough Township Police Department at 908-369-4323.

Information can also be shared via the STOPit app on a smartphone, access code: SOMERSETNJ — or by a call to the Somerset County Crime Stoppers’ Tip Line at 1-888-577-TIPS (8477).

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