Maplewood Police arrested a 19-year-old Newark man and charged him with robbery, conspiracy and alluding arrest in an early morning incident Wednesday.
At around 1 a.m. on May 25, Maplewood Police Officers Munoz and Dolias saw two cars, a dark-colored SUV and a light-colored sedan, driving erratically on Boyden Avenue, said Sgt. Christopher Black. After checking the license plate of the sedan, a 2015 Toyota Corolla, officers discovered it had reportedly been carjacked out of Newark. Officers tried to stop the car, but the driver eluded them and drove into Union, said Black.
Several minutes later, Union Police Department officers saw the Corolla and pursued it from Stuyvesant Avenue onto Chancellor Avenue. The driver, 19-year-old William Alvarado-Jones, of Newark, then crashed the car in the area of Chancellor Ave. and Elizabeth Ave in Newark. Police arrested him as he was trying to run away from the car, said Black.
While the pursuit was taking place, the Maplewood Police Department received a report of a woman screaming in the area of Franklin Avenue and Rutgers Street in Maplewood. The woman told police she had been sitting in her car in the driveway of a home on Rutgers Street using her cell phone, when two men wearing partial masks approached her. One of the men allegedly opened the car door, demanded she get out and then took her phone and a bag, said Black.
The men then fled to two waiting cars described as a dark colored SUV and a light colored sedan, and drove off at a high speed. The woman was not injured. Police believed the Corolla and Alvarado-Jones were involved in the robbery just before Maplewood officers tried to stop him, said Black. After further investigation by detectives, police charged Alvarado-Jones with eluding, robbery, and conspiracy and he was processed and taken to the Essex County Correctional Facility, Black said. The investigation is ongoing at this time.
