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Man arrested in Rochelle Park was running scam to get cell phones, cops say

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Police believe Junior Santana-Delacruz may have had more victims

ROCHELLE PARK-- An anonymous tip about suspicious activity led to the arrest of a Totowa man on charges he was overseeing a scheme to fraudulently obtain cell phones, police spokesman Det. Sgt. Jim DePreta said in a statement Thursday.

unnamed.jpgJunior Santana Delacruz (Rochelle Park police)  

The tipster called police Sept. 1 and reported seeing someone parked in a remote corner of the parking lot at 218 Rt. 17 North, where a delivery driver pulled up, delivered a package and left.

Police later conducted surveillance of the delivery driver and the parking lot, watching as the driver of a Porsche followed the delivery truck and then received a package, DePreta said. .

Police pulled the Porsche over and found packages containing five cell phones, none of which were addressed to the driver, Junior Santana-Delacruz, 25, DePreta also said.

An investigation in conjunction with the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office revealed that Santana-Delacruz had allegedly filed insurance claims on the cell phone accounts of unwitting victims. The phones were shipped to an area along the delivery driver's route, according to police. Authorities allege the phones were then sold.

A search of Santana-Delacruz's home turned up personal information of a large number of people as well as $26,000 in cash believed to be proceeds from phone sales, DePreta said.

The identity of the delivery driver was not released. Authorities said the investigation is ongoing and may turn up additional victims and participants in the scheme.

Santana-Delacruz was charged with theft by deception, trafficking of personal identifying information and computer facilitated theft. He was being held in the Bergen County Jail on $20,000 bail.

Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook.  

 


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