Crime & Safety
East Hanover Man Arrested In Burglaries and Thefts
The following information has been provided by the Livingston Police Department and Morris County Prosecutor's Office. It does not indicate a conviction.
Livingston police charged an East Hanover man this week with burglary, theft, shoplifting and motor vehicles offenses, after a three-day string of burglaries that spanned Essex and Morris counties.
Police said 38-year-old Frank Saggese began his crime spree a week ago, when he allegedly broke into an AT&T store in East Hanover, said Livingston Sgt. Det. Anthony Dippold.
The same day, police said Saggese was also seen on video surveillance driving around in a black pickup truck stolen in Dover and was observed stealing a laptop from the Westminster Hotel in West Orange. He also is accused of stealing jewelry and two laptop computers from a home on Yale Court in Livingston, police said.
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Saggese also allegedly stole a red Saturn automobile in West Orange. Police found the black pickup truck was in the West Orange on March 7 with evidence linking it to the Yale Court burglary, Dippold said.
Though he’d already stolen two cars in one day – police say Saggese didn’t stop there. Last Wednesday, he allegedly stole a Pechters bread truck from Valley Road in Montclair and used the truck in a failed attempt to shoplift tools from the Sears at the Livingston Mall, Dippold said.
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As Saggese was making his get away, police said he hit a parked car with the bread truck and authorities later found the truck abandoned around 2 p.m. on Nike Drive in East Hanover.
At the tail end of his spree, police said Saggese allegedly stole an electrician's van from Dover, but did not provide further details of what he did with that van.
Saggese was arrested on March 8 by Dover police while driving a stolen vehicle, according to an e-mail from Capt. Jeffrey Paul spokesperson for Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi.
So far, he’s been charged with one count of burglary, two counts of theft, one count of shoplifting and one count of leaving the scene of an accident and driving with a suspended license. Dippold said there will be additional charges from the other municipalities.
Saggese is being held at Ann Klein Forensic Center in West Trenton under observation, according to police.
Anyone with information about the case should contact the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Intelligence Crime Task Force at (973) 285-6200 or the Morris County Sheriff’s Office Crime Stopper program at 973-COP-CALL.
