Employee, 3 Others Tried To Break Into Route 17 Car Dealership's Safe: Police

MAHWAH, NJ — Four people, including a former employee, have been charged with trying to break into a safe at a Mahwah car dealership, police in that town said Wednesday.

Fermin Bautista-Rocha, 49, of Paterson, and Bledar Lece, 47, Shkelzen Murati, 42, and Ehab Hassan, 29, all from Clifton, have been charged with burglary, theft, and criminal mischief in the Sept. 8 break-in, Mahwah Police Capt. Michael Blondin said.

A fire alarm at Mahwah Buick GMC on Route 17 brought police and firefighters to the dealership, where they discovered an office door had been forced open, Blondin said.

Inside the office, they saw someone had tried to use a power tool to cut into the safe, he said.

Investigators determined that Hassan, an employee of the dealership at the time, had provided information to help the other suspects with the break-in, Blondin said.

Bautista-Rocha drove the getaway car, and Lece and Murati broke into the building and tried to get into the safe, he said.

The four men were arrested at different times and taken to the Bergen County jail.

Lece, Murati and Hassan have since been released, and Bautista-Rocha remains in the jail pending court proceedings, according to jail records.