BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — Police in one Bergen County town stopped an 18-year-old and a juvenile from stealing more than 14 tons of frozen fish on Saturday, they say.
Jonathan Pollaguari, 18, of the Bronx, was charged with theft and other offenses, including employing a juvenile in the commission of a crime, said North Arlington police on Tuesday.
Police said the driver of a refrigerated tractor-trailer had gotten a series of texts and calls from someone claiming to be associated with the freight broker responsible for the shipment.
The driver was told to bring some of the shipment — 29,000 pounds of frozen seafood worth $273,000 — to North Arlington.
When the driver arrived, police say, Pollaguari and a child met him in a 26-foot box truck and began transferring frozen shrimp, salmon, conch meat, and branzino.
The driver began questioning the legitimacy of the transfer.
When police arrived, they investigated and arrested Pollaguari.
"A subsequent investigation determined the individual directing the transfer ... had allegedly impersonated a representative of the company in an effort to fraudulently obtain the shipment," police said Tuesday.
Pollaguari was charged with second-degree theft by deception, second-degree false representation, second-degree conspiracy, and first-degree employing a juvenile in the commission of a crime.
He was also issued motor vehicle summonses for driving without a license, failure to possess an insurance card, and operating an uninsured motor vehicle, police said.
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