Montclair Man Arrested After Attempted Verona Burglary

Township Police arrested a 36-year-old Montclair man early Sunday morning after a Martin Road resident reported someone had attempted to enter their home through a basement window.

Police responded to the scene after the homeowner said he heard "strange noises" coming from his basement around 5 a.m. on Sunday, July 10. When he went downstairs to investigate, he found a window screen had been removed, and a man trying to open his window.

Cameron Wallace, 36, of Montclair, was arrested in the backyard of the home after Sgt. Michael Traettino and Ptl. Ed Carattini found him to be in possession of burglar tools, which Verona Police Captain Mitchell Stern said included a screwdriver, needle-nose pliers and wire cutters. After briefly refusing to show his hands, Wallace was arrested without incident, and charged with burglary, Stern said.

Verona has seen a summer spike in burglaries from homes and thefts from vehicles, including one night last month when three cars were stolen from three driveways during the overnight hours of June 15. Two of those thefts were from Martin Road, where Wallace was caught by police Sunday. Since April, more than a dozen burglaries or attempted burglaries have been included in the Verona Police Department's weekly blotter report.

Stern said Thursday that the department is investigating "similarities" between several of the crimes, and that officers are trying to determine whether Wallace has any connection to other recent thefts.

"There are similar things to some of them. Not every one of the burglaries are in lock step with the others but there are some similar characteristics that we're investigating," Stern said.

Wallace was processed at Verona Police Headquarters, and later transferred to Essex County Jail where he remains in custody in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Stern said the department is continuing its vigilance in light of recent thefts, and continues to step up patrols, and dedicate more plainclothes officers to working special shifts in an effort to bolster the township's defenses against would-be theives and burglars.