DNA Match From Soda Can Uncovered In 2018 Palisades Park Burglary

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — A DNA match from a soda can was recently uncovered in connection with a burglary from 2018, according to Palisades Park Police.

Evidence taken from the scene was matched with James Joseph Vietzen, 36, who is currently serving a prison sentence in Trenton State Prison, detective sergeant Alex Monteleone said.

Back in 2018, the Palisades Park Police was sent to what was then a diner (Happy Diner), on Broad Avenue.

Sergeant Sean Cottrell found that a business nearby, Honey Pig Bossam, had also been burglarized. He notified the owner, who came over and found a soda can that had been left behind, police said.

That soda can was sent to a state lab for DNA and just recently, on June 14, a match was detected.

A stolen register with $300 missing was found next to the first business and a camera worth around $200 had been ripped from the wall. From the second business about $100 cash and an iPad was stolen, according to police.

Vietzen, whose last known address was from Ridgefield, was interviewed about the 2018 burglary and admitted he was there, but not that he been responsible for it, police said.

In relation to the 2018 burglary, he was charged with two counts of theft and two counts of burglary.

He is known to the Palisades Park Police Department and has a long list of priors.

Back in 2003, he was charged with robbery and aggravated assault in Leonia, in 2005 he was charged with terroristic threats in Ridgefield and in 2018 he was charged in Palisades Park with burglary, credit card crime and theft by unlawful taking.