Teens Caught After Chase, May be Linked to 'Several' Crimes, Police Say

Newark police arrested a teenaged girl and boy Sunday following a car chase, later linking the pair as possible suspects in several other crimes, department spokesman Det. Todd McClendon said.

Patrolling officers spotted a stolen car around 5 a.m. near the intersection of Avon Avenue and S. 11th Street. The car was used in an armed robbery an hour earlier at 521 Mulberry St., McClendon said.  

Police chased the vehicle as it headed into Hillside and back into Newark along Rt. 22, finally abandoning the car on Clinton Place near Hawthorne Avenue. Two of the three occupants, the boy and girl, both 16-year-old Newark residents, were caught, while a third person escaped and remained at-large Monday, McClendon said.

The pair was charged with receiving stolen property and resisting arrest, while the boy was also charged with possession of burglary tools. Both were remanded to the Essex County Juvenile Detention Center.

Detectives from the department's Major Crimes Unit and Robbery Squad were able to connect one or both of these teens to more than a dozen other robberies as a result of leads from several other ongoing investigations, McClendon also said. The youths may also have been involved numerous other crimes dating back several weeks, according to investigators.

Newark Police Director Samuel A. DeMaio expressed outrage over the teens’ alleged extensive criminal history.