Back-to-Back Cragmere Burglaries May Be Linked, Cops Say

Police are looking for a man who they say might have been responsible for two similar residential burglaries in the Cragmere section of Mahwah Friday.

According to Mahwah Police Chief Jim Batelli, two homes reported break-ins Friday. During the first attempted burglary, at about 9:50 a.m., a teenager was at home asleep upstairs on Rock Ridge Road when she was woken up by her dog barking, Batelli said Friday night.

When she went downstairs, the girl, “made eye contact” with a man standing outside a sliding glass door outside the home’s kitchen, Batelli said. When he saw the girl, he ran from the home, cops said.

The teenager described the burglary suspect as a white male believed to be in his early 20's, light colored hair, wearing a grey shirt, blue jeans and tan work boots, police said.

The second burglary was discovered at about 7 p.m. Friday, when police say a Mahwah Road resident returned home from work to find a screen door at the back of his home cut through, and the back door left open. According to police, an undisclosed amount of cash was stolen from inside the home.

Police are investigating both incidents, and the Bergen County Bureau of Criminal Investigation processed the Mahwah Road home for forensic evidence.

“It cannot be definitively determined if the two incidents are connected, but police investigators believe there is a strong possibility they may be,” Batelli said.