Mahwah PD Arrest And Charge Clifton Man With 58 Offenses, Including Robbery, Drug Possession

The Mahwah Police Department has arrested and charged a Clifton man after investigation a string of car burglaries reported this winter.

The department received and investigated 14 car burglary reports between December 22, 2013 and February 3rd, 2014, Mahwah Police Chief James Batelli said. All of the car burglaries reported indicated that the actor smashed out a car window and stole either a radar detector or GPS unit. During the course of the investigations, a suspect vehicle was identified and broadcast to agency personnel and surrounding jurisdictions.  

During the early evening hours on June 18th, Officer Daniel Stewart observed a vehicle matching this broadcast parked at a local diner. Officer Stewart noted the driver and documented the license plate. Subsequent investigation indicated that this vehicle belonged to a girlfriend of Andrew Lovrich, age 30 of Clifton NJ, and that Lovrich had received a prior motor vehicle summons while operating this vehicle. Additional investigation by Detective Kevin Hebert led to an eBay account belonging to Andrew Lovrich, from which all of the items that were being sold by Mr. Lovrich were “radar detectors and GPS units”, each of which were similar to those reported stolen from the Mahwah car burglaries. A Grand Jury subpoena was prepared, submitted, approved and served on eBay and the results yielded additional investigative leads, including tracking down the people who purchased the stolen items online, allowing the investigative unit to have each item positively identified with those reported stolen.

As a result of the investigation, Mr. Lovrich was arrested without incident on July 24, 2014 by Detective Hebert, Detective Bussinelli, Officer Mullin. During the arrest, it was determined that he was in possession of 10 packs of heroin, drug paraphernalia, and a “window center punch tool”, commonly used to smash the windows of the vehicles, Chief Batelli said.  Mr. Lovrich was charged with the following offenses: 14 counts of car burglary, 14 counts of theft, 14 counts of criminal mischief, 14 counts of possession of a burglary tool, one count of possession of heroin, and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia. Probable cause to issue was found and bail was set at $20,000 with no 10%option. Mr. Lovrich was able to post bail and was released pending a Mahwah Municipal Court date of July 29th, 2014 at 7:00pm.