DNA match on ski mask leads Rutherford police to arrest in burglaries

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A ski mask left at the scene of a burglary produced a DNA match to a probationer who Rutherford police have charged with that break-in, as well as another.

Jerry DeMarco

03/20/2014 5:35 p.m.

Detective Thomas Lewis found the balaclava (similar to the one above) at a burglarized Park Avenue home on Feb. 27, 2012.

Detectiive. Brian Shore of the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department Bureau of Criminal Identification then submitted it to the New Jersey State Police Lab for a DNA analysis.

As a result, Rutherford police on Tuesday arrested 46-year-old Jose Medina of Belleville in connection with the break-in, Capt. Patrick Feliciano said this morning.

Detective Sgt. Michael Garner and Detective Russell Snyder interviewed Medina, who confessed to a Jan. 28, 2012 burglary on Riverside Avenue, the captain said.

Medina, who was on probation, was being held on $110,000 combined bail in the Bergen County Jail — $60,000 for two counts each of burglary and theft out of Rutherford and $50,000 for violating probation.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy RUTHERFORD PD

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