Repeat Offender wanted for skipping court was arrested twice on the same day, yet FREE TO Go under NJ Bail Reform

“Hours after an ex-con wanted for skipping court was arrested for lying to Fair Lawn police, he threw a brick through the window of a local bakery during a burglary, authorities said. Sure enough, 53-year-old R.J. Button Baker of Hackensack was released again, under the terms of New Jersey’s 2017 bail reform law. Officer Justin DiGuglielmo first approached Baker as he pedaled his bicycle on Broadway at 29th Street, Sgt. Brian Metzler said. With a criminal record stretching back 25 years, Baker was known to police. He gave a fake name to DiGuglielmo, who discovered warrants out of Fair Lawn (for $25,000) and Elmwood Park ($655), Metzler said. Baker was arrested and sent to the Bergen County Jail. Records show a judge quickly ordered his release a short time later. Later that same day, Baker approached Officer Brian Goodson on Coopers Way at Plaza Road and asked him about retrieving personal property from the jail. As they spoke, Baker became a suspect in a burglary that had occurred a short time earlier at Yani’s Bakery on River Road: Someone had thrown a brick through the front window and ran off with $85 in cash. Baker was charged with burglary and theft and released pending a court hearing.”

(Jerry DeMarco, “Catch/Release: Fair Lawn Police Bust Hackensack Man Twice In Same Day,” Fair Lawn-Glen Rock Daily Voice, 3/5/2018)

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