Man arrested for burglaries and car theft WEST MILFORD On Feb. 23 at approximately 2 a.m., the West Milford Police arrested Joseph Muller, 43, no known current address. Muller was charged with two counts of burglary, two counts of criminal mischief, theft of a motor vehicle and various motor vehicle summonses. If convicted of these crimes, he faces up to 15 years in prison. Muller is currently being lodged in Passaic County Jail after failing to post bail. Bail was set at $250,000 with no 10 percent option by Judge Perconti of the West Milford Township Municipal Court. On Feb. 22 at approximately 11:30 p.m., Officers McDaniel and Elia responded to a residence on Lakeshore Dr. in the Hewitt section of the township. The homeowners had reported that an unknown male was attempting to enter the premises. While en route to the location, the officers were advised that a white Mercury Mountaineer had just been stolen from a residence a short distance away on Kinswood Rd. Ptl. Novakowski responded to the scene of the motor vehicle theft. Upon their arrival at the scene of the reported burglary attempt, the officers ascertained that there were footprints leading from that scene to the scene of the stolen vehicle. They further ascertained from a witness, that the vehicle had been taken by Joseph Muller. While officers were conducting their investigation of the attempted burglary and the theft of the vehicle, they were advised that an unknown person was knocking on the doors of several homes on Goldfinch Lane. Ptl. McDaniel responded to Goldfinch Lane and obtained a description of the suspicious male. He also found footprints leading to several of the homes. The footprints were identical to the footprints found at the locations on Lakeshore and Kinswood Rd. At this time it was reported that an unknown male had forcibly entered a residence on Charissa Ct. The homeowners had called the police on their cell phone after locking themselves in a bedroom. According to the homeowners, the intruder was still in their home. Ptl. McDaniel and Det. Congleton responded to the home on Charissa Ct. Upon their arrival they observed that a forced entry had been made into the home via a basement window. At this time Lt. Coscia, Ptl. Elia, Ptl. Richnavsky and Ptl. Novakowski responded to Charissa Ct. as back up. Det. Congleton and Lt. Coscia then entered the home. It was ascertained that the residents of the home were unharmed and that the intruder had already exited the home via a dining room window. It was found that the intruder had cut off the power to the home in an apparent attempt to keep the residents from calling the police. Footprints were found matching the footprints left at the other scenes. These footprints led to Clinton Rd. where it appeared that the subject got into a vehicle. Officers continued to search the area looking for the suspect. Ptl. Novakowski located the suspect in the parking lot of the old Lakeshore Inn located at 399 Lakeshore Rd. The subject was identified as Joseph Muller. The subject was placed under arrest by Ptl. Novakowski with assistance from the previously mentioned officers. At the time of his arrest, the subject was wearing sneakers which matched the footprints left at all scenes. The subject also admitted to having the stolen vehicle and that he had gotten it stuck in the snow after being involved in an accident on Cherry Ridge Rd. near Goldfinch Lane. No current address could be ascertained for Joseph Muller. It was ascertained that Muller has an extensive criminal history in the State of New York. The arrest of Muller was made by Ptl. Susan Novakowski. Assisting in the investigation were Lt. Michael Coscia, Sgt. Richard Fiorilla, Det. Robert Congleton, Ptl. Jamie McDaniel and Ptl. George Richnavsky. Det. Nelson Carrasquillo of the Passaic County Sheriff’s Dept. CSI Unit assisted the West Milford Police by processing the crime scenes.