A New York man was arrested after a high-speed chase in Wayne, N.J. Monday when police attempted to stop him in an investigation into a series of burglaries in the neighborhood, according to police.
Ronald W. Catti, 32, took off in a Mercedes CL550 when police tried to stop him in Little Falls, authorities said. He fled into Wayne, and crashed at Alps Road and McDonald Drive.
"Immediately, there were cars swarming the street. State police, county police and the local Wayne police," said neighbor Joyce Duncan.
K-9 dogs tracked Catti to a nearby tree house, where he was found hiding.
Police said Catti had been under surveillance for at least a week in a Pleasantview Drive home in Wayne, where he was staying with an acquaintance.
Burglaries in the township spiked in the last five to six weeks, and the home where Catti was staying was the "epicenter" of the occurrences, police said.
"Our people had developed some information about a week ago, and we were surveilling him," Wayne Police Chief John Reardon told NBC 4 New York.
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When detectives learned there had been a burglary where Catti was Monday, police vehicles began to follow him, according to authorities.
"When he left that burglary, he was on his way back into Wayne again," said Reardon. "Our units tried to stop him, at which time he took off."
Catti was charged with eluding police and is being held on $150,000 bail in Wayne, said police. He will be arraigned Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. in Wayne Municipal Court.
He also faces a burglary charge in Little Falls.
Police are continuing their investigation into whether Catti is behind the recent burglaries in the area.
"We're looking at him," said Reardon. "Right now, we're just trying to sort through some of the recovered jewelry from last night that was in his car, and we have quite a bit to go through."
"We'll notify other police agencies because there are probably some from here, and some from other towns and counties," he said.
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