Jury Convicts Teaneck Man in Bridgewater Burglary

A Teaneck man with links to a notorious Bergen County burglary ring was convicted this week on charges stemming from an April 2011 burglary in Bridgewater, the Star-Ledger reported.

A Somerset County jury convicted Jerry Montgomery, 32, after two co-defendants pleaded guilty in the break-in before jury selection began, the report said. Authorities captured the burglars as part of a Bergen County-led task force investigating a string of break-ins across the area.

Jurors deliberated in the Montgomery case for less than two hours over the week, according to the report.

“I really didn’t feel like the state had anything but circumstantial evidence against my client,” Defense Attorney Gerald Saluti told the newspaper. “I don’t think the state’s investigation was thorough.”

Saluti said Montgomery’s DNA was not found in the house and his boot print was never linked to footprints at the scene, the report said.

Somerset County prosecutors said the burglars were found in a getaway vehicle with a safe and items stolen from the Bridgewater home after authorities pulled the car over.

Montgomery is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 16 on burglary, theft and criminal mischief charges. Co-defendants 43-year-old Jason Mikell and his nephew 26-year-old Diandre Mikell, both Teaneck residents, pleaded guilty June 17 in the break-in.

Authorities have said Montgomery is suspected in a string of burglaries targeting high-end homes around the area and has an extensive criminal record.

In April, Montgomery was arrested alongside Englewood and Hackensack men after a high-speed chase in Sparta, police said. Sussex County authorities called him the leader of a new incarnation of the “James Bond Gang.”