Somerville man gives cops wrong name that had warrants

SOMERVILLE A borough man thought he could trick police by giving them a fake name, but it turned out there were arrest warrants for a man with that name as well, police said.

Anthony Velazquez, 24, was charged with disorderly persons hindering and obstruction last month after giving his name as "Anthony Vela" and then darting across Route 22 into the woods after realizing that he would be arrested for Vela's warrants, Somerset County Sheriff's officers said. His arrest required the response of four law-enforcement agencies in three municipalities, officials said.

Velazquez was a passenger in the car driven by his girlfriend that was pulled over 1:12 a.m. Aug. 23 by sheriff's officers conducting a DWI checkpoint. Officers ticketed the driver for an obstructed view but the situation escalated when her passenger didn’t have identification or could remember his Social Security number.

When officers informed him that they would detain him for identification purposes, he ran across the highway. Prompting a response from the Warren Township police K9 unit.

The driver told an officer that her boyfriend may have fled to his parents’ house in Middlesex Borough. When she called him on the phone, he hung up after he told her that he was with his sister. The driver agreed to take officers to the Middlesex Borough home, where the suspect’s father identified his son as Anthony Velazquez and said he had just left with his sister.

The father called his daughter, who told him that she had picked him up and taken him to his Somerville apartment. Sheriff’s Office Capt. Tim Pino got on the phone and told Cindy Velasquez that her brother was wanted by the police and to return him to Middlesex Borough.

When she later returned without her brother, she told police that he had refused to come along. She then got herself arrested by admitting that she had picked up her brother knowing that he was wanted by police and had driven him past where his girlfriend has been pulled over on the highway, authorities said. She was charged with hindering.

Anthony Velazquez finally surrendered when his girlfriend took authorities to his Somerville address. He was held on $500 bail at Somerset County Jail.

Staff Writer Sergio Bichao: 908-243-6615; sbichao@mycentraljersey.com