A woman who was unhappy with her divorce settlement was charged along with her son with robbery for luring her estranged husband to Bergen County on Monday and stealing his car, authorities said.
Police were called about 10:30 a.m. to a Starbucks on Route 17 North in Rochelle Park for a report of a man jumping on a car. Officers found the man lying in the grass between the coffee shop and a storage facility, according to police Lt. James M. DePreta.
“The (man) explained that his wife and son just stole his car,” DePreta said in a statement, adding that witnesses provided police with cell phone photos of the alleged robbery.
DePreta said the 61-year-old man is estranged from both his wife and son and that the husband and wife had been embroiled in a dispute over ownership of the husband’s Ford Fusion.
The husband was lured to the storage facility from his home in Pennsylvania “under the pretense that he was (going) to pick up belongings prior to a divorce,” DePreta said.
Once the victim was inside the facility, “his son grabbed him from behind, while his wife removed car keys from his pocket,” DePreta said, adding that the son then drove off in his father’s car.
A short time later, the son and mother returned to the scene in another car “and threw a bag of belongings to the victim (that had) been removed from his stolen Ford Fusion,” DePreta said.
As the pair tried to leave in the mother’s car, the man stood in front of the vehicle, then laid across the hood in an attempt to get them to stop, police said. Eventually, the man got off the hood and the mother and son fled the area, DePreta said.
“The wife, who was unsatisfied with advice that the vehicle would be distributed during divorce proceedings, concocted the plan to regain possession of the vehicle,” DePreta said.
Police arrested Joanne Schielzo, 55, and her son, Frank Schielzo, 20, both of Garfield. They were each charged with second-degree robbery and third-degree theft.
The Schielzos were taken to the Bergen County Jail to await a detention hearing. Court and jail records on Tuesday did not list attorneys for the Schielzos.
Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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