Omovudu Onome Iyesi

By Cecilia Levine From Daily Voice

An organized retail theft suspect previously arrested in Virginia was caught after pursuit that brought police onto the Garden State Parkway last month, authorities said.

Omovudu Onome Iyesi, 50, who had been arrested in May 2024 in Fairfax County, VA, was approached by Montvale officers who found him in a rented 2025 Yukon Denali XL in a parking lot off Chestnut Ridge Road near West Grand Avenue, Montvale Police Chief Douglas McDowell tells Daily Voice.

The vehicle triggered a license-plate reader alert from Monroe Township, the chief said. Iyesi told officers he worked for a ride service, then told two of his companions through a microphone to run, the chief said.

One of the men was later found hiding with a bag over his head behind a rack in a boiler room at the Wash’n’Run car wash nearby, while Iyesi took off down West Grand Avenue toward the Garden State Parkway, McDowell said.

Iyesi was taken into custody and police obtained a search warrant for the vehicle, the chief said. Police found thousands of dollars worth of proceeds, including over-the-counter medications in tamper-proof cases in the vehicle, police said.

According to the Fairfax County Police Department, Iyesi was among three suspects arrested in May 2024 after a months-long investigation into organized retail thefts targeting pharmacies and businesses selling over-the-counter medications. Detectives linked the group to thefts dating back to October 2022, with total losses exceeding $120,000, officials said.

He was charged in Virginia with 28 counts of grand larceny, 7 counts of larceny with intent to sell, 5 counts of conspiracy to commit larceny, and 1 count of petit larceny, police said.

He was booked into the Bergen County Jail following his arrest in Montvale before his Oct. 28 release to authorities in Virginia, jail records show.