Crime & Safety

Berkeley Heights Police Arrest Summit Man in Attempted Luring

Elo R. Pintado, of Orchard Avenue, was allegedly attempting to lure a 9-year-old girl into his car outside the Thomas P. Hughes Elementary School in Berkeley Heights.

Berkeley Heights Police have arrested a 36-year-old Summit man in connection with the attempted luring of a 9-year-old girl outside a Berkeley Heights elementary school Wednesday afternoon.

Elo R. Pintado, of Orchard Avenue, was allegedly attempting to lure the 9-year-old while she waited to be picked up from the Thomas P. Hughes Elementary School by her mother. Police apprehended Pintado Thursday at the same school and in the same car, a 1993 Gold Saturn SL, that the fifth-grader had described to police.

Several schools in the area, including those in the Chatham Public School District, had extra police officers patrolling the schools Thursday afternoon as a suspect had yet to be apprehended. Summit Police Chief Robert Lucid said they were not patrollng the Summit schools Thursday because by the time they found out about the attempted luring, Berkeley Heights Police already had a suspect in custody.

"That's an incredible young lady who deserves the thanks of a grateful community," said Berkeley Heights Police Chief David L. Zager in a press release. "She conducted herself with poise and determination during the incident and showed maturity well beyond her age."

Pintado was charged with attempted luring of a child and bail was set at $100,000 by Superior Court Judge Joseph P. Donohue. Pintado, who was released in April, 2009 from New Jersey State Prison after serving five years for kidnapping, eluding and false public alarm was transported to the Union County Jail.


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