Cops: Hotel Employee's Quick Thinking Leads to Arrest

A call to police by a Westminster Hotel housekeeper -- and a video the woman shot on her iPhone -- led police to arrest a man in the attempted burglary of a laptop and cell phone from a pick-up truck last week, said Livingston Police Det. Sgt. Anthony Dippold.

It began on April 23 at 11:30 a.m., when the employee saw a man in the hotel's parking lot exit a Ford Windstar minivan and repeatedly throw a Belgian brick against the window of a pick-up truck, Dippold said. The woman filmed the incident on her iPhone and then was able to see part of the man's license plate, which she reported to police.

"We were able to locate the minivan from the partial plate number and trace it to its owner, a woman in Newark," said Dippold. Over the course of several days, police discovered that Newark resident Moses Williams, 47 and friend of the car's owner, had gotten several tickets while driving the van, Dippold said.

Police identified Williams as the man in the video and arrested him, said Dippold. Williams confessed to attempting to steal the laptop and cell phone, said Dippold, and police charged him with attempted theft and criminal mischief.