The driver who allegedly slammed into brothers Michael Viruet, 20, and Adrian, 11, in North Bergen on Nov. 14, sending both to the hospital with critical injuries, never stopped his car, law enforcement officials charge. Adrian was thrown in the air and impaled on a fence, requiring multiple operations, including brain surgery. Michael suffered major injuries and complications and lost his leg before passing away in the hospital three weeks later.
The story of the two Union City brothers, who were simply walking home with their sister after seeing a movie, made national news, as did the capture of the alleged driver.
Nearly a month after the tragic hit-and-run, following an extensive multi-state investigation, a team of local, county, state, and federal officers located the suspect hiding out in Maryland. He was arrested and brought back to New Jersey to be tried.
The investigation was a textbook example of cooperation between different authorities with varied areas of expertise. It’s also an example of extensive police work that involved tracking cell phone numbers, knowing the area, and following all sorts of leads.
“This is a very difficult type of crime to solve,” said Sgt. David Dowd of the North Bergen Police Department. “It’s similar to a burglary. These types often go unsolved.”
Checking 60 body shops
Taking the lead on the case was the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office’s Crash Investigation Department, headed by Sgt. Bruce Miller. “They have resources, certain technology we don’t have access to, that enables them to efficiently handle those types of crime,” said Dowd. Dowd reached out to the sheriff’s office the Monday after the accident to offer his assistance in tracking down the missing driver.
“They had the difficult task of canvassing all the body shops in the area that could possibly have some knowledge of the car,” he said. “Usually when these types of incidents occur, the first thing they try to do is get their car fixed. So an aggressive canvassing of the whole county was undertaken.”
Members of the North Bergen Police Traffic Division and the Detective Bureau as well as the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office reached out to more than 60 area shops seeking information on a red Nissan Rogue. The car was identified by damaged parts left at the scene of the accident.
North Bergen Police Chief Robert Dowd is the older brother – and boss – of Sgt. Dowd. “The Prosecutor’s Office came upon a body shop that was contacted [by an individual] and parts were ordered that were similar to the debris found at the scene,” said Chief Dowd. “Immediately we went and set up surveillance on the person’s home and, lo and behold, located the vehicle in the back yard under a tarp. The sheriff’s department filed for a search warrant and recovered the vehicle.”
“When he booked his flight he had left a new cell number.” – Sgt. David Dowd
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In addition, “The parts we recovered from the scene when we seized the vehicle, they matched perfectly, like puzzle pieces, to the vehicle,” said Sgt. Dowd.
The investigation broadens
By now the owner of the vehicle had stepped forward, but he offered a new wrinkle: he said the car had been stolen.
“The Major Case Squad conducted an interview with the owner for a little over an hour at which point he gave up the fact that somebody else was driving the vehicle,” said Chief Dowd. “We took him to the sheriff to get the confession on videotape to try to identify the driver.”
And identify him they did. The owner of the car was the co-owner of a construction business. He apparently said he allowed one of his construction workers to use the vehicle.
Police began looking for Rogelio Chavix-Tacen, 38, a native of Guatemala.
“We found out the driver was an [allegedly] undocumented visitor so we contacted immigration customs for their help,” said Chief Dowd.
They reached out to North Bergen resident John Bellouardo Jr., a deportation officer at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Through ICE it was discovered that Chavix-Tacen had booked a flight on Wednesday to leave the country on Thursday.
“He was [allegedly] going to flee,” said Chief Dowd. “ICE had agents at the airport waiting for him but he never showed up.”
It is not known if Chavix-Tacen was alerted by someone in North Bergen that the police were on his trail. But he did leave behind a very important clue that ultimately led to his arrest.
Tracking the digital trail
FBI Special Agent Eric Perry is an expert at cellular data analysis who has been involved in numerous high profile cases. Sgt. Dowd had attended one of his classes, at which Perry volunteered his assistance whenever needed. It was time to take him up on his offer.
“We got a CDW, a Communication Data Warrant,” said Sgt. Dowd. “It’s a particular type of search warrant of a cell phone. You get pages and pages and pages of numbers.
It’s hard to get an investigative lead on what they mean. [Perry] was able to help us break these down.”
With Perry’s assistance, the police were able to determine where their suspect had been for about three hours prior to the accident. “When we tracked his cell he was in the area of 44th and Bergenline,” said Sgt. Dowd. “We found out that he was drinking at a bar and making phone calls and then he left that bar and didn’t pay his bill.”
Also, “From the analysis of the cell phone data [Perry] was able to place the suspect [allegedly] at the scene of the crime at the time of the accident, which is going to be great for prosecution purposes,” said Chief Dowd.
Cell phone records indicated the suspect was receiving calls right around the time and location of the hit-and-run. “The waitress was calling him saying you [allegedly] skipped out on your bill,” said Sgt. Dowd.
Video surveillance from around town confirmed the car’s location at times and areas matching the phone records.
“We believe he was [allegedly] intoxicated and possibly distracted by the phone” at the time of the accident, said Sgt. Dowd.
Pinged and arrested
The search warrant obtained by the police allowed them to “ping,” or track the GPS on Chavix-Tacen’s phone. There was just one problem. He had turned off the phone.
“Every once in a while he would turn it back on,” said Sgt. Dowd. “We think he was turning it on to get numbers.”
Far more important, a new lead turned up.
“The big thing about that tip from the ICE agent was that when he booked his flight he had left a new cell number,” said Sgt. Dowd. “The suspect didn’t know that we knew that additional phone number. When we did a search on that phone it gave us a more exact location. There were many calls that kept hitting off this one cell tower.”
Matching that information with numbers from Chavix-Tacen’s cell phone records, police postulated that he was in the area of Annapolis, Md. where one of his relatives lived.
“The Hudson County Sheriff [Frank Schillari] is a deputized marshal from throughout his career as a law enforcement officer,” said Sgt. Dowd. “He has contacts throughout the marshal’s office. They have powers of arrest to go across state lines.”
With a warrant for Chavix-Tacen’s arrest, the marshals entered the home of his relative and discovered the suspect hiding under a bed on Thursday, Dec. 4. Chavix-Tacen waived his extradition rights and detectives from the sheriff’s department brought him back to New Jersey the following day.
A new witness
Back in New Jersey, Chavix-Tacen offered a statement to the police, allegedly admitting that he was the driver. In his statement he also allegedly told police there was a passenger in his car at the time of the incident.
The police tracked down that individual, another Guatemalan native, according to Det. Roberto Maldonado, a member of the Major Crimes Unit who worked the case. “The passenger in the car did provide us with audio and video statements,” said Maldonado. “He said they [allegedly] got so intoxicated by the time they left the establishment in Union City, by the time they got from Bergenline [Avenue] to Kennedy [Boulevard], [the passenger] was already passed out,” hence the passenger didn’t see the accident occur.
“The car jumped the curb and his chest hit the dash that’s what startled him and he woke up,” said Maldonado, recalling the passenger’s statement. “He didn’t see anything. By the time he shook off that sleep there was oil on the windshield and the windshield was damaged. What he assumed was oil.”
The passenger has not been charged with anything as of now. “I don’t think he thought he had any responsibility to come forward,” said Maldonado. “As far as he’s concerned he didn’t do anything wrong. He may not have realized he had a duty to come forward.”
As for Chavix-Tacen, “We can’t really charge him with DUI,” said Sgt. Dowd. “There are certain standards that have to be met, even though he did admit that he was drinking and may have been intoxicated.”
Chavix-Tacen was instead charged with aggravated assault and assault by auto. A charge of death by auto will likely be added now that Michael Viruet has died.
Honoring heroes
“The day of the accident when Michael and Adrian were walking, Michael had a split second to react and he attempted to push his brother out of the way and shield his brother, taking the impact of the accident,” said Sgt. Dowd. “Both suffered critical injuries but that little bit of effort, him taking the full brunt wound up saving his brother’s life.”
“Before he passed away Michael was kind of hanging on for a long time and the doctors couldn’t explain why,” said Maldonado. “The news was given to him that this person was arrested I believe at around 7:20 p.m. And then shortly after, Michael passed away. It was something you can’t really explain but maybe he was holding on. I don’t have the answers but it’s a pretty unbelievable coincidence.”
The Viruet family was presented by a check for $500 from the Nicholas J. Sacco Foundation at a ceremony marking National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day on Thursday, Jan. 8 at Town Hall. At the event the township awarded honors to members of the department’s major case unit – Sgt. Dowd, Det. Maldonado, Det. Victor Queiro, and investigators Hector Botello and Carmen Recinos – along with ICE Agent John Belluardo and FBI Special Agent Eric Perry.
Art Schwartz may be reached at arts@hudsonreporter.com.