🚔 Police say a parolee stole a $500,000 NJ Transit armored BearCat before dawn.

➡️ GPS tracking led detectives from Newark to the abandoned vehicle in Irvington.

⚠️ Investigators say facial recognition and a parole officer helped identify the suspect.

NEWARK — A New Jersey man is accused of violating his parole in bombastic fashion.

Christopher Bruton-Frazier, 39, admitted to a costly joyride early Tuesday morning, according to police. The confession was apparently recorded during a police interview. But police said he was first caught on surveillance video inside the NJ Transit Emergency Services Unit headquarters parking garage in Newark.

The NJ Transit Emergency Services Unit headquarters at 703 Ferry Street in Newark. (Google Maps)The NJ Transit Emergency Services Unit headquarters at 703 Ferry Street in Newark. (Google Maps)

Investigators say that at 4 a.m., before most people were awake, Bruton-Frazier was stealing a tactical armored Lenco BearCat G3 for a joyride. The $500,000 vehicle is equipped for specialized SWAT emergency responses — and was somehow accessible to a man who had wandered the parking garage for nearly an hour.

It was not a smooth exit, police said. The BearCat struck another truck, a 2022 Ford F-350, and heavily damaged the fencing around the K-9 kennels for a combined $11,000 in damages. He also caused $1,800 in damage to the garage bay door, police said.

An NJ Transit Lenco BearCat (NJ TRANSIT POLICE via Facebook)An NJ Transit Lenco BearCat (NJ TRANSIT POLICE via Facebook)

GPS tracker led police from Newark to Irvington

Around 5:15 a.m., more than an hour later, an NJ Transit police detective showed up for work. He saw the bay door was open and that the BearCat was missing. Using GPS tracking, police found the vehicle had traveled around five miles to Jersey City, briefly stopped, and then went more than a dozen miles back to Irvington.

The abandoned vehicle was found around 6 a.m. on Harper Avenue in Irvington. It was missing a 7-inch backup camera monitor screen and an 18.5-ounce pepper spray fogger, which together were worth $430. Police said they found both stolen items in Bruton-Frazier’s bedroom while executing a search warrant. They also reported finding evidence of heroin use.

ALSO SEE: Leader of Trenton gang terror gets life without parole

Christopher Bruton-Frazier in mugshots separated by 10 years (Essex County Jail)Christopher Bruton-Frazier in mugshots separated by 10 years (Essex County Jail)

Facial recognition and parole officer helped identify suspect

Investigators said it wasn’t a lucky guess that led them to Bruton-Frazier’s home. They used facial recognition technology on images from the surveillance footage, and he was a possible match.

They then showed the images to his parole officer. Bruton-Frazier has a long rap sheet, including a 2020 arrest for robbery in Cranford. His parole officer said that Bruton-Frazier was an active parolee and that she saw him at his home before 7 a.m., which was just after the BearCat heist. He was wearing the same clothes as the man in the surveillance footage.

Bruton-Frazier is charged with burglary, motor vehicle theft, joyriding, multiple counts of theft, criminal mischief, drug possession, and weapons offenses.

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