Facebook Marketplace sale goes wrong in NJ park

💲 Five teens agreed to meet a Facebook seller at a Wallington park to buy a bike

💲 Another man saw them and tried to rob them at gunpoint

WALLINGTON — A man who tried to hold up five teens during a Facebook Marketplace transaction in a park two weeks ago has been arrested.

The group of victims agreed to meet the seller of a bicycle at Samuel Nelkin County Park near Paterson Avenue in Wallington on Oct. 24 at 6:25 p.m. The would-be robber saw the group and showed a weapon. The group escaped unharmed.

Cristopher Pache-Rosario, 19, of Bloomfield, was arrested Monday by Bloomfield police on a charge from an unrelated case.

In connection to the park incident, he was charged with first-degree armed robbery, second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, second-degree being a certain person not to possess a weapon and fourth-degree aggravated assault by pointing a firearm.

He was being held at the Essex County Jail pending a detention hearing.

Staying safe during online-sale meetups

Many New Jersey police departments offer safe exchange zones in the parking lot or lobby of their facilities for Internet transactions to be completed. They are monitored by surveillance cameras, well-lit and clearly marked.

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