NJ man charged with stealing thousands from Montclair event

🎥 A NJ man is charged with stealing from a film festival headquarters

🎥 Police say thousands of dollars of equipment were taken

🎥 Officials said he has been linked to other burglaries, too

MONTCLAIR — A 34-year-old Essex County man was arrested and charged with stealing thousands of dollars in electronic equipment from the headquarters of the Montclair Film Festival, according to police.

Police responded at 11 a.m. Monday, March 24, to the Montclair Film Festival headquarters at 505 Bloomfield Ave. on a report of a burglary, said Montclair Police Chief Todd Conforti.

An employee called the police after arriving at work and noticing an unsecured front door. After conducting a walk-through, she discovered that approximately $6,000 in electronic equipment had been stolen from the basement podcast studio, Conforti said.

Video surveillance footage showed a man, later identified as Max Collazo, a Montclair resident, breaking into the building early in the morning, just before 1:45 a.m.

He is seen making his way into the basement, where he begins filling a messenger bag with various electronic equipment before fleeing the scene.

On Tuesday at 10:10 a.m., detectives found Collazo at an NJ Transit bus stop on Bloomfield Avenue.

Detectives said they linked him to additional burglaries on Friday, March 21, and Saturday, March 22, on South Fullerton Avenue.

Investigators recovered the proceeds from the burglary to the Montclair Film Festival Headquarters, Conforti said.

Collazo was charged with third-degree burglary and third-degree theft.

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