Cop impersonators plead to Morris, Bergen robberies

Two men who authorities said were specifically targeting Hispanics for victimization each pleaded guilty Tuesday to posing as police officers while committing one robbery in Dover and another in Bergen County in May 2013.

Defendants Vincenzo Viola, 39, of Orange and Robert P. Capriglione, 37, of Clifton have been in custody since their arrests in 2013.  Attorney Edward Bilinkas, who represents Viola, said the Morris County Prosecutor's Office lowered its original plea offer after he convinced an assistant prosecutor that a handgun was not used in the robberies.

"We think it's a fair and reasonable plea offer," Bilinkas said.

Morris County Prosecutor Fredric M. Knapp said in a release that Viola and Capriglione both pleaded guilty before state Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor in Morristown to two counts of robbery in May 2013 while they were impersonating police officers.

The state is recommending that Viola be sentenced on Oct. 30 to 10 years in prison, with 85 percent to be served before parole consideration. Capriglione's recommended sentence is nine years in prison, also with 85 percent to be served before parole eligibility. Capriglione will be sentenced on Nov. 6.

Knapp had held a news conference in May 2013 to announce the arrests of the pair, who later were indicted on multiple charges of robbery, theft by extortion, impersonation, burglary and criminal coercion.

While both men pleaded guilty to one robbery each in Morris and Bergen counties, they originally were charged in Morris County with robbing or extorting money from five Hispanics in Dover between May 20 and May 22, 2013.  Authorities said they wore law enforcement jackets and carried police badges on chains around their necks and identified themselves to victims as cops.

Two people were  robbed as they sat in a vehicle on Belmont Avenue and two were robbed as they walked in Dover Municipal Parking Lot A. On May 22, 2013, police said, police impostors went to an apartment building at 109 First St. in Dover around midnight and thumped on doors, claiming to be police officers.

   Police learned the defendants drove a distinctive pickup truck with an environmental company logo painted on the side. This truck was spotted outside a Roxiticus Road home in Mendham Township by an officer on patrol. The officer, believing the vacant home was being burglarized, checked and found Viola and Capriglione inside the structure, which led to their arrests on the robbery counts.

   Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.