Gotcha! Detectives Nab Homeless 'Escapee' Who Fled Paterson Police HQ After Minor Drug Bust

Justin Ranko, 22, wasn’t exactly on the crime-fighting priority list in Paterson, where authorities and citizens have been dealing with shootings on both sides of the law lately.

He was being processed for a minor drug bust when he bolted from the cellblock area of Paterson police headquarters on Feb. 16.

Ranko managed to remain free for nearly three weeks before narcotics investigators from the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office nabbed him on Tuesday, March 7, as part of an initiative known as “Operation Helping Hand.”

He tried giving them a bogus name, but that didn’t work, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Paterson Police Chief Bert Ribiero said.

Ranko remained held in the Bergen County Jail on Wednesday pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Paterson, records show.

Altogether, he’s charged with escape, hindering apprehension, third-degree drug possession and  misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

Meanwhile, police officials in Paterson were reviewing procedures to determine how Ranko got away.

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