Police: Man Charged With Breaking Into Uptown Construction Site

A retired construction worker is charged with breaking into a Toll Brothers work site in Hoboken using a large pair of bolt cutters, according to police reports.

Around 4:50 a.m. Thursday, a witness said he saw a man wearing a blue and white checkered jacket with the hood cinched up around his face, carrying a pair of bolt cutters, go into the construction site, reports said. 

Officers who responded to the scene on Hudson Street between 11th and 12th Streets found the master lock to the gate had been cut, the gate open and a pair of 36-inch red bolt cutters lying on the ground, reports said. Inside, they found a large box of tools with the contents disturbed, reports said.

Police questioned 52-year-old Peter Picariello, of Kinnelon, who matched the witness' description and was found walking on 11th Street, reports said. He said he was a retired construction worker, reports said.

Picariello said he'd gone to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting around 10 p.m. Wednesday, chatted outside with friends for an hour, then walked toward the river to wait for a friend who was going to pick him up, reports said. He told police he had been in a car accident and wasn't allowed to drive, and was suffering from memory loss, reports said.

He was able to tell police his driver's license number from memory, reports said.

Police saw Picariello had white powder on his shoes that matched the floor of the construction site, reports said. When officers showed him the bolt cutters, which had the initials "PP" written on them, Picariello said he didn't know what they were, reports said.

Police found Picariello's car, a grey Hyundai Sonata, illegally parked in the Toll Brothers parking lot on 11th Street.

Picariello was arrested and charged with burglary, criminal mischief, criminal attempt, and possession of burglar's tools.

He was brought to the Hudson County Jail in Kearny on $10,000 bail.