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Saturday, apr 27
Police & Fire
'Static Never Dies': Anonymous Tip Leads To Arrest Of NJ Man, Cops Say
Police in North Jersey have arrested a 25-year-old man wanted for eluding an officer this week, they said. Deyah Shaabneh was arrested thanks to an anonymous tip, Fairfield police said on Saturday, April 27. Shaabneh was believed to have been in possession of a concealed carry weapon and is known to drive a 2023 Acura TLX bearing NJ/X37SBP or NJ/DEMON, which is a fictitious license plate, Fairfield police said. Shaabneh had been wanted for eluding a Fairfield officer on Wednesday, April 24, police said. His permit for concealed carry was deactivated but police warned he may have been …
Police & Fire
Undocumented Englewood Resident Becomes Second Charged With Child Sex Assault This Week
Federal immigration agents seized a 49-year-old Mexican national who local authorities said sexually assaulted a pre-teen in Englewood. Abel Garcia Landeros became the second undocumented immigrant living in the city who was charged with a child sex crime this week. SEE: Guatemalan National Held By Feds Charged With Raping Pre-Teen In Englewood Landeros was charged with sexual assault and child endangerment by Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella’s Special Victims Unit after city police arrested him in Englewood. He'd just been booked into the Bergen County Jail on Thursday, April 25 whe…
Police & Fire
Guatemalan National Held By Feds Charged With Raping Pre-Teen In Englewood
A 21-year-old Guatemalan national seized by federal authorities has been charged with raping a pre-teen in Englewood last summer. Melvin Zacarias-Esquivel, who's been living in an apartment over a Colombian restaurant on West Palisade Avenue, remained in federal custody at the Elizabeth detention center on Friday, April 26, records show. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Friday that members of his Special Victims Unit charged Melvin Zacarias-Esquivel with aggravated sexual assault and child endangerment for forcibly having intercourse with the victim. They then served him with a c…
Police & Fire
Tractor Trailer Slams Through Building In Three-Vehicle Crash: Cedar Grove PD
Two people were injured after a tractor trailer slammed through a building on Route 23 in Cedar Grove following a three-vehicle crash on Friday, April 26, Cedar Grove police said. At 11:12 a.m., two vehicles and a truck were involved in the crash before the truck struck the building, at 792 Pompton Ave. compromising the structure, police said. Two drivers were extricated and transported to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. The building is home to the Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy. Police, fire, EMS and other agencies are on scene, police said. Cedar Grove Poli…
Police & Fire
PA Motorcyclist, 38, Killed In Route 1 Crash Identified By South Brunswick Police
Police in Central Jersey have identified the 38-year-old Pennsylvania motorcyclist killed in a Route 1 crash earlier this week. Lawrence Green of Marcus Hook, PA, was operating a Honda motorcycle near Major Road during the 7:40 a.m. crash on Tuesday, April 23, according to South Brunswick police. Green was driving on the shoulder of Route 1 northbound when he was struck by a Chevy Malibu attempting to merge onto the Major Road off-ramp, police said. Police did not release the name of the Chevy Malibu driver and no summonses had been issued. The investigation is still active and anyone wit…
Police & Fire
Police ID South River Driver Killed In South Brunswick Crash
South Brunswick police have released the name of the driver killed in a single-vehicle crash on Tuesday, April 23. Curtis Bryant 3rd, 65, of South River was driving a Nissan Maxima on Route 535 when the vehicle left the roadway and struck a utility pole, police said. The crash occurred just before 6 a.m. The investigation is still active and anyone with information is asked to call the lead investigator PFC Jason Gassman at (732) 329-4000 ext. 743.
Police & Fire
'Baby Cakes' Wanted Following Armed Robbery: Newark PD
Newark police said they are attempting to locate "Baby Cakes," a woman involved in an armed robbery that occurred in the city earlier this month. On Monday, April 1 at 1 p.m., a man met up with a woman on the 100 block of Avon Avenue after she offered to sell him a car, Newark Public Safety Director Fritz G. Fragé said. The woman told the man he had to walk to the 100 block of Jelliff Avenue to see the car, Fragé said. Once there, they met another man who advised them the vehicle would arrive soon, Fragé said. As the man became concerned about the transaction, he walked awa…
Police & Fire
‘Crypto Con Man’: Imprisoned Instagrifter Gets 7 Federal Years For $8M Fraud Scheme
UPDATE: Imprisoned Instagram influencer “Jay Mazini” apparently thought that rolling on his partners in crime could mitigate the damage of a conviction for scamming investors out of at least $8 million. Three years into a mandatory four-year New Jersey state prison sentence for kidnapping an online critic, the 28-year-old Instagrifter from Bergen County agreed to rat out his friends in exchange for leniency in a federal fraud case in Brooklyn. Trouble is: He didn’t deliver much, authorities said. Mazini, whose real name is Jebara Igbara, ended up sentenced to seven years in federal prison …
Police & Fire
Driver Who Waved Handgun In Haledon Road Rage Is From Town: Police
A driver who threatened another motorist with a gun in Haledon turned out to be a local resident, authorities said. Jonathon Sisco, 24, was identified by borough detectives following "the brandishing of a firearm and threats towards a male victim" at the intersection of Mangold Street and Belmont Avenue (photo) this past Monday, Police Chief Angelo J. Daniele said on Thursday, April 25.The were assisted by the responding officers, Sgt. George Kelly and Officer Rubel Jimenez, the chief said.Sisco was arrested on Wednesday on charges of aggravated assault, making terroristic threats and i…
Police & Fire
National Guardsman Who Led 2-Day FBI Search In NJ Admits Pepper-Spraying Police At Capitol Riot
A military police officer who led federal officials in a two-day search across a New Jersey neighborhood has pleaded guilty for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Gregory Yetman, 47, of Helmetta, pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with physical contact before U.S. District Chief Judge James E. Boasberg. Yetman, an enlisted military police officer with the U. S. Army National Guard, traveled to Washington, D.C., on Jan 6. 2021, and attended a rally for then-President Trump at the Ellipse, court documents show. After the rally, Yetman walked to…
Police & Fire
NJ Killer With Manifesto, Step-By-Step Murder Plan Indicted By Grand Jury: Somerset Prosecutor
A Somerset County grand jury has indicted a 27-year-old man for the killing of a young woman in January. On Thursday, April 25, David C. Shroitman was indicted for the Jan. 30 murder of 27-year-old Mary Rose Fealey in Somerville, Somerset County Prosecutor John McDonald announced. Maryrose Fealey Maryrose Fealey Facebook Fealey, a Somerville resident, was found by Somerville police responding to a 911 call, outside a residential complex on North Bridge Street She had been returning home from a local business, the passenger door of her car wide open with her belongings spread …
Police & Fire
Former NJ Middle School Teacher Sexually Assaulted Student: Prosecutor
A 32-year-old former teacher from North Bergen has been charged with sexually assaulting a student at Carteret Middle School, authorities said. Jeffrey Munguia was also charged on Wednesday, April 24 with endangering the welfare of a child, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Carterest Police Chief Dennis McFadden. The investigation revealed that Munguia was the victim’s teacher at Carteret Middle School when the incident occurred in 2022, they said. He was arrested without incident on Wednesday. The investigation is active and continuing. An…
Police & Fire
Hit-And-Run Driver Who Seriously Injured Route 4 Motorcyclist ID'd As Rochelle Park Man, 70
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A 70-year-old Rochelle Park man was the driver who sped off after hitting and severely injuring a motorcyclist on Route 4 earlier this month, Paramus Police Chief Robert Guidetti announced following the motorist's arrest on Thursday. The 2004 Honda was struck by a 2020 Ford Fusion exiting Arcadia Way on the eastbound highway shortly after 1:30 p.m. April 16, the chief said. The sedan's driver then fled the scene, he said. The 57-year-old victim from Wood-Ridge was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he remains with extensive injuries, Guidetti said. Meanwhile, Par…
Police & Fire
Pre-Teen Sexually Assaulted In Fairview, Cliffside Over Few Years, Authorities Charge
A 37-year-old man sexually assaulted a pre-teenage girl both in Fairview and Cliffside Park over the past few years, authorities charged. Arturo Velazco, a Dominican national living on 3rd Street off Anderson Avenue in Fairview, sexually assaulted the youngster multiple times between November 2021 and November 2022, authorities charged. She was under 13 at the time and still was when she was sexually assaulted again between June and November last year, they said. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Velazco was charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and child endanger…
Police & Fire
Boy, 15, Robbed At Gunpoint Outside Ridgewood Stop & Shop
A 15-year-old Ridgewood boy was robbed at gunpoint outside the village Shop & Stop after arriving for what he thought was a sale that he'd made online, authorities said. The boy told police he brought $300 worth of clothing to the parking lot of the Franklin Avenue supermarket after cutting an online deal shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday, April 24, Sgt. John A. Ward said. Instead, the teen said, he was accosted by four men who appeared to be 18 to 20 years old, one of them armed with a handgun. The robbers fled with the clothing and the boy, who wasn't injured, called police, Ward said. …
Police & Fire
Stew Leonard's Announces Opening Of New Food & Wine Store In North Jersey
Stew Leonard's has announced the opening date for its food and wine store in Passaic County. The Stew Leonard's Farm Fresh Food and Wine store will be opening on Friday, May 17 in Clifton's Styertowne Shopping Center at 467 Allwood Road. The 56,000 square foot grocery and wine store is the second of its kind in New Jersey and will feature more than a dozen local vendors from dozens of Garden State farms. The new store will move from its current location at The Promenade Shops at Clifton. The store will feature animatronic shows and a 14-foot tall lighthouse. "This is the most fun my…
Police & Fire
Four Kittens Abandoned At Plainfield Humane Society
The Plainfield Area Human Society are attempting to locate the person who abandoned four kittens on Wednesday, April 24 At 5:55 a.m., security footage showed the person abandoning the four gray and white kittens on the front porch of the Plainfield Area Humane Society. Staff brought the kittens in, described as "scared and cold", the Plainfield Area Humane Society said. The kittens were placed on a heating pad and fed breakfast, the Plainfield Area Humane Society said. Anyone with information on who the person is should contact Animal Control at 908-753-0300 or contact@pahs.org
Police & Fire
Increase Of Residential Burglaries, Vehicle Thefts In Rahway: Police
Rahway police are on high alert after a recent increase residential burglaries and vehicle thefts in the city. Police said burglars are forcibly entering residences to steal key fobs for luxury vehicles like BMWs (X5, X6, X7, M3). A homeowner recently called police after hearing a disturbance outside their home, which officers believe was likely an attempted vehicle theft. Though no one entered the home, surveillance video captured several people exiting a vehicle and approaching a residence before leaving at a high rate of speed, police said. Rahway police said residents shoul…
Police & Fire
Plainfield Woman Charged With Unlawful Sexual Conduct On 14-Year-Old In Ohio: Prosecutors
A 30-year-old Union County woman is wanted by police in Ohio for unlawful sexual conduct with a teenage boy. Police in Kettering, near Dayton, began investigating after the 14-year-old came forward to reveal the sexual conduct, a felony, with Corrinne Kneipp, a Plainfield resident in February, the Montgomery County Prosecutor's Office said. The incident occurred while Kneipp was in Ohio visiting family, prosecutors said. Kneipp remains at large and a warrant has been issued for her arrest, prosecutors said. She is scheduled to be arraigned net week.
Police & Fire
NJ Couple Convicted Of Turning Immigrants Into Slaves
UPDATE: A South Jersey couple was convicted of forcing a pair of undocumented immigrants into slavery after luring them to America. Bolaji Bolarinwa, 50, and Isiaka Bolarinwa, 67, of Moorestown were discovered when one of the victims told her college professor, who alerted the FBI, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger said. Originally from Nigeria, the couple were living in New Jersey as U.S. citizens when they recruited two victims to follow them, Sellinger said. They "engaged in an egregious bait-and-switch, luring the victims with false promises of a life and an education …
Police & Fire
NJ Feds: Repeat Child Porn Collector Satisfied 'Deviant Desires' With Chats, More
A convicted NJ child porn collector had only just been released from federal prison when investigators said he tried buying kids’ shoes on Facebook Marketplace. And that wasn’t all they said that Andrew Chu, 33, of Edison was up to. Authorities who examined Chu’s laptop and cellphone reported finding more than 100 pornographic images of naked underage girls. They also found live chats that Chu had with naked underage minors while masturbating, a complaint filed in federal court in Newark by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations says. One of them was only 11 years old, agents sa…
Police & Fire
Local NJ Police Sergeant Took Child Porn Images From Investigation For Himself: AG
A local South Jersey police sergeant cherry-picked child porn images for himself from a case that his department was investigating, a grand jury indictment charges. Suspended Vineland Police Officer Christopher Ortiz, 39, of Estell Manor "requested from a subordinate and obtained via email" at least 17 images from a child pornography investigation for unauthorized use, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said. All told, investigators found that Ortiz "possessed, viewed, or had under his control at least 100 items depicting the sexual exploitation or abuse of children," the attorney …
Police & Fire
'Chameleon': Wife-Killer Facing Charges In 33-Year-Old NJ Murder Case Featured On Dateline NBC
A convicted killer facing new charges in connection with his second wife's death in Mercer County will be featured in a two-hour broadcast titled "Chameleon" on Dateline NBC on Friday, April 26. John David Smith III has served 20 years in an Ohio prison for the murder of his first wife. Now, he faces murder charges in New Jersey for killing his second wife, Fran Gladden-Smith, 33 years ago in West Windsor. At 9 p.m. Friday, Dateline NBC said it will reveal a "gripping investigation exposing (the) man suspected of multiple murders." Victims' relatives and detectives who put Smith behin…
Police & Fire
Man Convicted Again Of Murdering, Torching NJ Woman, 70, For Money
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: Questionable DNA evidence found under the fingernails of a 70-year-old Bergen County woman bludgeoned and burned in her home may have gotten her killer a new trial, but it didn't change the outcome. For a second time, a jury in Hackensack convicted Daniel Rochat on Wednesday of all charges in the brutal September 2012 slaying of real estate agent Barbara Vernieri in her East Rutherford home. Rochat, 48, of Wood-Ridge was originally convicted in June 2017 of beating Vernieri, then pouring gasoline on her and around her home before setting it on fire to cover up the crime scene. Pros…
Police & Fire
Motorcyclist Killed In Plainfield After Crashing Into Parked Car: Authorities
A motorcyclist was killed in Plainfield early Sunday, April 21 after his motorcycle crashed into a parked car, authorities said. At 5 a.m. Plainfield police responded to the 700 block of East 3rd St. on a report of a crash, Andrea Wright, a spokeswoman for the city said. Upon arrival, police located a man who crashed his motorcycle into a parked car, Wright said. EMS responded and the man was pronounced dead at the scene, Wright said. The crash remains under investigation, Wright said. The man's name, age and residence has not been released.
Police & Fire
Newark Man Stole Thousands From Customers As Wawa Gas Attendant: Prosecutors
A former Monmouth County gas station attendant was accused of stealing thousands of dollars from customers, authorities said. Patrick Brown, 48, of Newark, was indicted by a grand jury on 52 counts, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago announced in a news release on Wednesday, Apr. 24. He was charged with 13 counts each of third-degree credit card fraud, third-degree false uttering, third-degree theft, and fourth-degree credit card theft. Freehold Township police said the thefts at the Wawa on Route 9 North happened "during a limited amount of time" in August 2023. Bro…
Police & Fire
Violent Mahwah Crash Sends Rockland Bicyclist To Hospital (
Update
)
A Rockland County bicyclist was hospitalized after an SUV struck him on a Mahwah road a mile or so from the state line. The 40-something victim was "lucid and responsive at the scene" following the crash on Island Road at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, Mahwah Police Chief Timothy O'Hara said. He was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center with multiple injuries, the chief said. The Honda HR-V struck him off a curved stretch of Island Road, just off Airmount Road, where there are no bike lanes. The 30-something female driver from Bergen County remained at the scene and cooperated…
Police & Fire
Watch
This
: Enraged Driver From NJ Mounts Mid-Manhattan Sidewalk Aiming For Pedestrian
An enraged New Jersey driver was recorded trying to run down a shirtless man in broad daylight on a midtown Manhattan sidewalk. The wild road rage pursuit continued up West 39th Street near Seventh Avenue before the driver left his Ford Taurus with three wheels on the sidewalk and confronted his target, footage shared by What Is New York on Instagram shows. "Call the cops! Calls the cops!" the man shouts. The pedestrian -- whose pants are down around his thighs, exposing red boxer shorts -- responds, then tries to duck into a building. A man at the door shoves him back onto the street. T…
Police & Fire
Whole Foods Worker Goes Missing After Shift At Vauxhall Store: Police
A 60-year-old Orange man has been missing since he worked a shift at Whole Foods Market on Sunday, April 21. Rousier Romain did not return home after he left his shift abruptly at the Whole Foods in Vauxhall, Township of Union police said. Romaine left Whole Foods at 3:40 p.m. and was last seen on foot in the parking lot near the fence along the edge of Route 78, adjacent to the property, police said. Romain’s vehicle was found parked in the lot and his cell phone is currently turned off, police said. Romain suffers from several medical conditions which require medication, police said..&nbs…
Police & Fire
Threatening Bathroom Graffiti Temporarily Closes Private NJ School As Police Investigate
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: Police were reviewing security video to determine who's responsible for a threat specifically mentioning Blacks and Hispanics that was found scrawled on a bathroom wall at Dwight-Englewood School. The K-12 school was closed on Wednesday, April 24, following the discovery earlier in the week of a message that investigators said threatens to "get even." The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office was alerted and police in Englewood are working the case, assisted by the county sheriff's forensics team, which collected evidence. "There's concern right now considering what just recently trans…
Police & Fire
Pedestrian Struck, Killed In Central Jersey
A 75-year-old pedestrian from South Amboy was struck and killed in a crash last week, authorities said. The man's name has not been released pending notification of next of kin, South Amboy police said on Wednesday, April 24. On Wednesday, April 17 at approximately 4:15 p.m. South Amboy police responded to the intersection of South Broadway and John Street for a report of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle. Police found a male victim lying in the roadway and began life-saving efforts. The victim was taken to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital where he was pronounced dead, p…
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