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Police & Fire
GOTCHA! PA Fugitive Captured By Lyndhurst PD Claimed He Was Delivering Food At 4 AM: Police GOTCHA! PA Fugitive Captured By Lyndhurst PD Claimed He Was Delivering Food At 4 AM: Police
Gotcha! PA Fugitive Captured By Lyndhurst PD Claimed He Was Delivering Food At 4 AM: Police A Pennsylvania fugitive told Lyndhurst police who captured him that he was making a food delivery when they found him casing a neighborhood with his vehicle's headlights off, authorities said. Najee Bullock, 25, couldn't produce a driver's license when Officer Michael Clifford stopped him and three other men in a Nissan Rogue near the corner of Chase and Wilson avenues around 4 a.m., Detective Lt. Vincent Auteri said. Bullock told the officer that he was making a food delivery in the area, the lieutenant said. It turned out Bullock was wanted out of Blair County, PA, for skipping court and…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Dealer Nabbed With Nearly Pound Of Coke, 100 Fentanyl Pills, Passaic Sheriff Says Dealer Nabbed With Nearly Pound Of Coke, 100 Fentanyl Pills, Passaic Sheriff Says
Dealer Nabbed With Nearly Pound Of Coke, 100 Fentanyl Pills, Passaic Sheriff Says A dealer from Paterson had just completed a street sale when Passaic County sheriff's officers seized him and found nearly a pound of cocaine and 100 or so fentanyl pills in his apartment, authorities said. Edwin Garcia-Mendez, 40, also had an AR pellet rifle and various items used to process and package cocaine, including two hydraulic kilo presses and acetone, in his first-floor apartment on East 24th Street, Passaic County Sheriff Richard Berdnik said. Members of the sheriff's Bureau of Narcotics had been watching Garcia-Mendez for several weeks before moving in, Berdnik said. They were…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Wild Wayne Police Chase Ends With Capture Of DWI Van Driver Wading Through Floodwaters Wild Wayne Police Chase Ends With Capture Of DWI Van Driver Wading Through Floodwaters
Wild Wayne Police Chase Ends With Capture Of DWI Van Driver Wading Through Floodwaters An intoxicated van driver who led Wayne police on a wild chase following the recent rainstorm claimed to be in Kinnelon when they reached him on his cellphone when he was actually trying to flee on foot through the floodwaters, authorities said. Office Trevor Costabile was conducting a motor vehicle stop on Cedar Place shortly before noon on Sunday, Jan. 14, when he spotted the GMC van “being operated in an erratic manner,” Detective Capt. Dan Daly said. The van burned rubber as the driver cut through the West Belt Plaza lot and raced south on Route 23, the captain said. Costabile activate…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Man Charged With Vicious $30,000 Baseball Bat Assault-Robbery In Little Ferry Man Charged With Vicious $30,000 Baseball Bat Assault-Robbery In Little Ferry
Man Charged With Vicious $30,000 Baseball Bat Assault-Robbery In Little Ferry Federal authorities have moved to take custody of a Bergen County Jail inmate charged with stealing $30,000 from a man he bashed in the head with a baseball bat outside a Little Ferry business. Jose Mejia, a 32-year-old Salvadoran national, was wanted for a Dec. 28 robbery in a parking lot just off Route 46 and Liberty Street. He was captured this past Thursday, Jan. 11, records show. The 39-year-old victim, from Clifton, and two companions told Little Ferry police that an assailant in a ski mask, black shirt and blue jeans hit him in the head with a baseball bat, then snatched a blue duff…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Spike Strips Stop Teen Car Thieves In NJ During Palisades Parkway Pursuit From Rockland Spike Strips Stop Teen Car Thieves In NJ During Palisades Parkway Pursuit From Rockland
Spike Strips Stop Teen Car Thieves In NJ During Palisades Parkway Pursuit From Rockland Spike strips deployed by Palisades Interstate Parkway Police stopped three teenage thieves as they sped south into New Jersey on Tuesday in a Jeep stolen out of Rockland County, authorities said. The New York City trio had swiped a 2018 Jeep Renegade from Clarkstown after the owner left it running with the keys in it shortly after 7:30 a.m. Jan. 9, PIP Police Lt. Raymond Walter said. New York State Police troopers who joined Clarkstown police in pursuing the trio radioed ahead to their parkway police colleagues before terminating the pursuit near the state line, the lieutenant said. Pickin…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Likely Prison Return Awaits DWI Ex-Con Who Clifton PD Says Had Gun Likely Prison Return Awaits DWI Ex-Con Who Clifton PD Says Had Gun
Likely Prison Return Awaits DWI Ex-Con Who Clifton PD Says Had Gun An ex-con faces a likely return to prison after Clifton police said they caught him with a gun. The new year was four hours old when police got the call of a man with a gun in the area of Cliff Hill Road and Long Hill Drive, Lt. Robert Anderson said. They arrived as an apparent disturbance was ending and people were leaving, he said. Still there, behind the wheel of a Mercedes SUV with the engine running, was city resident William Christmas, 35, the lieutenant said. He'd apparently been drinking, Anderson said. Christmas refused to participate in field sobriety tests and was taken into c…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Maintenance Man Poses As Complex Owner, Scams Apartment Seekers Out Of $14,000: Garfield PD Maintenance Man Poses As Complex Owner, Scams Apartment Seekers Out Of $14,000: Garfield PD
Maintenance Man Poses As Complex Owner, Scams Apartment Seekers Out Of $14,000: Garfield PD A maintenance man at a Garfield garden apartment complex scammed hopeful renters out of $14,000 by posting bogus listings on Facebook, showing them empty units he claimed he owned and then collecting deposits from them, authorities charged. John K. DelValle, a 48-year-old bodybuilder from Hackensack, made it all appear genuine by having the victims sign worthless rental agreements, police said. Then he handed them the master keys that he'd been given for work. DelValle also conned another unwitting victim out of $7,000 -- and a car -- by "selling" him a Tesla that he was renting, Garfield …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Wood-Ridge Detectives Charge Habitual Hackensack Offender, 19, In Home Burglary Vehicle Theft Wood-Ridge Detectives Charge Habitual Hackensack Offender, 19, In Home Burglary Vehicle Theft
Wood-Ridge Detectives Charge Habitual Hackensack Offender, 19, In Home Burglary Vehicle Theft A 19-year-old habitual offender from Hackensack who's been arrested no fewer than four times in just the past year was back in the Bergen County Jail, although it wasn't certain for how long. Cosmo Pena was released from the Essex County Jail on Thursday, Jan. 4, to the custody of Wood-Ridge police, who'd tied him to the theft of a resident's Mercedes during a home burglary last summer. Pena -- who has racked up recent arrests for offenses including theft, conspiracy, resisting arrest and leading a police chase  -- had been held in Essex County the past few weeks. Wood-Ridge detective…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Armed Mortuary Worker, 71, Ditches Gun In Hackensack Church After Threatening Man On Street: PD Armed Mortuary Worker, 71, Ditches Gun In Hackensack Church After Threatening Man On Street: PD
Armed Mortuary Worker, 71, Ditches Gun In Hackensack Church After Threatening Man On Street: PD A 71-year-old mortuary worker from Saddle Brook pulled a loaded gun on a man during a dispute on a Hackensack street, then ducked into a nearby church to try and ditch the weapon, authorities said. Kerris Meadows and a 43-year-old Newark resident got into the unspecified argument outside Mount Olive Baptist Church around 10:30 a.m. last Saturday, Dec. 16, Hackensack Police Capt. Michael Antista said. The Central Avenue church was conducting a food drive at the time. The second man told officers who responded to a call of a man with a gun that Meadows pointed a revolver and threatened to sh…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
BIAS CRIME: Englewood Man Attacks Couple Trying To Stop Vandalism Of Pro-Israel Sign: Leonia PD BIAS CRIME: Englewood Man Attacks Couple Trying To Stop Vandalism Of Pro-Israel Sign: Leonia PD
Bias Crime: Englewood Man Attacks Couple Trying To Stop Vandalism Of Pro-Israel Sign: Leonia PD A 23-year-old Englewood man assaulted a man and hit a woman who tried to stop him from vandalizing a pro-Israel sign on a Leonia street, authorities charged. The couple was headed across the Edgewood Road bridge over Route 95 shortly before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 20, when they saw Keon Jordan Davis Williams damaging the sign, Leonia Police Chief Scott Tamagny said. They pulled over and exchanged words with him, the chief said. Davis-Williams then “knocked the driver’s cellphone out of his hand, damaging the cellphone, then assaulted the driver and struck the passenger when she attempted…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Baltimore Murder Suspect Captured By US Marshals In Bergen County: Police Baltimore Murder Suspect Captured By US Marshals In Bergen County: Police
Baltimore Murder Suspect Captured By US Marshals In Bergen County: Police Federal authorities finally caught up with a 21-year-old man wanted for a Baltimore murder in New Jersey, and have brought him back to Maryland to face charges. Members of the US Marshals New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested Baltimore's Keion Moore earlier this month in the Aug. 6 killing of 29-year-old Codell Brown, authorities in Baltimore said. Police said only that Moore was lodged in the Bergen County Jail prior to his extradition on Friday, Dec. 15. Moore is believed to have killed Brown on Sunday, Aug. 6, in the 600 block of East 33rd Street in Baltimore. The 2…

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by Zak Failla
Police & Fire
Repeat Lyndhurst Offender Shoots Acquaintance In Home With Airsoft Gun: Police Repeat Lyndhurst Offender Shoots Acquaintance In Home With Airsoft Gun: Police
Repeat Lyndhurst Offender Shoots Acquaintance In Home With Airsoft Gun: Police A Lyndhurst man who’s had several run-ins with police lately was arrested after he shot an acquaintance with an airsoft gun, authorities said. An eyewitness report of a man brandishing a handgun brought Officers Matthew Dudek, Anthony Giaquinto, and Robert Litterio to a home on Copeland Avenue between Stuyvesant and 10th Street. Witnesses reportedly told police 33-year-old resident Ronnie Williams had fired several projectiles from an airsoft gun, hitting one of them. Thankfully, the victim wasn’t seriously injured, they said. Airsoft guns are replica weapons designed to shoot recycled pl…

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by Jerry DeMarco