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Police & Fire
LGBTQ+ Advocate Killed In Trenton Shooting Was Protecting Loved One, Friends Say LGBTQ+ Advocate Killed In Trenton Shooting Was Protecting Loved One, Friends Say
LGBTQ+ Advocate Killed In Trenton Shooting Was Protecting Loved One, Friends Say A 23-year-old LGBTQ+ advocate was shot and killed last Friday in Trenton, with their killer in custody as of Monday morning, authorities said. Shaquil Lofti was found with gunshot wounds in their face in a house on Kelsey Avenue around 4:40 a.m., Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri said. They were transported to Capital Health Regional Medical Center and pronounced dead a short time later. The accused gunman, Daniel L. Smith, 36, was arrested in a traffic stop the following day, authorities said. He is charged with one count of murder and multiple weapons offenses. The …

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by Cecilia Levine
News
HEROES: Officers Justified In Gunning Down Heavily Armed Irvington Killer, Grand Jury Finds HEROES: Officers Justified In Gunning Down Heavily Armed Irvington Killer, Grand Jury Finds
Heroes: Officers Justified In Gunning Down Heavily Armed Irvington Killer, Grand Jury Finds A New Jersey grand jury has cleared a trio of hero police officers from Irvington who gunned down a rifle-wielding man after he'd killed an unarmed civilian and wounded two of them. Kaizen Crossen, 39, had shot and killed Jason Caudle, a father of two, point-blank in the chest when responding officers confronted him in the 300 block of Myrtle Avenue on Aug. 8, 2019, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said Thursday. Crossen, who was wearing an Army fatigue vest filled with ammunition, exchanged gunfire with the officers before shots to his shoulder and thigh brought him down, Grewal sai…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Human Remains Found In South Jersey Woods Human Remains Found In South Jersey Woods
Human Remains Found In South Jersey Woods Human remains were found earlier this week in a wooded area in South Jersey, authorities said. A nearby resident stumbled upon the skeletal remains believed to be of a male, in the woods, according to Galloway police. The call came in about 8:40 a.m. Monday at 187 South Pomona Road in Galloway Township, Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon G. Tyner said. An autopsy has been completed and the results are pending. The investigation continues between the ACPO Major Crimes Unit, the Southern Regional Medical Examiner’s Office and the Galloway Township Police Department. Anyone with information, …

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by Cecilia Levine
News
GOTCHA! Hit-Run Driver Who Seriously Injured Lyndhurst Woman Claims He Was Carjacked GOTCHA! Hit-Run Driver Who Seriously Injured Lyndhurst Woman Claims He Was Carjacked
Gotcha! Hit-Run Driver Who Seriously Injured Lyndhurst Woman Claims He Was Carjacked A cocaine-carrying driver who fled after his sedan struck and seriously injured a Lyndhurst pedestrian claimed he’d been carjacked moments earlier and wasn’t behind the wheel, authorities said. It was all a lie, they said. Samuel Torres, 38, of Nutley was charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious bodily injury, hindering his arrest and drug-related offenses, records show. Torres was driving a 2017 Toyota Camry when it struck Joy Dempsey, 56, at the corner of Grant and Valley Brook avenues near her home shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark M…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Arson Investigators Probe Post-Graduation Fire At St. Joseph's Regional HS Field Arson Investigators Probe Post-Graduation Fire At St. Joseph's Regional HS Field
Arson Investigators Probe Post-Graduation Fire At St. Joseph's Regional HS Field Authorities suspect a fire on the field where St. Joseph’s Regional High School in Montvale had held its 2021 graduation ceremony hours earlier was set. The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Arson Investigations Unit was investigating the fire along with borough police and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification, which collected evidence. Initial details remained sketchy, although unconfirmed reports were that the grandstand caught fire sometime around midnight. There were no injuries, Montvale Police Chief Joseph Sanfilippo said. Park Ridge firefighters assisted their Mont…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
NJ Mom Accused Of Killing 'Extremely Affectionate' Son, 4, Indicted On Murder Charge NJ Mom Accused Of Killing 'Extremely Affectionate' Son, 4, Indicted On Murder Charge
NJ Mom Accused Of Killing 'Extremely Affectionate' Son, 4, Indicted On Murder Charge A New Jersey mother who called 911 for a minor wrist injury she suffered apparently in the process of killing her 4-year-old son was indicted on a first-degree murder charge in the homicide, authorities announced.  Elina Gutti -- also known as Olga Singhania and Olga Gutiy -- is accused of using two kitchen knives to cut the throat of Aiden Singhania, who was found in a first-floor bedroom of her South Bound Brook home on Feb. 6, and pronounced dead at the scene, Somerset County Prosecutor Michael H. Robertson announced. The indictment charges Gutti with first-degree murder and&nb…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Prosecutor: Linden Man, 68, Touched Himself While Making Sexual Comments To Child At Local Park Prosecutor: Linden Man, 68, Touched Himself While Making Sexual Comments To Child At Local Park
Prosecutor: Linden Man, 68, Touched Himself While Making Sexual Comments To Child At Local Park A 68-year-old Linden man has arrested on charges of sex assault and related offenses after making explicit comments to a child at a local park while touching himself, authorities said. Paul J. Schappe, Jr. is facing second- and third-degree charges, respectively, after approaching a child playing basketball at Clifford Lawson Memorial Park and making sexual comments while touching himself over his clothing around 1 p.m. on May 2, acting Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay V. Ruotolo said in a joint release with Linden Police Chief David Hart. The victim was under 13 at the time of the incident,…

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by Valerie Musson
Police & Fire
600+ IMAGES: Morris Man Gets 7 Years In Fed Pen For Sharing Porn Of Young Girls 600+ IMAGES: Morris Man Gets 7 Years In Fed Pen For Sharing Porn Of Young Girls
600+ Images: Morris Man Gets 7 Years In Fed Pen For Sharing Porn Of Young Girls A former American Media Inc. staff member and Audible contractor from Morris County was sent to federal prison for seven years for trafficking images of girls between 6 and 10 years old being sexually abused. Mark Miller, 63, shared the images with undercover investigators from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigation (HSI) using a mobile app in the summer of 2018, according to a complaint on file in federal court in Trenton. More than 600 images depicted “prepubescent minors, sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence, and sexual abuse or exploitation of …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
MEET JOHN DOE: Dead Man With 9 Bullet Holes, No ID Dumped At Paterson Hospital MEET JOHN DOE: Dead Man With 9 Bullet Holes, No ID Dumped At Paterson Hospital
Meet John DOE: Dead Man With 9 Bullet Holes, No ID Dumped At Paterson Hospital An unidentified man with nine gunshot wounds was pronounced dead after someone dropped him off before dawn Saturday at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, authorities said. Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Paterson Police Chief Ibrahim Baycora didn’t say whether the “individuals” who brought him to the hospital in a private vehicle around 5 a.m. stuck around or had been identified in any way. They did say in a brief release that the victim was “immediately rushed into the emergency room for treatment where it was determined that he had suffered 9 gunshot wounds”…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Saddle Brook Payroll Manager From Montvale Admits Shorting Workers By $1M In Extortion Scheme Saddle Brook Payroll Manager From Montvale Admits Shorting Workers By $1M In Extortion Scheme
Saddle Brook Payroll Manager From Montvale Admits Shorting Workers By $1M In Extortion Scheme The payroll manager of a Bergen County construction company admitted that he shorted a group of employees by more than $1 million in pay by shaking them down for cash kickbacks, state authorities said. Rather than wait for an indictment following his arrest last month, Toni Jovanoski, 44, of Montvale took a deal from prosecutors following an investigation into his Saddle Brook company, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. Jovanoski pleaded guilty this week in Superior Court in Hackensack to making false payment claims for a government contract (prevailing wage violations) and …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Hudson Prosecutor: Cash Recovered During Investigations Goes Missing Hudson Prosecutor: Cash Recovered During Investigations Goes Missing
Hudson Prosecutor: Cash Recovered During Investigations Goes Missing An internal affairs investigation has been launched at the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office after cash recovered in several different cases went missing, authorities announced Tuesday. All of the missing cash had been recovered from scenes and was being temporarily held for safekeeping, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said.  The money was kept in temporary storage in locked safes at the Prosecutor’s Office with limited access by investigative staff. The Prosecutor’s Office Public Integrity Unit, Internal Affairs Section, will be conducting the investigation.  The New Jer…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
How Police Are Getting Guns Off Paterson Streets: Four Separate Seizures How Police Are Getting Guns Off Paterson Streets: Four Separate Seizures
How Police Are Getting Guns Off Paterson Streets: Four Separate Seizures A pair of Paterson detectives working a new weapons-suppression detail subdued an ex-con who was carrying a semi-automatic pistol, adding to a growing total of guns they've removed from the Silk City streets, authorities said Tuesday. Detectives Brian Culmone and Mohammed Bashir were in an unmarked car on East 18th Street approaching Park Avenue when they came upon an idling Dodge Caravan around 11:30 p.m. Monday, Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said. Discovering that the license plates belonged to another vehicle, the detectives got out to investigate, he said. They found the driver…

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by Jerry DeMarco