Fair 16°
Police & Fire
UPDATE: Quartet Flees Following Botched Maywood Jewelry Store Robbery UPDATE: Quartet Flees Following Botched Maywood Jewelry Store Robbery
Update: Quartet Flees Following Botched Maywood Jewelry Store Robbery Authorities are investigating the failed robbery of a Maywood jewelry store. The female owner and a male customer were in Diamond Fantasy on West Pleasant Avenue when two gunmen entered around 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, April 23, authorities said. Two others outside apparently acted as lookouts, they said. All left empty-handed, although at the moment it's unclear why.  No one was injured and no arrests had been made as of early Wednesday. Police recovered a moped, detained and interviewed potential suspects and collected statements and video from in and around the scene. A local resident…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
COLD CASE: Two Charged 16 Years After NJ Robbery Victim Is Beaten To Death, Thanks To New Tech COLD CASE: Two Charged 16 Years After NJ Robbery Victim Is Beaten To Death, Thanks To New Tech
Cold CASE: Two Charged 16 Years After NJ Robbery Victim Is Beaten To Death, Thanks To New Tech UPDATE: Leroy Julious had planned on whipping up a celebratory dinner after cashing a bonus check from his cook's job at The College of New Jersey when his brutally beaten body was found in a gravel lot across the street from his Ewing home. Julious's murder went unsolved for 16 years -- until authorities announced that technological advances and a shared mission among various agencies and law enforcement forensic experts cracked the cold case. Breyon Goodman, 36, of Trenton, and Jason Howard, 41, of Providence, R.I. killed Julious during a robbery near his Ewing home on May 9, 2008, t…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
SEE ANYTHING? Pre-Dawn Hackensack Carjacking Reported By NY Driver SEE ANYTHING? Pre-Dawn Hackensack Carjacking Reported By NY Driver
SEE Anything? Pre-Dawn Hackensack Carjacking Reported By NY Driver Hackensack police are investigating a New York man's report that he was carjacked at a local Wawa before dawn Monday. The 43-year-old driver told police four male robbers "forcefully took several belongings" with his 2018 Land Rover, outside the South River Street convenience store across from the ShopRite plaza around 4:30 a.m. April 22, said Capt. Michael Antista, the officer in charge of the department. No injuries were reported, the captain said. Nor were any detailed descriptions provided. City detectives were seeking clues from area surveillance video. ANYONE who might have seen som…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
RECOGNIZE THEM? Bayonne PD Turns To Public For Help In Weeks-Old Armed Robbery RECOGNIZE THEM? Bayonne PD Turns To Public For Help In Weeks-Old Armed Robbery
Recognize Them? Bayonne PD Turns To Public For Help In Weeks-Old Armed Robbery Bayonne police on Thursday shared photos of two men who they said robbed someone at gunpoint nearly three weeks ago. The holdup occurred at 42nd Street and Avenue E shortly before 1:30 a.m. March 23, they said. It was a Saturday. Police didn't say why they waited until April 11 (19 days) to seek the public's help, although in such cases it's ordinarily because investigators haven't made any progress. They also didn't describe what was taken, how many victims (nor ages or genders), nor whether anyone was injured. There were no descriptions of the robbers or in which direction they headed …

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
FACEBOOK ROBBERIES: College Freshman From Bayonne Charged After Bergen Hit-And-Run Holdup FACEBOOK ROBBERIES: College Freshman From Bayonne Charged After Bergen Hit-And-Run Holdup
Facebook Robberies: College Freshman From Bayonne Charged After Bergen Hit-And-Run Holdup Authorities believe they've cracked a series of Facebook Marketplace robberies with the arrest of a tennis-playing college freshman who they said struck and seriously injured a Bergen County victim with his car before speeding off. Yassine G. Rahi, 18, of Bayonne created bogus Facebook accounts offering PlayStation 5 consoles for sale, arranged meetings with buyers and robbed them, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. One of the victims, a 22-year-old man, arrived at an arranged location on Avenue C in Moonachie shortly before 5 p.m. March 20, the prosecutor said. After robbing him …

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
SEE ANYTHING? Detectives Seek Leads In Pair Of Tonnelle Avenue Gas Station Holdups SEE ANYTHING? Detectives Seek Leads In Pair Of Tonnelle Avenue Gas Station Holdups
SEE Anything? Detectives Seek Leads In Pair Of Tonnelle Avenue Gas Station Holdups One Tonnelle Avenue gas station in North Bergen was robbed and another was the scene of a carjacking less than 24 hours and barely a half-mile apart, authorities said. It was shortly before 5:30 a.m. Easter Sunday when a gunman entered the Shell station on the northbound highway and pretended to be interested in a phone charger, police said. He then pulled a gun on the two middle-aged store clerks, had them get down on the floor, then took more than $2,000 in cash from the register, they said. The victims, who weren't injured, described the robber as dark-skinned, wearing a hooded jacket …

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Ex-Con Involved In Undercover Shooting Charged With Drug-Induced Death Of Garfield Man Ex-Con Involved In Undercover Shooting Charged With Drug-Induced Death Of Garfield Man
Ex-Con Involved In Undercover Shooting Charged With Drug-Induced Death Of Garfield Man UPDATE: An ex-con from Garfield who served time for a botched drug deal that led to the shooting of an undercover police officer was arrested on Thursday and charged with causing the overdose death of a 30-year-old user late last summer. Melvin Guzman, 29, is charged with strict liability in the drug-induced death of Ivan Santiago of Passaic last Sept. 17, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella announced on March 28. Santiago and another user were hospitalized after overdosing at a home on Lincoln Place, the prosecutor said. He was pronounced dead soon after. “A six-month investigation by t…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Carjackers Jump U-Haul Driver In North Bergen, Steal Truck With Cash, Van Carjackers Jump U-Haul Driver In North Bergen, Steal Truck With Cash, Van
Carjackers Jump U-Haul Driver In North Bergen, Steal Truck With Cash, Van Three carjackers assaulted a customer who'd just returned a rental truck to a U-Haul store on Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen, making off with what police called a "significant" amount of cash. The 38-year-old victim from Newark told police he'd rented a truck to collect cargo from a location in New York City around 1:30 p.m. Sunday, March 24. He was attacked, he said, when he brought it back a few hours later. All three assailants beat him over the head and on the back of his arms, leaving him with multiple injuries, police said.The robbers fled in the truck and U-Haul van that also had b…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Arrest Made In Brazen Overnight Robbery On South Hackensack Street Arrest Made In Brazen Overnight Robbery On South Hackensack Street
Arrest Made In Brazen Overnight Robbery On South Hackensack Street Bergen County prosecutor's detectives captured a Passaic man who they said brandished a handgun during a brazen street robbery in South Hackensack. Using a Honda Insight that he'd rented, Bryan Tineo-Infante, 25, and an as-yet unidentified companion pulled in front of another vehicle with three occupants on Michael Street shortly after 4:30 a.m. last Aug. 20, authorities said. Tineo-Infante and the other robber were both clad all in black and brandishing handguns when they got out, they said. The robbers "pointed the handguns at all three victims while demanding their personal belongings,"…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
HOME INVASION: Female Saddle Brook 'Guest' Let Armed Robbers In, Authorities Charge HOME INVASION: Female Saddle Brook 'Guest' Let Armed Robbers In, Authorities Charge
Home Invasion: Female Saddle Brook 'Guest' Let Armed Robbers In, Authorities Charge 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A Saddle Brook home invasion in which a group of thugs from Passaic County took $12,500 in cash, $3,000 worth of jewelry and more at gunpoint was made possible by a female "guest," federal authorities revealed.  Lanasia "Lay" Smith, 24 (top left above), sent ex-con Jancarlos "M" Rodriguez, 23 (bottom right), "a picture of a safe located in the residence" hours before the June 28, 2022 robbery, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Smith then left the front door unlocked for Rodriguez and two cohorts -- fellow ex-con Jahad "Hadie" Foxworth, 25, and Jamere "Rebels" Dixon, 23 --…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Robbery Spree Ends, Hoboken Police Charge JC Man With Five Holdups In Six Weeks Robbery Spree Ends, Hoboken Police Charge JC Man With Five Holdups In Six Weeks
Robbery Spree Ends, Hoboken Police Charge JC Man With Five Holdups In Six Weeks Hoboken police stopped a one-man crime wave following five armed robberies over six weeks, including two the same day. Matthew Trontz, a 31-year-old ex-con from Jersey City, was arrested almost immediately after he held up Thomas’ Ice Cream Café on Jefferson Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets on Tuesday, Feb. 27, city police said. He was carrying a black stun gun, a silver imitation toy gun, a pocket knife and three cans of pepper spray, they said. Trontz brandished the firearms at Thomas’s, at Prime Gourmet on Monroe Street (Jan. 15), at Prime Stop on Willow Street and Hoboken Mini Mart o…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
GOTCHA! Five Charged With Rash Of Bergen Armed Wristwatch Robberies, Stabbing In PalPark GOTCHA! Five Charged With Rash Of Bergen Armed Wristwatch Robberies, Stabbing In PalPark
Gotcha! Five Charged With Rash Of Bergen Armed Wristwatch Robberies, Stabbing In PalPark Authorities have charged five men with robbing three separate victims of wristwatches – stabbing one of them – in two Bergen County towns, thanks to an arrest by Port Authority police. Two of the robberies occurred in broad daylight on River Road in Edgewater last fall, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said on Friday, March 1. The third included a stabbing in the victim’s driveway in Palisades Park, the prosecutor said. One of two robbers brandished a handgun while a colleague stood lookout when they robbed the first Edgewater victim shortly after 3 a.m. Oct. 24, Musella said. The ro…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco