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Saturday, apr 27
Tag:
Palisades Park, NJ
Police & Fire
Wood-Ridge Man Convicted Again Of Murdering, Torching East Rutherford Grandmother
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
Sixth Defendant Charged In Armed Edgewater Robbery Being Held In Westchester
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: The broad-daylight holdup of an Edgewater shopper last fall was committed by an armed robbery crew that included a Bronx man who was arrested this week in Westchester, authorities said. Jose A. Santana Torres, 22, and his partners followed the victim from Hudson County to an unidentified shopping center on River Road in last Oct. 24, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Two of them approached the victim and stole a watch at gunpoint while a third member of the crew served as lookout. The robbers then hopped into getaway vehicles driven by companions. The mid-afternoon holdu…
Police & Fire
Toddler Hospitalized With Serious Burns, PalPark Private Day Care Worker Jailed
A toddler was hospitalized with serious burns that authorities said were sustained at a home that operates as a daycare center in Palisades Park. Ann Zheng, 24, was jailed on child endangerment charges after the toddler was burned at Dearest Angel Child Care, which operates out of a private home on Glen Avenue off East Edsall Boulevard, on Thursday, March 28. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said his Special Victims Unit was contacted by Palisades Park police. They learned, he said, that Zheng, “while having an assumed responsibility for the child, neglected the child, resulting in th…
Police & Fire
Man, 31, Charged With Sexually Assaulting Pre-Teen In Pal Park
A 31-year-old man living in Palisades Park was charged with sexually assaulting a pre-teen. Jorge Orrego-Garcia “sexually assaulted a juvenile under the age of 13 in Palisades Park…in the past,” Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said on Monday, March 25. Records show that Orrego-Garcia is accused of a pair of alleged sexual assaults in 2021. Detectives from Musella’s Special Victims Unit arrested Orrego-Garcia on Friday. He remained held Monday in the Bergen County Jail, charged with two counts each of sexual assault on a pre-teen and child endangerment through sexual conduct. Althou…
Police & Fire
Who Was Xavier Contreras? Homeless Laborer ID’d As Fatal Fire Victim At Former Ridgefield B&B
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A former bed and breakfast in Ridgefield had been leveled by fire when responders found the remains of a man wrapped around a support beam. “He must’ve been alive and trying to hold on when the floor above him collapsed,” said a firefighter who was at the predawn blaze at the former Toddle Inn on Broad Avenue on Wednesday, March 6. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella identified the victim on Friday as 42-year-old Xavier Contreras. An Ecuadoran national, the homeless Contreras sometimes joined the groups of day laborers waiting for passing contractors in nearby Palisades Park, ju…
Police & Fire
Arson
? Body Found Following Fierce Fire In Ridgefield (
Update
)
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A former bed and breakfast in Ridgefield had been leveled by fire when responders found the remains of a man wrapped around a support beam. “He must’ve been alive and trying to hold on when the floor above him collapsed,” said a firefighter who was at the predawn blaze at the former Toddle Inn on Broad Avenue on Wednesday, March 6. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella identified the victim on Friday as 42-year-old Xavier Contreras. An Ecuadoran national, the homeless Contreras sometimes joined the groups of day laborers waiting for passing contractors in nearby Palisades Park, jus…
Police & Fire
Update
: Arson Investigators Probe Multi-Truck Fire In Ridgefield
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: Investigators were probing the cause of a multi-truck fire in Ridgefield that sent up a column of black smoke visible for miles. No injuries were reported in the three-alarm blaze, which ignited behind the Hanjin warehouse on Railroad Avenue near Pleasantview Avenue shortly before 1 p.m. Sunday, March 3. At least four box trucks and rigs were destroyed or severely damaged. Mutual aid responders either at the scene or in coverage included firefighters from Cliffside Park, Fairview, Leonia, Palisades Park and Ridgefield Park. The County Wide Emergency Response Team also responded. …
Police & Fire
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…
Police & Fire
Gotcha
! Band Of Bandits Charged In Back-To-Back Route 46 Gas Station Holdups: Bergen Prosecutor
A quartet of disguised New Yorkers tied to holdups on their side of the Hudson committed back-to-back gunpoint robberies of gas station convenience stores just minutes from the George Washington Bridge, authorities charged. The total take: five grand. Rahquan Brooks, 20, and Kevin Ulysses, 19, of the Bronx had two juveniles with them when they drove up to the Exxon station on eastbound Route 46 just before the Overpeck Creek bridge in Ridgefield Park shortly before 4:30 a.m. July 24, 2022, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. The silver sedan had been carjacked out of Brooklyn thre…
Police & Fire
Illegal Border Crosser Seized By ICE After Punching Local NJ Officer In Face
A Guatemalan national who authorities said crossed the U.S. border illegally was seized by federal agents after he punched a Closter police officer in the face. Emiliano Cotzalo-Santiago, 24, was living in Palisades Park and working on a construction site in Closter when he began walking down the middle of Cedar Lane, obstructing traffic, Police Capt. Vincent Aiello said. This prompted calls to police. Cotzal-Santiago “attacked the first officer that he came in contact with by punching him in the face,” the captain said. A second officer sustained cuts on his hand as they attempted to han…
Police & Fire
Firefighters Battle Frigid Temps To Douse Ridgefield Blaze
Ridgefield firefighters conquered frigid temperatures to quickly snuff a weekend blaze. The two-alarm electrical fire ignited in an attic vent at the single-family Shaler Boulevard home at Lancaster Road shortly before 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, responders said. "They made a great stop," a mutual aid provider said. "It could have been a lot worse, but because of their quick response they were able to knock it down quick." Mutual aid responders included firefighters from Cliffside Park, Fairview, Leonia and Palisades Park, as well as borough police and EMS. No injuries were reported. Jo…
Police & Fire
10-Year Minimum Awaits Repeat Child Porn Collector Caught With 1,300 Files At Newark Airport
A convicted child porn collector from North Jersey who'd moved to Ecuador after serving his time here is headed to federal prison for at least 10 more years. Christopher Carvajal, 30, most recently of North Bergen, had 900 videos and more than 400 images of child sex -- some of it involving infants or toddlers -- on his iPhone when Homeland Security Investigations seized him at Newark Airport last year. It also contained messages in which Carvajal "discussed his desire for sexual encounters with young children," U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Rather than risk a much more lengthy…
Police & Fire
Brazen Looters Ram Stolen Truck Through Window Of Route 46 Thrift Store
A group of masked burglars looted a new thrift store off Route 46 in Little Ferry by ramming a pickup they’d just stolen through the front window before dawn Wednesday. The quartet hopped out wearing gloves and hoodies and quickly snatched up mostly handbags at Ron’s Buy Sell Trade after the crash bent a metal security gate around 2 a.m. Dec. 20, Little Ferry Police Chief James Walters said. The bandits then sped off east on the highway in a black Dodge Challenger, leaving behind the pickup stolen moments earlier from outside the Ridgefield Park home of an employee for a landscaping company…
Police & Fire
Brawl At End Of Teaneck HS Basketball Game Versus Hackensack Brings Area Reinforcements
A wave of police from nearly a dozen area law enforcement agencies converged on Teaneck High School after a brawl erupted Thursday night at the end of a two-point boys basketball victory over Hackensack. A girls basketball game against both schools in Hackensack had been canceled following a fight there, which brought extra uniformed and plainclothes officers to the Dec. 14 match at Teaneck High School. At the end of the 54-52 boys game, the officers “observed several small fights erupt between groups of spectators,” Teaneck Police Chief Andrew McGurr said. There was also a report that a t…
Police & Fire
Luxury NYC High-Rise Manager Stabbed By 2 Robbers Outside PalPark Home
A manager at a luxurious midtown-Manhattan highrise was stabbed in the leg while fighting off two robbers who'd jumped him outside his Palisades Park home Friday night. The victim was losing a lot of blood from a deep gash when borough police arrived shortly after 9 p.m. Nov. 3. The officers applied a tourniquet to the left leg that slowed the bleeding, authorities said. The victim told police he’d just gotten back after celebrating a work milestone in the city when he was attacked from behind while walking from his car to the front door of his East Palisades Boulevard home. The robbers o…
Police & Fire
Tractor-Trailer Ditches Off Route 46
A tractor-trailer driver survived a crash on Route 46 in Palisades Park that nearly crushed the cab of his rig. The driver was headed west on Route 46 near the bridge over East Homestead Avenue when he veered off the road and the cab came loose as it headed partially down a wooded embankment shortly after 4 a.m. Friday, Nov. 4. He was taken by ambulance to Hackensack University Medical Center with injuries that weren't considered life-threatening. "This guy was lucky to be alive," one witness at the scene said. "The cab was crushed and ripped off the truck." Westbound Route 46 in Pal…
Police & Fire
Homeless Laborer Kicks Englewood Hospital EMT In Face In Ambo, Faces Severe Charges: PalPark PD
A homeless day laborer from Palisades Park deliberately kicked a female EMT in the face as an ambulance took him to the hospital for alcohol treatment, authorities said. Police said they called the ambulance for Xavier Contreras, 41, under the provisions of a state law known as the Alcohol Treatment and Rehabilitation Act (ATRA). Area emergency responders are familiar with Contreras, an Ecuadorian national who'd previously been arrested for trespassing and various other misdemeanors over the past several years. Under ATRA, alcoholics and drunks can't be prosecuted simply because they dran…
Business
Bergen County Mom Turns Passion Into Purpose With Persian Restaurant
Cooking has already given Bergen County's Shahin Rezaei so much. It gave her something to do when her she moved to the U.S. with her husband, Daryush Saadati, from Sweden 26 years ago. She didn't have a car and she didn't have anything to do when Saadati went to work, and so Rezaei passed the time by perfecting her recipes. Cooking gave Rezaei friends: She met so many people through the catering business she opened seven years ago, when the family's furniture store closed. But most of all, cooking has given Rezaei purpose. "Because of all of this, I know who I am," said Rezaei, more …
Police & Fire
PalPark Resident, 25, Charged With Raping Pre-Teen Multiple Times
A 25-year-old unemployed man living in Palisades Park raped a pre-teen on more than one occasion, authorities charged. Edmer Ajualip Perez was taken into custody on Wednesday, Oct. 11, and has remained in the Bergen County Jail pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack, records show. He's charged with first-degree aggravated sexual assault, as well as two sexual assault counts and a single child endangerment through sexual conduct charge. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said detectives from his Special Victims Unit began investigating along with Pa…
Police & Fire
PalPark Motorcyclist, 33, Killed In NJ Turnpike Crash
A motorcyclist from Palisades Park was killed in a weekend crash on the New Jersey Turnpike in Ridgefield, State Police confirmed. Michael Agudelo, 33, was headed south on the turnpike's eastern spur near the Vince Lombardi Service Area when his Yamaha rear-ended a Buick sedan shortly before 2:30 a.m. Saturday, July 22, NJSP Sgt. Philip Curry said. Augdelo was ejected and sustained fatal injuries, the sergeant said on Sunday. The crash remains under investigation, Curry said.
Police & Fire
Drunken Man With .327 BAC Puts Fist Through Restaurant Window, Bleeds On Cliffside Police
A drunken man who put his fist through a Guatemalan restaurant window bled all over Cliffside Park police while trying to fight them, authorities said. Marcus Camargo Machado, a 39-year-old Brazilian national who lives in Palisades Park, recorded a staggering .327 blood-alcohol level, Deputy Police Chief Vincent Capano said. Machado also told EMS workers that he’s HIV positive, forcing bloodwork at Palisade Medical Center in North Bergen that found he isn’t, the deputy chief said. Machado was angry about something when he shattered the window at La Estancia at the corner of Palisade and Wa…
News
Body Of NJ Climber Killed In Avalanche Recovered
The body of a 66-year-old Bergen County man killed by an avalanche last February has been recovered, officials in Washington State said. Yun Park, of Palisades Park, was among three hikers attempting to climb Colchuck Peak on Feb. 19, 2023, Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison said. A hiker found Park's body the afternoon of June 23, near the base of Colchuck Peak. Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office Helicopter Rescue Team was contacted for a hoist capable helicopter and accepted the mission. The team responded around 11:15 a.m. Friday, June 23, and the body was turned over to …
Police & Fire
DJ Turned Bank Robber Foiled By Cool Teller, Crime-Fighting Teamwork, PalPark Police Say
Looks like he might not have thought things through. A would-be Palisades Park bank robber from the Bronx was foiled by a composed teller, his own hastiness and forensic science, authorities said on Tuesday, June 20. Daqwaun D. Ralls, a 30-year-old self-employed DJ known as "DJ SonDae," already had a criminal past when he walked into the Shinhan Bank America branch on Broad Avenue on May 31. According to Palisades Park Police Lt. George Beck, Ralls handed the teller a note that said: "No dye packs." It also came with a warning that Ralls had gasoline in a bottle, along with a lighter and …
Business
New North Jersey Eatery Combines Coffee + Korean Fried Chicken
Tasting Notes Café thinks it has discovered a perfect combination. The new restaurant in Bergen County serves up both award winning coffee and Korean fried chicken. Located at 544 Livingston St. in Northwood, Tasting Notes celebrated its grand opening on Friday, June 2. Christina Lee, who runs Tasting Notes with her fiancée Ujae, initially was planning to just open a café. But the spot she picked was previously home to Marinade, which was known for its Korean fried chicken. Not wanting to upset customers disappointed by its closure, Lee decided to pivot and serve Korean fried chicken with…
Police & Fire
ICE Detains Guatemalan National Jailed On Domestic Violence Charges Out Of PalPark
Federal authorities placed a detainer on a Guatemalan national living in Palisades Park after he was jailed on domestic violence charges. Cruz L. Baten, 32, was charged with simple assault and criminal mischief and sent to the Bergen County Jail on Tuesday, June 6, in connection with what Palisades Park police said was an alleged weekend incident on Highland Avenue. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement immediately requested that Baten remain held. Such detainers are sought whenever immigrants suspected of living here illegally are jailed. Hearings are then held in federal court in Newa…
Police & Fire
SWAT Team Storms PalPark Apartment, Seizes Tenant Following Threats To Woman
A nearly three-hour standoff ended when a SWAT team burst into a Palisades Park garden apartment and seized a man who authorities said harassed and threatened a woman. Officers brought a temporary restraining order to the Palisades Gardens apartment of Jonathan C. Hernandez, 32, off Bergen Boulevard shortly before 8 p.m. Friday, May 19. Based on the victim's complaint, they suspected that Hernandez might have been armed, responders said. Hernandez apparently refused to open the door and stopped communicating after a very brief text exchange, they said. After conferring with the Bergen Cou…
Business
Korean Restaurant Cooks Up Storm In North Jersey
A restaurant in Bergen County is offering a new twist on Korean cuisine. Karden opened two months ago in Ridgefield, serving a modern take on a typical Korean restaurant. The restaurant is owned by the Chung family, who live in the borough. "We use a lot of spices, a lot of vegetables and grilled meat," Carter Chung said. Do you know Yukgaejang? Yukgaejang is a spicy Korean beef soup with bunch of vegetables. It is deeply flavorful and one... Posted by karden_nj on Thursday, March 23, 2023 Karden uses a lot of the family's recipes, and Chung's mother has run a catering company in Fo…
Police & Fire
Fiery
Crash
: SUV Rams Commercial Building, Bursts Into Flames In Leonia (
Photos
)
A mother and daughter bailed out of an SUV moments before it plowed into the side of a commercial building and burst into flames in Leonia, witnesses said. No serious injuries were reported in the crash and resulting fire, which spread into the Wooree Insurance Agency building on Fort Lee Road shortly before 1:30 p.m. Thursday, May 11. The building, at the corner of Highland Avenue, is only a block up the hill from the busy Broad Avenue commercial district. It was unoccupied at the time of the crash, police said. The fire in Leonia spread into the Wooree Insurance Agency building on Fo…
News
Garage Fire Doused In Palisades Park
Investigators were trying to determine the cause of a garage fire in Palisades Park on Friday, authorities confirmed. Responders initially suspected a full-sized scooter that had been left charging before the blaze broke out on Commercial Avenue off Union Street shortly after 3:30 p.m. March 24.. The fire was knocked down and placed under control in a little over a half-hour. Firefighters then doused some flames that extended to the roof. No injuries were reported. CHECK BACK FOR MORE DETAILS
Schools
These NJ Schools Are Closed, Delayed Due To Snow Tuesday, Feb. 28
The first winter storm of the season is causing a change in plans for New Jersey schools on Tuesday, Feb. 28. Some districts have delayed openings while others are closed completely. Here's a list of which school are closed or delayed for Tuesday, Feb. 28. Check your school/district's website for details. Bedminster: 10: 50 a.m. start Bellville: Delayed Bergen County Tech: Closed Bergenfield: 2-hour delay Bernards: 2-hour delay Bloomfield: Delay Bloomingdale: Closed Bogota: Delayed Butler: Closed Cliffside Park: 10 a.m. start Clifton: Delayed Closter: Delayed Cresskill: Delayed Demarest: …
News
Bergen County Man ID'd As Climber Killed In Washington State Avalanche
Authorities have identified a 66-year-old New Jersey man who was among three people killed in an avalanche in Washington State. Bergen County resident Yun Park, of Palisades Park, was confirmed as being among the dead in an update from the Chelan County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday, Feb. 22. The avalanche happened Sunday afternoon, Feb. 19, in the central Cascade Mountains near Colchuck Lake, located 70 miles east of Seattle. Sheriffs officials said a 56-year-old Maryland man contacted deputies on Monday, Feb. 20 and said that six members of the group he was with had atte…
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