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GOTCHA! Wayne Police Not Fooled By Bogus Bomb Threat At Willowbrook Mall GOTCHA! Wayne Police Not Fooled By Bogus Bomb Threat At Willowbrook Mall
Gotcha! Wayne Police Not Fooled By Bogus Bomb Threat At Willowbrook Mall The driver of a stolen car stopped by Wayne police called in a bomb threat at the Macy’s in the Willowbrook Mall in the hopes of distracting them, authorities charged. Capt. Michael McNiff wasn’t fooled. While units responded to the 911 call at the mall, McNiff reminded officers on the road that it could be a diversionary tactic, Detective Capt. Dan Daly said. Sure enough, the call was traced to Shaquanda White, 30, of East Orange, who was driving a Honda Accord that had just been stopped by Officer Chris Savitsky outside the Yard House restaurant at Willowbrook, the captain said. The se…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Paterson Man Charged With Illegally Touching Girl, 15 Paterson Man Charged With Illegally Touching Girl, 15
Paterson Man Charged With Illegally Touching Girl, 15 A Paterson man illegally touched a 15-year-old girl, authorities charged. Kenyatta Lighty, 44, was sent to the Passaic County Jail following his arrest last Friday, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes announced on Monday, Dec. 12. Members of her Special Victims Unit charged Lighty with two counts each of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact and third-degree child endangerment for two separate incidents in July 2021 and July 2022, the prosecutor said.

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Crime-Busting Haledon Police Pair Seize Loaded Guns In Separate Traffic Stops Crime-Busting Haledon Police Pair Seize Loaded Guns In Separate Traffic Stops
Crime-Busting Haledon Police Pair Seize Loaded Guns In Separate Traffic Stops A pair of Haledon police officers seized guns in separate traffic stops as part of a year-long law enforcement initiative that authorities say has been a huge success. One of the stops involved an ex-con with a suspended license who wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was drinking tequila when police said they stopped him for failing to signal a turn and found a loaded revolver and hollow-nose bullets in his SUV. Officers Jeffrey Welsh and Officer Kris Duci made that stop this past week and another a week earlier as part of a Quality of Life Division that has been "vital in keeping Haledon a safe…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Paterson Detectives Slam Drug Dealers Serving Out-Of-Town Buyers Near City Transportation Hubs Paterson Detectives Slam Drug Dealers Serving Out-Of-Town Buyers Near City Transportation Hubs
Paterson Detectives Slam Drug Dealers Serving Out-Of-Town Buyers Near City Transportation Hubs Dealers slinging heroin and crack in Paterson had what clearly felt like a safe setup near the train station. Out-of-town buyers could walk a short stretch of Park Avenue -- a one-way street always thick with vehicles -- and cop their drugs before hopping a train back to wherever they came from. The setup wasn't so cushy, several accused dealers discovered. Three of them -- identified as Jamal Jones, 26, Musa Brown, 29, and convicted dealer Shariek Linder, 29 -- used a stash vehicle to sell from in front of a multi-family building on Park Avenue, city Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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ARMED ROBBERY RAMPAGE: Federal Judge Orders Passaic County Pair Held ARMED ROBBERY RAMPAGE: Federal Judge Orders Passaic County Pair Held
Armed Robbery Rampage: Federal Judge Orders Passaic County Pair Held Two Paterson men who were captured following a terrifying armed robbery rampage must remain in custody, a federal judge in Newark ordered. Carlos Diaz and Edward Porter and an unidentified third bandit menaced customers with handguns, ordering them to lie on the floor, while robbed a Passaic bodega this past Aug. 22, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. The pair, both 30, then robbed a Passaic liquor store of several thousand dollars at gunpoint -- with Porter pistol-whipping a victim, the U.S. attorney said. Later that night, they robbed another business, where Porter "pushed one vict…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Accused Kidnapper Of Couple In Paterson Has Been Jailed Since Last Week, Authorities Reveal Accused Kidnapper Of Couple In Paterson Has Been Jailed Since Last Week, Authorities Reveal
Accused Kidnapper Of Couple In Paterson Has Been Jailed Since Last Week, Authorities Reveal Authorities revealed on Monday that one of several men who carjacked and abducted a couple in Paterson last week was actually captured in Bloomfield later that night. City resident Juan Montero-Pena, 30, was among several men who accosted the 38-year-old Paterson woman and her 47-year-old male companion from Long Island in the area of Jackson Street and Washington Avenue around 8 p.m. last Thursday, Dec. 1, authorities announced on Dec. 5. Bloomfield police located the vehicle and captured Montero-Pena in the area of Arlington and Watsessing avenues in their town shortly after 9:30 p.m., Pa…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Passaic County Pedophile Who Tried To Get Victim To Change Story Gets 30 Years Without Parole Passaic County Pedophile Who Tried To Get Victim To Change Story Gets 30 Years Without Parole
Passaic County Pedophile Who Tried To Get Victim To Change Story Gets 30 Years Without Parole UPDATE: A convicted pedophile from Clifton must spend the next 30 years in prison before he’ll be eligible for parole for sexually assaulting a child over the course of several years. Alfredo Hernandez-Sanchez, 36, was convicted by jurors in Paterson this past April of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, as well as sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact and child endangerment. Investigators from the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office seized Hernandez-Sanchez after being alerted by Clifton police in June 2018. The victim, who was 15 at the time, “reported being sexually abus…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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21 Catalytic Converters Recovered, Gang Of Four Busted By Clifton PD 21 Catalytic Converters Recovered, Gang Of Four Busted By Clifton PD
21 Catalytic Converters Recovered, Gang Of Four Busted By Clifton PD GOTCHA! Clifton police recovered 21 catalytic converters while arresting four men who they said stole them. Officers responding to a theft in progress on East 4th Street stopped a fleeing Kia in Paterson and arrested the lone occupant, Pedro Mirben-Feliz, 26, of Brooklyn around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 29, Detective Lt. Robert Bracken said. A second vehicle, an Acura TL, crashed on Route 3 in Secaucus, where police arrested three occupants -- driver Juan Ortegalazala, 29, of the Bronx and passengers Yheremy Santana, 22, and Angel Batista, 18, both of Jersey City,  the lieutenant said. Betw…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Wayne Police Turn Tables On 'Grandson Needs Bail Money' Scammers Who Victimized Elderly Couple Wayne Police Turn Tables On 'Grandson Needs Bail Money' Scammers Who Victimized Elderly Couple
Wayne Police Turn Tables On 'Grandson Needs Bail Money' Scammers Who Victimized Elderly Couple GOTCHA! An elderly couple had just handed over tens of thousands of dollars to a pair of “grandson-in-trouble” scammers and were about to surrender even more when Wayne police came to their rescue. The couple was already at the bank when their adult daughter reached out to township police –and just in time. Posing as a lawyer, one of the scammers had called and convinced the couple that a grandchild “had been involved in a car accident in New York City where a pregnant woman was involved and lost her baby,” Detective Capt. Dan Daly explained. The worried grandparents had already ponied up…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Sheriff: Driver In $200,000 Paterson Cocaine Pickup Had Her Two Young Kids With Her Sheriff: Driver In $200,000 Paterson Cocaine Pickup Had Her Two Young Kids With Her
Sheriff: Driver In $200,000 Paterson Cocaine Pickup Had Her Two Young Kids With Her A Newark woman had her two young children with her when Passaic County sheriff's officers busted her and a companion who'd just collected a four-pound package of cocaine worth $200,000 in Paterson, authorities said. Sheriff Richard Berdnik said his detectives were watching as Gisela Arroyo Valentin, 35, pulled up to a targeted location in a Honda Civic and David Ventura, 39, of Paterson got out in the middle of the afternoon. Valentin waited while Ventura entered a building and then emerged a short time later with the cocaine, the sheriff said. Ventura was reaching for the front passenger …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Ex-Con Accused Of Shooting 16-Year-Old, Two Adults At Notorious Paterson Street Corner Ex-Con Accused Of Shooting 16-Year-Old, Two Adults At Notorious Paterson Street Corner
Ex-Con Accused Of Shooting 16-Year-Old, Two Adults At Notorious Paterson Street Corner UPDATE: An ex-con who was only just released from prison less than three months ago was charged with shooting and wounding three people -- including a 16-year-old juvenile – at a Paterson street corner where a young girl was gunned down earlier this year. Cleon Pooler, 30, is expected to remain held following his arrest Monday afternoon, Nov. 15, in the area of Ellison Street and Memorial Drive. That’s just blocks from the site of the Oct. 15 shooting at Madison and Essex streets. That day, police responding to a shots-fired report found a 19-year-old Sunbury, Pennsylvania resident, a 32-…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Street Dealer Nabbed With Two Guns, Raw Heroin, Crack, Ammo, More, Passaic Sheriff Says Street Dealer Nabbed With Two Guns, Raw Heroin, Crack, Ammo, More, Passaic Sheriff Says
Street Dealer Nabbed With Two Guns, Raw Heroin, Crack, Ammo, More, Passaic Sheriff Says Passaic County sheriff's officers seized a street dealer with two guns, various drugs for sale and an assortment of packaging materials, authorities said. Detectives with Sheriff Richard H. Berdnik's Fugitive Warrant Squad and Emergency Response Team assisted with the arrest of Lamont D. Baker, 30, as he left his Paterson home on Thursday, Sept. 29. Berdnik said searches of Baker's home and vehicle following a two-week investigation turned up: several grams of raw heroin; nearly two dozen bags of heroin that had been stepped on for sale, in folds labeled "NEXT LEVEL" in green ink and "ROL…

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by Jerry DeMarco