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Police & Fire
Carjackers Fail In Paramus, Succeed In Fair Lawn, Crash In Englewood Carjackers Fail In Paramus, Succeed In Fair Lawn, Crash In Englewood
Carjackers Fail In Paramus, Succeed In Fair Lawn, Crash In Englewood Armed robbers who carjacked a vehicle in Fair Lawn after an attempt in Paramus failed were pursued into Englewood, where they bailed out and quickly made themselves scarce, authorities said. It began at 11:55 p.m. Monday, Aug. 28, when the masked pair approached a driver who’d stopped for a cup of coffee at the BP station on eastbound Route 4 in Paramus. The victim was parked in the lot when the robbers ordered him out of his 2021 Volkswagen Jetta at gunpoint and forcibly took his wallet, Paramus Police Chief Robert Guidetti said. He fled into the convenience store at the station with the …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
UPDATE: Accused Getaway Driver Joins NYC Pair Jailed In Violent Bergenfield Gas Station Robbery UPDATE: Accused Getaway Driver Joins NYC Pair Jailed In Violent Bergenfield Gas Station Robbery
Update: Accused Getaway Driver Joins NYC Pair Jailed In Violent Bergenfield Gas Station Robbery UPDATE: A 19-year-old Honduran national was the wheelman for a duo who pistol-whipped a Bergenfield gas station attendant during a robbery earlier this year, authorities said. And that’s not all for Bronx resident Cesar Herrera Valerio. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed a detainer a short time after Valerio was booked into the Bergen County Jail, records show. ICE places detainers on immigrants believed to be illegally living in the United States. Federal judges in Newark then hold hearings to determine whether – and, if so, when -- they'll be deported. For now, Valerio joins…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Bergen Man, 71, Admitted Smothering Wife With Pillow, Tossing Her Valuables In Dumpster: Police Bergen Man, 71, Admitted Smothering Wife With Pillow, Tossing Her Valuables In Dumpster: Police
Bergen Man, 71, Admitted Smothering Wife With Pillow, Tossing Her Valuables In Dumpster: Police UPDATE: A 71-year-old Hasbrouck Heights man admitted smothering his wife to death with a pillow and then tossing some of her valuables in a Dumpster in Wood-Ridge as part of a staged home invasion, investigators said. Michael J. Manis killed 72-year-old Judith Manis on Friday, Aug. 10, but didn’t call police to their home at 110 Hamilton Avenue until 5:01 p.m. Saturday, they said. Claiming he’d only just arrived home, Manis told a 911 dispatcher that his wife “was deceased and that she was possibly beaten,” Hasbrouck Heights Police Detective Nicholas Brunetti wrote in a criminal complaint. …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Home Invaders Target Englewood Resident Home Invaders Target Englewood Resident
Home Invaders Target Englewood Resident Two masked robbers invaded an Englewood home, authorities confirmed. Initial indications were that the robbery on Jones Road at Overlook Place around 5:30 p.m. Friday, July 21, mostly fit the pattern of the usual home invasion. That is: The home just off Route 4 was specifically targeted at a time of day when the victim was less likely than usual to be suspicious. Police from neighboring towns helped establish a perimeter, with assistance from a police K-9 unit. The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office and Port Authority police were notified, as well. The Bergen County Sheriff's Bureau of C…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Shopper, 76, Tells Paramus PD He Was Driven At Gunpoint To Bank, Forced To Withdraw $10,000 Shopper, 76, Tells Paramus PD He Was Driven At Gunpoint To Bank, Forced To Withdraw $10,000
Shopper, 76, Tells Paramus PD He Was Driven At Gunpoint To Bank, Forced To Withdraw $10,000 Paramus police are trying to corroborate a claim by a 76-year-old man who told them that he was abducted by two robbers at gunpoint and forced to withdraw $10,000 from his bank Thursday afternoon. The Music & Arts store customer said the robbers took him in their car to his bank and then returned him to the Paramus Town Square on eastbound Route 4 after he pulled the cash from an ATM around noontime July 13, Paramus Police Chief Robert Guidetti said. The purported victim described the two robbers as black. One was wearing a tan suit while the other was in a t-shirt and shorts, he said. …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Teaneck Teen Nabbed In Hackensack Knifepoint Robbery Attempt: Police Teaneck Teen Nabbed In Hackensack Knifepoint Robbery Attempt: Police
Teaneck Teen Nabbed In Hackensack Knifepoint Robbery Attempt: Police Hackensack police nabbed a Teaneck teen moments after he tried to rob a man at knifepoint of money and his cellphone, authorities said. A first-degree robbery charge has kept Xiomor Highsmith, 19, in the Bergen County Jail since the June 22 incident. Officers responding to a call near the corner of Newman and Sussex streets found Highsmith carrying a folding knife and five counterfeit $100 bills, said Capt. Michael Antista, the officer in charge of the department. In addition to robbery, Highsmith is charged with fraud and an illegal weapons offense.

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
AT LONG LAST: Fort Lee Bar Owner’s Killer Returned To NJ After 30 Years AT LONG LAST: Fort Lee Bar Owner’s Killer Returned To NJ After 30 Years
AT Long Last: Fort Lee Bar Owner’s Killer Returned To NJ After 30 Years Justice may have been delayed, but it isn't being denied to loved ones of a Bergen County businessman who was tortured, robbed and savagely slain in his Hudson River apartment three decades ago. Jimmy Polites began the night of Aug. 4, 1994 with friends at the tavern he co-owned in Fort Lee. Hours later he was bound to a chair and hanged with an electrical cord in his Edgewater townhouse. It has taken nearly 30 years for his killer to finally pay. Thomas Christopher James was released from a New York State prison late this week after serving 28 years for murdering a reputed Long Island mo…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Hackensack Ex-Con Charged With ½ Pound Of Coke, $12G Sketchy Cash In Illegally Parked Corvette Hackensack Ex-Con Charged With ½ Pound Of Coke, $12G Sketchy Cash In Illegally Parked Corvette
Hackensack Ex-Con Charged With ½ Pound Of Coke, $12G Sketchy Cash In Illegally Parked Corvette A hardcore ex-con was charged with having nearly a half-pound of cocaine and $12,000 in suspect cash in a stolen car that he left idling in a fire lane outside a shopping mall in Hackensack. Jarrett Bruce, 39, was initially released at the Shops at Riverside just off westbound Route 4 after Lt. Sean Briggs ran a computer check, found a mismatched VIN and impounded the 2022 Chevy Corvette in early April, Hackensack Police Capt. Michael Antista said. Discovering that the ‘vette had been reported stolen, police had grounds to seek -- and obtain -- a search warrant. They found the drugs and cas…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Addicted Hooker, Longtime Guy Pal Rob Drug Buyer Lured To Route 23 Motel: Wayne PD Addicted Hooker, Longtime Guy Pal Rob Drug Buyer Lured To Route 23 Motel: Wayne PD
Addicted Hooker, Longtime Guy Pal Rob Drug Buyer Lured To Route 23 Motel: Wayne PD A convicted hooker with a heart of coal and her longtime running mate were both captured after authorities said they lured a man to a Wayne motel and then robbed him at gunpoint. It wasn’t much of a surprise to police who flushed Katherine Berg, 34, of Paterson, and Emin Goroveci, 37, of Succasunna from the woods behind the Wayne Inn that they were the ones who concocted the setup, given their drug-related, violent histories. Three years ago, the pair robbed a Leonia man whom Berg met online of several valuables – including his car -- after she slipped the victim a mickey that knocked him u…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
HOME INVASION: Accused NYPD Impersonators Jailed In Gunpoint Bergen Robbery HOME INVASION: Accused NYPD Impersonators Jailed In Gunpoint Bergen Robbery
Home Invasion: Accused Nypd Impersonators Jailed In Gunpoint Bergen Robbery UPDATE: Two men accused of posing as New York City detectives to rob a Fair Lawn resident at gunpoint during a home invasion last fall have been brought to Bergen County after being arrested out of state. Whether local or federal authorities will be prosecuting them and four alleged accomplices -- three of whom have already been released -- remains an open question, at least publicly. All seven were arrested in New York State last month and charged in a Nov. 17, 2022 home invasion in which residents were zip-tied and an undisclosed amount of cash and jewelry was stolen. The two main defen…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Little Ferry Ex-Con Charged With Pistol-Whipping, Robbing Teen Of $10G Cash, $18G Gold Chain Little Ferry Ex-Con Charged With Pistol-Whipping, Robbing Teen Of $10G Cash, $18G Gold Chain
Little Ferry Ex-Con Charged With Pistol-Whipping, Robbing Teen Of $10G Cash, $18G Gold Chain A Little Ferry ex-con was charged with pistol-whipping an Elmwood Park teenager and robbing him of what the victim said was a huge amount of cash and jewelry. The 19-year-old victim had gone to the Washington Avenue home of Anton Pettway, 44, to collect belongings that he'd left behind when his teenage friend -- Pettway's stepson -- was arrested earlier in the day, Police Chief James Walters said. The teen told responding Officers Dominick Verdi, Joseph Montemurro and Dean Steinhilber that Pettway hit him at least a half-dozen times with a gun, took his wallet -- which he claimed held $10,0…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Wanted Robber, Sex Offender, Others Captured By Passaic Sheriff's Fugitive Squad Wanted Robber, Sex Offender, Others Captured By Passaic Sheriff's Fugitive Squad
Wanted Robber, Sex Offender, Others Captured By Passaic Sheriff's Fugitive Squad Seven fugitives wanted on outstanding warrants were captured by Passaic County sheriff's officers during a two-day sweep, authorities said. Members of the Fugitive Warrant Division conducted the sweep, assisted by their colleagues from the Bureau of Narcotics, uniformed patrol division, ERT, K9 and others, Passaic Sheriff Richard H. Berdnik said on Thursday, June 8. One of the fugitives, Ramier M. Free, 29, took off on foot when he saw the detectives approaching the corner of East 18th Street and 17th Avenue, the sheriff said. They quickly caught Free, who was wanted for skipping court on …

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by Jerry DeMarco