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Officer Chris Kiszka stopped a Honda Accord on Essex Street around 12:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 22, because passenger Zachary Anderson, 31, and two of his companions weren't wearing seatbelts, Police Capt. James M. DePreta said.
Kiszka was joined by Sgt. Brian Gallina and Officers Jorge Orihuela and Anthony Ferrulli, the captain said.
A perimeter sniff by a Bergen County Sheriff's K-9 led to a search that turned up a small amount of crack and, under the driver's seat, a 9mm Taurus handgun loaded with four hollow-point bullets, he said.
The gun had been reported stolen out of Georgia, DePreta said.
Anderson was charged with various weapons counts, including possessing a firearm -- and a stolen one, at that -- as a convicted felon.
He was also charged with drug-related offenses.
If he ends up convicted on any of the gun charges -- either following a trial or through a plea bargain -- Anderson will be sentenced to a considerable amount of time in state prison.
Given the circumstances, he will remain held in the Bergen County Jail -- with no shot at a bail reform release -- for the foreseeable future following the Rochelle Park arrest.
"I'm extremely proud of the work our officers do to remove illegal guns from the streets that traverse our township while potentially preventing and solving future and past egregious crimes," Rochelle Park Police Chief Dean Pinto said.
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