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Police & Fire
Exterior Fire Enters Hasbrouck Heights Home Exterior Fire Enters Hasbrouck Heights Home
Exterior Fire Enters Hasbrouck Heights Home Firefighters quickly doused a blaze that found its way inside a Hasbrouck Heights home. Flames climbed the side and extended into the basement and attic of the three-story wood-frame home on Franklin Avenue between Oak Grove Avenue and Boulevard at 9:15 p.m.  Saturday, April 27, responders said. No injuries were reported in the two-alarm blaze. The Red Cross found temporary food, clothing shelter for the occupants. Mutual aid responders included firefighters from Carlstadt, Hackensack, Little Ferry, Lodi, Moonachie, South Hackensack, Wallington and Wood-Ridge. A PSE&G c…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Wanted On Warrants: Trio Nabbed With Drugs, Dog In Hasbrouck Heights Wanted On Warrants: Trio Nabbed With Drugs, Dog In Hasbrouck Heights
Wanted On Warrants: Trio Nabbed With Drugs, Dog In Hasbrouck Heights A suspicious vehicle call led Hasbrouck Heights police to a drug-carrying, canine-accompanied trio wanted on warrants, authorities said. Officers Christopher Connors and Sgt. Dom D’Amico found the Subaru sedan in a Boulevard parking lot shortly before 6:30 p.m. Sunday, April 21, Lt. John Behr said. Officers Paul Albanese, Michael DeSimone and John Mullins joined them along with Wood-Ridge Officers Mark Torsiello and Devin Ochiuzzo, the lieutenant said. The three occupants were all sent to the Bergen County Jail after the officers found crack, clonazepam pills and dozens of empty wax paper…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
BREAK IN, RINSE, REPEAT: Recidivist With 30-Year Sheet Busted For Burglaries In 4 Bergen Towns BREAK IN, RINSE, REPEAT: Recidivist With 30-Year Sheet Busted For Burglaries In 4 Bergen Towns
Break IN, Rinse, Repeat: Recidivist With 30-Year Sheet Busted For Burglaries In 4 Bergen Towns It never ends with some guys. Mark C. Todd, most recently of Hasbrouck Heights, just turned 50 amid what has been a three-decade-long string of burglaries, thefts and police pursuits in nearly a dozen Bergen County towns. It got to the point that detectives from Maywood, Carlstadt and Hasbrouck Heights all went together to arrest the ex-con at his home last Friday morning, April 12. He was charged with break-ins in Maywood, Carlstadt, Elmwood Park and Fair Lawn. Tood has remained held in the Bergen County Jail this past week based on the likelihood that he’ll be returned to prison. He sp…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Lifestyle
'SNL' Looking For Paid Stand-In — Apparently For Bergen County Host Ramy Youssef 'SNL' Looking For Paid Stand-In — Apparently For Bergen County Host Ramy Youssef
'SNL' Looking For Paid Stand-In — Apparently For Bergen County Host Ramy Youssef If you look like Ramy Youssef, you too could be on "Saturday Night Live." "SNL" is looking for someone to serve as a stand-in for Youssef, a Hasbrouck Heights native who is hosting the show for the first time on Saturday, March 30. According to a casting notice, the show is looking for a Middle Eastern man between the ages of 18 and 40, who stands 5'9", to serve as Youssef's stand-in. Availability is required on Friday, March 29 and Saturday, March 30.  The gig pays $31 an hour for an estimated 12 hours of work. Youssef will be joined on SNL with musical guest Travis Scott.  To …

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by Sam Barron
Traffic
Flooding Shuts Roads Across New Jersey: Here's Where Flooding Shuts Roads Across New Jersey: Here's Where
Flooding Shuts Roads Across New Jersey: Here's Where Flooding and heavy rain closed roads across New Jersey Saturday, March 23. According to the National Weather Service, the heaviest part of the storm may have passed. The flooding, however, has not. In Hasbrouck Heights, where Route 17 was closed, police pulled multiple drivers from their vehicles, Chief Rinke said. Members spent the past several hours rescuing over 20 trapped motorists from their vehicles in Heights and throughout Teterboro. Please avoid all flooded areas and do not attempt to drive through them. Posted by Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department on Saturday, March 23, …

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Bergen Ex-Con Busted With Pistol Two Days After Prison Release Bergen Ex-Con Busted With Pistol Two Days After Prison Release
Bergen Ex-Con Busted With Pistol Two Days After Prison Release A Garfield ex-con was caught with a gun during a Little Ferry police stop just two days after he was released from prison, authorities said. Nazir R. Halloway, 26, spent a mandatory one year behind bars coincidentally after pleading guilty last year to unlawful possession of a handgun, records show. He was paroled on Monday, March 18, according to the New Jersey Department of Corrections. Little Ferry Lt. John Andronaco was on patrol when he spotted a 2020 Acura ILX with darkly-tinted windows in the parking lot of the Stagecoach Motel just off westbound Route 46 shortly after midnight Wedn…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
HEROES: Firefighters Free Trapped Driver After Tractor-Trailer, Pickup Collide On Route 17 HEROES: Firefighters Free Trapped Driver After Tractor-Trailer, Pickup Collide On Route 17
Heroes: Firefighters Free Trapped Driver After Tractor-Trailer, Pickup Collide On Route 17 Firefighters extricated a heavily trapped driver after a tractor-trailer and pickup truck collided on Route 17. Hasbrouck Heights firefighters were assisted by their Wood-Ridge colleagues in freeing the female pickup driver following the crash behind the Bendix Diner shortly before 9:30 p.m. Sunday, March 17. The driver was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center. Nick’s Towing removed the vehicles. Northbound Route 17 was temporarily closed at Franklin Avenue during the operation. Mutual aid was provided by, among others, firefighters from Carlstadt, Lodi, Rutherford and Wallingto…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Passenger Killed, Driver Seriously Injured In Route 80 Crash Passenger Killed, Driver Seriously Injured In Route 80 Crash
Passenger Killed, Driver Seriously Injured In Route 80 Crash A 38-year-old passenger was killed and the driver seriously injured in an overnight crash on Route 80, authorities confirmed. Richard Bahamonte of Hillside was pronounced dead at the scene of the eastbound crash near the Teaneck/Ridgefield Park border west of Exit 68 just after 3 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, NJ State Police said. The driver, Julio Brito, 40, of Hasbrouck Heights, lost control of the Honda, which careened off the road, slammed into a concrete barrier and ended up on its roof, they said. State Police and medics from Holy Name Medical Center tried to resuscitate both occupants. B…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Attendant Beaten, Gas Stations Robbed Minutes Apart In Bergen, Passaic Counties Attendant Beaten, Gas Stations Robbed Minutes Apart In Bergen, Passaic Counties
Attendant Beaten, Gas Stations Robbed Minutes Apart In Bergen, Passaic Counties A lone gunman committed back-to-back-to-back armed gas station robberies less than 10 miles apart in Bergen and Passaic counties Monday afternoon, authorities said. The attendant was pistol-whipped at a Valero on northbound Route 17 just before Route 46 in Hasbrouck Heights shortly before 3 p.m. Feb. 5, responders said. There was no immediate word on the extent of injuries to the attendant. Hasbrouck Heights police were directed to refer all questions to the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, suggesting the likelihood that the same robber or robbers were involved in other area holdups. Le…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Motorist Freed By Firefighters After Crashing Into Her Hasbrouck Heights Home Motorist Freed By Firefighters After Crashing Into Her Hasbrouck Heights Home
Motorist Freed By Firefighters After Crashing Into Her Hasbrouck Heights Home A Hasbrouck Heights motorist appeared OK after her SUV plowed into the attached garage of her home and borough firefighters extricated her, responders said. The house on Raymond Street between Burton Avenue and Boulevard may have sustained some structural damage that would require attention, however, they said. A building inspector will make that call. The GMC Acadia crashed straight through one of the closed garage doors and struck a support column shortly before 5:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29, responders said. Mutual aid included firefighters from Lodi, Moonachie and Wood-Ridge. The driver …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Disgraced NJ Judge’s Son Charged With Collecting Child Porn Disgraced NJ Judge’s Son Charged With Collecting Child Porn
Disgraced NJ Judge’s Son Charged With Collecting Child Porn BREAKING NEWS: The son of a former judge who was removed from the bench for misconduct was busted on child porn charges following a raid on the family home in Waldwick, authorities confirmed on Friday. George M. Silebi, 27, “used the Internet to view, download, and possess items depicting nude and/or sexually explicit prepubescent and pubescent children,” Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said on Jan. 18. Detectives from Musella’s Cyber Crimes Unit raided the Sheridan Avenue home of former Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi exactly a week earlier. From there they traveled to N…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Dumpster Fire Doused At Avalon Apartments In Wood-Ridge Dumpster Fire Doused At Avalon Apartments In Wood-Ridge
Dumpster Fire Doused At Avalon Apartments In Wood-Ridge A building manager kept a trash bin fire in the basement of a Wood-Ridge apartment complex from spreading and borough responders took it from there, authorities said. Wood-Ridge Lt. Jeffrey Geisler and Officers Joseph Barbiera and Michael Donato evacuated the building at the Avalon at Westmount Station apartments shortly before 9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, Capt. Joseph Biamonte said. Although the building manager contained the blaze, smoke extended up the trash chute to other floors, said firefighters who ventilated the building. They were assisted at the scene by fellow firefighters from Car…

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by Jerry DeMarco