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Melvin E. Chinchillalavandaverde, 24, "seemed nervous" when Officer Julio Perez-Tavera stopped his red 2007 Hyundai Tiburon near the corner of Riverview Place and Palisades Avenue shortly after 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 6, Deputy Police Chief Vincent Capano said.
So the officer asked a natural question, then got Chinchillalavandaverde's consent to search the coupe after getting the answer, Capano said.
On the console he found a 9mm PSA handgun with a large-capacity magazine, the deputy chief said.
Perez-Tavera arrested Chinchillalavandaverde and charged him with unlawful possession of the gun and magazine, as well as forgery. He also wrote nine summonses, Capano said.
Chinchillalavandaverde, a Honduran national who lives on Palisade Avenue across from Braddock Park in North Bergen, told police that his visa ran out, the deputy chief said.
He also claimed to have bought the gun in South Carolina.
Chinchillalavandaverde was sent to the Bergen County Jail to await a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.
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