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Security Guard Charged With Setting Fire At Macy's Meadowlands Thankgiving Parade Studio Security Guard Charged With Setting Fire At Macy's Meadowlands Thankgiving Parade Studio
Security Guard Charged With Setting Fire At Macy's Meadowlands Thankgiving Parade Studio A security guard was charged with deliberately setting a fire at the building in the Meadowlands where the balloons and floats for the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade are designed, constructed and stored. Mathew Awojobi, 63, of Newark was arrested in connection with the brush fire set outside the Macy's Parade Studio in Moonachie, which broke out shortly before 7 p.m. Monday, April 18, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella . Moonachie firefighters doused the suspicious blaze on State Street off Moonachie Road. Detectives reviewed area security video as part of an investigation by Mus…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Rideshare Driver Charged With Setting Early-Morning Arson Fire At Bergen County Pizzeria Rideshare Driver Charged With Setting Early-Morning Arson Fire At Bergen County Pizzeria
Rideshare Driver Charged With Setting Early-Morning Arson Fire At Bergen County Pizzeria GOTCHA! A rideshare driver from Carlstadt was charged with setting a fire in the basement of a Wood-Ridge pizzeria that investigators said had multiple points of origin. Majd Abdallah, a 27-year-old Jordanian national, was arrested following an investigation into the Feb. 21 blaze, which broke out in a common basement area below Emilia Romagna Pizza & Ristorante on Valley Boulevard shortly before 8 a.m., Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. He’s charged with several counts of aggravated arson and burglary, Musella said. No injuries were reported were in the two-alarm blaze. Fir…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
ARSON: Morris County Woman Started Fire That Killed Cat For Insurance Claim, Prosecutor Says ARSON: Morris County Woman Started Fire That Killed Cat For Insurance Claim, Prosecutor Says
Arson: Morris County Woman Started Fire That Killed Cat For Insurance Claim, Prosecutor Says A 46-year-old Morris County woman was accused of starting a fire that destroyed a home and killed a cat for insurance purposes, authorities announced Tuesday. Pamela Hankin, of Boonton, was charged with aggravated arson, insurance fraud, endangerment, and animal cruelty, Morris County Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll said in a joint release with Chief of Detectives Christoph K. Kimker, Morris County Sheriff James Gannon, and Pequannock Township Police Chief Daniel Comune. Authorities say Hankin intentionally started the fire in her room at the Prospect Avenue home she lived in on Wednesday, Jul…

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by Valerie Musson
News
SEE ANYTHING? Brush Fire In Ridgewood Raises Suspicions SEE ANYTHING? Brush Fire In Ridgewood Raises Suspicions
SEE Anything? Brush Fire In Ridgewood Raises Suspicions Authorities turned to the public for help investigating a suspicious brush fire that broke out in Ridgewood over the weekend. The Bergen County Sheriff's Bureau of Criminal Identification collected valuable evidence from the area on Crest Road known as "The View" after village firefighters doused the blaze around 8 p.m. Sunday, Police Chief Jacqueline Luthcke said. Luthcke's detectives are working with their counterparts from the Bergen County Prosecutor's Arson Squad, Luthcke said Monday. They asked that anyone who might have seen something, or has information that could help identify who…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Englewood Ex-Con Charged With Torching SUV Englewood Ex-Con Charged With Torching SUV
Englewood Ex-Con Charged With Torching SUV An Englewood ex-con deliberately set fire to an SUV, said authorities who charged him with also illegally having a handgun. John Young, a 33-year-old manager of an auto parts store, was arrested Wednesday, Feb. 16, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. It was around 9 p.m. the night before that firefighters doused a blaze that engulfed the vehicle on Washington Place, the prosecutor said. Police immediately notified his Arson Task Force. A joint investigation with city detectives determined that the fire was set by Young, who lives several blocks away on Fourth Street, Musella said.…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Amazon Worker Sets Fire, Slashes Tires On Former Fair Lawn Classmates' Cars, Authorities Charge Amazon Worker Sets Fire, Slashes Tires On Former Fair Lawn Classmates' Cars, Authorities Charge
Amazon Worker Sets Fire, Slashes Tires On Former Fair Lawn Classmates' Cars, Authorities Charge UPDATE: An Amazon warehouse worker from Bergenfield stuffed a rag into the gas tank of a car and lit it on fire after slashing tires on former Fair Lawn classmates' vehicles, authorities charged. Daniella Aliaga, 24, of Bergenfield was sent to the Bergen County Jail to await a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack after being arrested Wednesday, Feb. 16. Charges against the former Fair Lawn High School honor student include aggravated arson. Fair Lawn police responding to a 5:25 a.m. call at the corner of Western Drive and Fairclough Place last Wednesday found…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Flawed DNA Test Gets Bergen Man Doing Life For Beating, Burning Woman, 70, New Trial Flawed DNA Test Gets Bergen Man Doing Life For Beating, Burning Woman, 70, New Trial
Flawed DNA Test Gets Bergen Man Doing Life For Beating, Burning Woman, 70, New Trial DNA evidence found under the fingernails of a 70-year-old Bergen County woman bludgeoned and burned in her home wasn’t reliable enough to convict a man who’s now serving a life sentence for her murder, a state appeals court ruled. Daniel Rochat, 46, of Wood-Ridge, has already been moved from New Jersey State Prison in Trenton to the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack in anticipation of a new trial following the Appellate Division ruling. He remains charged with various counts of murder and felony murder, as well as aggravated arson, desecrating human remains, burglary, hindering arrest and f…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Retiree Charged With Setting Fire In Fort Lee Luxury High-Rise Retiree Charged With Setting Fire In Fort Lee Luxury High-Rise
Retiree Charged With Setting Fire In Fort Lee Luxury High-Rise A Fort Lee retiree deliberately set a fire in his luxury high-rise apartment overlooking Manhattan, authorities said. Jay Freedman, 60, was arrested following an investigation into the late-afternoon fire Tuesday in his eighth-floor apartment in the Charlton, a 20-story high rise off Bergen Boulevard, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Responders quickly doused it, Musella said. Freedman, meanwhile, was charged with a minor count of causing or risking widespread injury or damage, then was released pending a Feb. 11 first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensa…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds: Hit Man From Philly Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire For NJ Political Operative Feds: Hit Man From Philly Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire For NJ Political Operative
Feds: Hit Man From Philly Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire For NJ Political Operative A Philadelphia resident admitted Wednesday that he was one of the two hit men paid by a onetime New Jersey political operative to kill a former associate. Bomani Africa, 61, who has a criminal history that includes convictions for robbery and drug-related crime, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder for hire via videoconference with a federal judge in Newark, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger announced. People immediately began wondering who the hired killers were after Sean Caddle, 44, admitted on Tuesday that he paid them to whack Michael Galdieri, the son of forme…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
MURDER FOR HIRE: NJ Political Operative Admits Paying Hit Men To Kill Longtime Associate MURDER FOR HIRE: NJ Political Operative Admits Paying Hit Men To Kill Longtime Associate
Murder FOR Hire: NJ Political Operative Admits Paying Hit Men To Kill Longtime Associate A New Jersey-based political consultant admitted Tuesday that he hired two hitmen to kill a longtime associate from Hudson County who had worked for him on various election campaigns, federal authorities said. Sean Caddle, 44, a former aide to former State Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) paid the killers -- one from Connecticut, the other from Pennsylvania -- to get rid of Michael Galdieri, the son of former State Sen. James Galdieri (D-Jersey City) and a prominent figure in local Hudson County politics. Galdieri, 52, was stabbed to death in May 2014 before his Jersey City apartmen…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Fire That Caused Traffic Nightmare On Parkway Was Arson: State Police Fire That Caused Traffic Nightmare On Parkway Was Arson: State Police
Fire That Caused Traffic Nightmare On Parkway Was Arson: State Police A brush fire that closed the Garden State Parkway for hours last night was caused by arsonists, New Jersey State Police say. Troopers responded to the fire near milepost 91 in Brick Township around 5 p.m. Wednesday. Officials believe the fire was started by several individuals, possibly juveniles, within a drainage culvert that runs underneath the Garden State Parkway from the 91 north entrance ramp to the 91 south exit ramp, police said. After starting the fire in the culvert opening on the south side, the suspects were seen running into the Evergreen Woods Park Apartment Complex, which r…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Police Search For Arsonists Who Damaged Famous Key West Landmark Police Search For Arsonists Who Damaged Famous Key West Landmark
Police Search For Arsonists Who Damaged Famous Key West Landmark Police were searching for two arsonists who burned the iconic Southernmost Point buoy in Key West before dawn on New Year's Day. Video from a local marketing company shows the pair sitting next to the buoy, taking cellphone photos and then setting fire to a Christmas tree in front of the 4-ton cement monument that marks the southernmost point in the continental United States, 90 miles from Havana, Cuba, around 3:30 a.m. Saturday. The fire left an enormous burn mark on the red, yellow, black and white landmark. SEE: Southernmost Point Webcam Sure enough, tourists continued to take photos …

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by Jerry DeMarco