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51°
Tuesday, dec 31
Tag:
Arson
Police & Fire
Car Enthusiast Set 4-Alarm NJ Fire Before Crash Stolen Construction Vehicle: Prosecutor
A 24-year-old Somerset County man who was arrested this week in connection with a fire that left five first responders injured and destroyed a downtown district had just crashed a stolen construction vehicle, authorities announced. Amr A. Khodeer, whose Facebook profile shows he's a car enthusiast who studied at Raritan Valley Community College, stole a vehicle from Union Street and sped away, hitting two cars in Bridgewater, as previously reported by Daily Voice. That incident happened around 2:15 p.m., police said. On Thursday, Dec. 12, the Somerset County Prosecutor's…
Police & Fire
Illegal Shotgun Round Sparked 350-Acre Jackson Wildfire, Brick Man Charged: Officials
A massive wildfire that scorched 350 acres in Jackson Township was ignited by an illegal shotgun round that authorities said was fired by a 37-year-old Brick Township man. Authorities charged Richard Shashaty, 37, with arson after an investigation revealed that magnesium shards from a prohibited Dragon’s Breath 12-gauge shotgun round sparked the blaze on Nov. 6, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said. The fire, known as the Shotgun Wildfire, erupted shortly after noon on November 6 near the Central Jersey Rifle Range on Stump Tavern Road. Investigators determined that the incendi…
Police & Fire
Accused Hackensack Arsonist Caught Breaking Into New Milford Library: Police
A 26-year-old man recently accused of arson was arrested after he broke into the New Milford Library on Monday, Oct. 28, authorities said. At 11:19 pm, officers were dispatched to the New Milford Public Library on a report of a activated burglar alarm, New Milford police said. Upon arriving on scene, officers observed a broken rear window to the building with shattered glass inside and out, police said. A perimeter was established around the building and when officers viewed the library's security system, they discovered a person, later identified as Patrick Fearon, was in the building. Fea…
Police & Fire
Arsonist Charged With Starting Bergen County Brush Fire During Critical Time
A 27-year-old man has been arrested on accusations he started a brush fire over the weekend while the state was under a Stage 3 fire restriction in Lyndhurst, police said. Officers were called to the 600 block of Fourth Street on reports of a small brush fire around 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, Lyndhurst Police Detective Lt. Vincent Auteri said. The fire had already been extinguished by a local resident, but a witness said he saw a man start the blaze before walking away, Auteri said. The witness provided a detailed description of the suspect, whom responding officers were able t…
News
120 Accuse Sean 'Diddy' Combs Of Sex Abuse In New Class Action Lawsuit: Report
The legal troubles faced by Sean "Diddy" Combs, a New York native, are far from over, as the hip-hop mogul is facing allegations of sexual assault from over 100 new accusers, according to a report by NBC News. Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee announced on Tuesday, Oct. 1 that he is currently representing 120 people with various allegations against Combs occurring over two decades, NBC reported. These accusations against Combs, a New York City native who grew up in Westchester County's Mount Vernon, include sexual assault or rape; facilitated sex with a controlled substance;…
Police & Fire
Arsonist Set Fire To County Truck At Bergen Academies In Hackensack
A 26-year-old man has been charged with arson after setting two county-owned vehicles on fire in the parking lot of a private high school in Hackensack, authorities said. Patrick Fearon, previously of Hackensack and currently homeless, is believed to have set fires to the unoccupied Fort F350 pickup truck owned by the County of Bergen, which spread to another pickup truck, also owned by the county, in the parking lot of Bergen County Academies on Hackensack Avenue around 12:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 19, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. An investigation launched after the bl…
Police & Fire
Paramus Bank Burglar Torches Paterson DPW Building Hours After Release: Police
A 32-year-old New York man arrested for faking a slashing while burglarizing a Paramus bank set fire to a DPW building in Paterson hours after being released, Daily Voice has learned. Jonathan Gardner, of Canastota and Schenectady, was captured on video pouring gasoline on a structure behind the DPW building on 800 Broadway (Pennington Park) in Paterson just after 1 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 2, a spokesperson from the New Jersey Attorney General's Office said. He was found sitting near the scene and was lodged in the Bergen County Jail on charges of aggravated arson, burglary, a…
Police & Fire
Hero
: Firefighter Seriously Injured Rescuing Guest Through Window In Elmwood Park Motel Blaze
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: An Elmwood Park firefighter was seriously injured rescuing a trapped guest through a second-floor window during an intense motel-room fire Wednesday. The firefighter and her colleagues had smashed the window to get to the victim during the late-morning June 12 blaze at the Townhouse Inn and Suites on eastbound Route 46, Elmwood Park Borough Administrator Michael Foligno said. In doing so, she sustained a serious cut to her arm, Foligno said. Piero Fasolo The guest was helped out the window and down a ladder, he said. Both were taken to St. Joseph's University Medical Cente…
Police & Fire
Sick
Burn
: Spurned Woman Sets Fire To Ex-BF’s Garfield Apartment, Authorities Charge
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A woman who vowed to torch her ex-boyfriend's Garfield apartment carried out the threat, said authorities who arrested her after reviewing surveillance video and other evidence. Allison G. Gutierrez-Tuesta, 25, had previously damaged the victim’s car and assaulted him when he ended their relationship, according to local investigators. Shortly after 10:30 a.m. Sunday, April 28, she ignited two areas of his second-floor Passaic Street apartment near the Garfield train station, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. One was in his bedroom and the other in the hallway. Gutierrez-…
Police & Fire
Troubled Resident With Crack Leaves Fire Burning In Cliffside Apartment: Prosecutor
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: Authorities have identified an emotionally troubled tenant who they said deliberately left a fire burning in his Cliffside Park apartment. Authorities arrested Christopher J. Perez, 40, at his sister's home after the two-alarm blaze was doused in a top-floor unit in the three-story brick building on Palisade Avenue shortly after 10:30 a.m. Sunday, April 28, sources told Daily Voice. He was charged with endangering the lives of others and failing to put out or control a fire, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said on Monday. Perez also was charged with possession of crack that t…
Police & Fire
Wood-Ridge Man Convicted Again Of Murdering, Torching East Rutherford Grandmother
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: Questionable DNA evidence found under the fingernails of a 70-year-old Bergen County woman bludgeoned and burned in her home may have gotten her killer a new trial, but it didn't change the outcome. For a second time, a jury in Hackensack convicted Daniel Rochat on Wednesday of all charges in the brutal September 2012 slaying of real estate agent Barbara Vernieri in her East Rutherford home. Rochat, 48, of Wood-Ridge was originally convicted in June 2017 of beating Vernieri, then pouring gasoline on her and around her home before setting it on fire to cover up the crime scene. Pros…
Police & Fire
Police Detail Suicide Note Penned By NJ Dad Before Killing 9-Year-Old Son: Affidavit
The death of a 9-year-old boy at the hands of his father in Sayreville was intended to be a murder-suicide, according to police paperwork obtained by Daily Voice. Manuel Rivera, 43, recorded an apology video following a marital dispute he’d been having with a “witness” just before leaving an Eisenhower Drive home with the 9-year-old boy Thursday, March 28, according to an affidavit for probable cause obtained by Daily Voice. “We spoke to a witness who indicated that her and Mr. Rivera were having marital issues and that he sent her a video to her phone,” Sayreville Police Det…
Police & Fire
Dad Charged With Murder In 9-Year-Old Son's Death Is Employed By Sayreville Schools: Officials
Charges have been upgraded for a New Jersey dad whose deceased 9-year-old son was found in a burning vehicle, authorities said. Manuel Rivera has been charged with second-degree aggravated arson, first-degree murder, second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, and second-degree desecration of human remains, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone said. According to Sayreville Schools Superintendent Richard Labbe, 43-year-old Rivera was employed by the district, and his son was a student at the Wilson School. The charges were filed in connection with an incident Thursday…
Police & Fire
Update
: Teaneck Woman Remains Hospitalized After Husband’s Suicide Fire Kills 2nd Victim
FOR THE RECORD: A Teaneck woman remained hospitalized weeks after her husband ignited a gasoline-fueled fire that killed himself and another woman in their basement apartment. Ranjodh Singh IV, 35, “purposely set fire to himself in the basement apartment” shortly after midnight Feb. 19, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said last week. “As a result, the fire spread rapidly through the basement and trapped the other two occupants of the apartment,” Musella said. He used an accelerant, the prosecutor said, which responders said was gasoline. Singh died before dawn. Single mom Manjin…
Police & Fire
Body Found, Another Possible Following Fierce Multi-Family Home Fire In Ridgefield
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A former bed and breakfast in Ridgefield had been leveled by fire when responders found the remains of a man wrapped around a support beam. “He must’ve been alive and trying to hold on when the floor above him collapsed,” said a firefighter who was at the predawn blaze at the former Toddle Inn on Broad Avenue on Wednesday, March 6. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella identified the victim on Friday as 42-year-old Xavier Contreras. An Ecuadoran national, the homeless Contreras sometimes joined the groups of day laborers waiting for passing contractors in nearby Palisades Park, jus…
Police & Fire
Update
: Arson Investigators Probe Multi-Truck Fire In Ridgefield
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: Investigators were probing the cause of a multi-truck fire in Ridgefield that sent up a column of black smoke visible for miles. No injuries were reported in the three-alarm blaze, which ignited behind the Hanjin warehouse on Railroad Avenue near Pleasantview Avenue shortly before 1 p.m. Sunday, March 3. At least four box trucks and rigs were destroyed or severely damaged. Mutual aid responders either at the scene or in coverage included firefighters from Cliffside Park, Fairview, Leonia, Palisades Park and Ridgefield Park. The County Wide Emergency Response Team also responded. …
Police & Fire
Murder-suicide
BID? 3 Hospitalized After Arsonist With Gasoline Ignites Teaneck Basement Fire
UPDATE: Two people have died following a suspicious gasoline-fed overnight basement fire in Teaneck that sources said was an attempted murder-suicide earlier this week. Firefighters were dousing the 12:30 a.m. blaze at a multi-family home on Palisade Avenue when they discovered and rescued three people trapped in a basement apartment on Monday, Feb. 19, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. He identified them as Manjit Kaur, 47, 35-year-old Ranjodh Singh IV and an as-yet-unidentified woman. All three were taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, but Manjit Kaur and the woman we…
Police & Fire
Woman Deliberately Set Rutherford Garden Apartment Fire, Authorities Charge
A woman remained held Tuesday after authorities charged her with deliberately igniting a fire in the kitchen of a garden apartment in the Rutherford complex where she lives. Mary Anne Hampl, 62, was arrested shortly after 7 p.m. last Thursday, Feb. 8, after borough firefighters doused the Hastings Avenue blaze, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Hampl, who Musella said is unemployed, is accused of intentionally creating a fire and smoke condition with items purposefully placed on a stove. The prosecutor didn't suggest a possible motive. Detectives from his Arson Squad charged Ham…
Police & Fire
Route 17 Shopping Center Fires Set By Rockland Man: Bergen Prosecutor
Back-to-back fires behind two Ramsey shopping centers were deliberately set by an unemployed Rockland man, authorities charged. Nicholas Todaro, 37, of Orangeburg ignited the first one in a wooded area behind the Spring Street shopping center just off northbound Route 17 shortly after 6:30 p.m. Jan. 5, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Roughly 20 minutes later, he set a second fire in a wooded area behind the Interstate Shopping Center nearly a mile down the road on the highway’s southbound side, the prosecutor said. Ramsey firefighters quickly doused both blazes, Musella said. …
Police & Fire
Blazing Out-Of-State Trespasser Ignites Trailer Fire Near Meadowlands: Carlstadt PD
An out-of-state man ignited a fire while smoking pot in a trailer off Route 120 in Carlstadt, authorities said. Detective Sgt. Mark Wong was headed north on the highway when he saw smoke coming from the roof of the trailer on the Home Improvement Team property less than a mile north of the Meadowlands shortly before 1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 22. The sergeant also saw a man tipping away wearing a backpack and holding some belongings in his hands, Police Chief Thomas Cox said. Officer Matthew Bartlett assisted Wong in detaining Joe Jacob Perez of Lowell, Massachusetts, while firefighters doused t…
Police & Fire
2 Broken Thumbs Down: Gambino Family Hothead Nearly Torches Jersey Shore Restaurant, Feds Say
Life imitated art when a reputed Gambino crime family captain threatened to burn down a Jersey Shore restaurant, then went to a service station across the street and tried to buy and fill a plastic gas can, federal authorities said. In what could’ve been a scene from any number of modern-day mob movies, Joseph Lanni of Staten Island became a walking cliché, the Justice Department said in announcing an organized-crime takedown that stretched all the way to Sicily. Lanni and fellow Staten Islander Vincent “Vinny Slick” Minsquero “became belligerent” after being asked to leave Roxy’s Bar and G…
Police & Fire
PA Man Charged With Torching NJ Home For Insurance Money
A Pennsylvania man already awaiting trial in connection with other incidents was charged with setting fire to a former home in Cherry Hill to collect on the insurance. Richard Orlandini, 62, of Wilkes Barre, collected at least $75,000 from Allstate by "recklessly placing others in danger of death or bodily injury," New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. Firefighters reported finding the two-story single-family home on Chapel Avenue West well-involved shortly before 1:30 a.m. Oct. 20, 2018. No injuries were reported and the house had to be demolished. Orlandini deli…
Police & Fire
Arsonist Found Unconscious After Setting Fire To His NJ Apartment: Prosecutor
A 40-year-old arsonist was found unconscious after setting a fire that ignited a Somerset County apartment, authorities said. Dashawn Holmes, a tenant in an East Main Street building in Somerville, was found unconscious by firefighters responding to the alarm set off just before midnight on Wednesday, Oct. 25, Somerset County Prosecutor John P. McDonald said. Holmes was taken to an area hospital for treatment. The Somerville Fire Marshall responded to the scene and determined the fire to be suspicious in nature, said McDonald alongside Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Chief of…
Police & Fire
Wyckoff Woman, 79, Who Died In House Fire Identified
UPDATE: Virginia D'Amelio Ingenito of Wyckoff was home alone Sunday afternoon when what quickly became an intense fire apparently began in her kitchen. Wyckoff police who arrived first at the Meer Avenue home where she lived with her son and two grandsons found the 79-year-old Italian immigrant unresponsive just after noon Nov. 5, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Ingenito was in cardiac arrest when taken to The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, where she was pronounced dead a short time later, responders said. The rear of the house, where the kitchen was located, was fully involved…
Police & Fire
One Dead In Wyckoff House Fire
A grandmother who was pulled from a Wyckoff house fire on Sunday died at the hospital, authorities confirmed. Virginia D'Amelio Ingenito, 79, was found unresponsive by Wyckoff police officers who were the first responders at the fire on Meer Avenue just off James Way behind Route 208 just after noon Nov. 5, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. CPR was conducted on Ingenito, who reportedly was in cardiac arrest when she was taken to The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, where she was pronounced dead a short time later. Firefighters found the rear of the house, where the kitchen was loca…
Police & Fire
Love-Triangle Husband Sentenced To Life In Murder Of Popular Teaneck Software Engineer
For more than 12 years since popular software engineer Robert Cantor was brutally murdered in his Teaneck home, his twice-convicted killer has neither admitted it nor expressed any remorse. Sui Kam “Tony” Tung, 60, now has whatever’s left of his life to spend with whatever feelings he has following his sentencing Friday in Hackensack. This past July, jurors in that same courtroom convicted Tung of murdering Cantor, with whom his wife had been having an affair, in March of 2011. Superior Court Judge Christopher Kazlau said he’d seen enough of Tung to not be surprised by his refusal to spea…
Police & Fire
Fair Lawn Native Critically Burned Fighting Baltimore Fire Succumbs To His Injuries
A Fair Lawn native who was critically injured trying to rescue a brother firefighter in a blaze in Baltimore has tragically made the ultimate sacrifice. Fire Lt. Dillion Rinaldo succumbed to his injuries Tuesday night, Oct. 24, five days after a rowhouse blaze claimed the life of a fellow smoke eater whom he and his colleagues had gone back in to save. "To the Rinaldo family, we are at a loss for words," the Fair Lawn Fire Department wrote in a social media post. "Your son Dillon will never be forgotten," the post reads. "He had the biggest heart and would literally help anyone in need. Al…
Police & Fire
Amputee In Wheelchair Busted For Baseball Bat Assault In Upper Saddle River
A 62-year-old amputee previously accused of setting a fire in his luxury high-rise apartment in Fort Lee was jailed on domestic assault charges following a weekend incident at an Upper Saddle River home. Jay Freedman was taken into custody at the $1.3 million home in the south end of Upper Saddle River around 8 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 1, according to a police report. Freedman is accused of hitting the victim with a baseball bat, it says. The victim reportedly refused treatment. Meanwhile, Freedman, who has a prosthetic leg and was reportedly using a wheelchair, was taken to Bergen New Bridge Me…
Police & Fire
Attempted Murder For Arsonist Who Had Victims Yelling For Help On Roof Of NJ Home: Prosecutor
A 47-year-old woman has been arrested and charged with starting the fire that left four people on the roof yelling for help this week in Hunterdon County, authorities said. Laura Duran, of Raritan Township, was charged with attempted murder, aggravated arson, arson, and criminal mischief in the Wednesday, Sept. 27 blaze at 127 River Road, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renée M. Robeson and Raritan Township Police Chief Alfred Payne said. Arriving officers found two people yelling on the roof of a two-family home just before 10:45 p.m., police said in a news release. "Utilizing their patr…
Police & Fire
Englewood Killer Sentenced To Life For Shooting Rapper, Then Dumping Burned Body In Paramus
UPDATE: An ex-con convicted a second time of shooting an aspiring rapper in a vacant home in Englewood, then burning the body and dumping it on a quiet Paramus cul-de-sac was sentenced to life in prison, authorities said. "There is nothing more cowardly than shooting someone in the back," Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Gary Donatello said before Randy Manning was sentenced in Superior Court in Hackensack for killing Rhian “Kampane” Stoute in 2011. Manning was originally convicted for the same crime and sent to state prison for life in 2014, but he got the conviction overturned in 2020 …
Police & Fire
Fire That Destroyed, Damaged Vehicles On Route 46 Lot Deliberately Set By PA Man: Prosecutor
UPDATE: A pre-dawn fire that destroyed some vehicles and damaged others at a used car dealership on Route 46 in Lodi last month was intentionally set by a Pennsylvania man, authorities said. Jonathan Czyzewski, 37, of Levittown, PA remained held in the Bucks County Correctional Facility in Doylestown pending extradition to Bergen County. Czyzewski set fire to a 2011 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck at MFT Auction off Money Street at 4:40 a.m. July 30, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Flames engulfed the pickup and quickly spread to other vehicles on the lot, the prosecutor said. …
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