Fair 47°
Police & Fire
GOTCHA! Lyndhurst Detectives Crash Home Burglary, Nab Local Couple GOTCHA! Lyndhurst Detectives Crash Home Burglary, Nab Local Couple
Gotcha! Lyndhurst Detectives Crash Home Burglary, Nab Local Couple A Lyndhurst couple had just broken into a local home when they were seized by a pair of township detectives. Daniel Soto, 22, and Nicolette Greco, 25, didn't see Lyndhurst Police Detective Chris Cuneo watching them case the unoccupied Kingsland Avenue home around 10 p.m. Monday, Nov. 15, Detective Lt. Vincent Auteri said. Detective Nick Abruscato had joined Cuneo when the couple slipped around to the side of the house and momentarily out of sight, the lieutenant said. The detectives followed and found a broken basement window, Auteri said. Announcing themselves, they took Soto and Greco i…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Veteran Responder Charged With Torching Service Vans At Bergen Optimum Store Veteran Responder Charged With Torching Service Vans At Bergen Optimum Store
Veteran Responder Charged With Torching Service Vans At Bergen Optimum Store A veteran firefighter from Passaic County torched two Optimum service vans behind the company’s Oakland store, said authorities who arrested him on Thursday. Randy S. McMaster Jr., 42, of Bloomingdale, intentionally set the fires that were reported behind the Potash Road store at 3:15 p.m. Oct. 19, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. The blazes were quickly suppressed, leaving both service vehicles with fire and smoke damage, before emergency responders arrived, the prosecutor said following McMasters's arrest on Nov. 16. A father of two, McMaster lives in the Waterfall Village off…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Familiar Foe Nabbed With Knife Following Failed McDonald's Bathroom Robbery Bid: Hackensack PD Familiar Foe Nabbed With Knife Following Failed McDonald's Bathroom Robbery Bid: Hackensack PD
Familiar Foe Nabbed With Knife Following Failed McDonald's Bathroom Robbery Bid: Hackensack PD An ex-con with the proverbial arm's-length rap sheet unsuccessfully tried to rob a man at knifepoint in the bathroom of a Hackensack McDonald's, authorities said. Shajee Jackson, 30, wasn’t difficult to identify following the aborted holdup at the Essex Street eatery at 12:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 13. Calling him "known to police" would be an understatement. The 28-year-old victim told police Jackson followed him into the bathroom, then pulled a large knife, demanded money and threatened to stab him, the victim told police. The victim refused and his assailant fled empty-handed, said Capt…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Men Charged With Vandalizing Vehicle Draped In Palestinian Flag At Tenafly Youth Soccer Game Men Charged With Vandalizing Vehicle Draped In Palestinian Flag At Tenafly Youth Soccer Game
Men Charged With Vandalizing Vehicle Draped In Palestinian Flag At Tenafly Youth Soccer Game Two men were charged with vandalizing a vehicle that had a Palestinian flag draped over its hood and harassing the owner at a children’s soccer game in Tenafly, authorities said. The vehicle had been keyed along the rear trunk and had a Star of David etched into the hood while parked in the lot at Tenafly Borough Hall on Riveredge Road last Saturday, Nov. 4, Police Capt. Michael deMoncada said. Stuffed into the windshield were flyers “related to the current hostage situation occurring in the Gaza Strip,” the captain said on Friday. Several people in the area had been recording their activ…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
US Marshals Capture NJ Wawa Gas Thief Casually Walking Down Philly Street: Officials US Marshals Capture NJ Wawa Gas Thief Casually Walking Down Philly Street: Officials
US Marshals Capture NJ Wawa Gas Thief Casually Walking Down Philly Street: Officials Authorities who were looking for an accused thief found their suspect walking down a South Philadelphia street on Tuesday night, Nov. 7.  Bernard Estrada, 51, had been sought in New Jersey where he allegedly stole gas from an Oaklyn Wawa and crashed into police cars while making his escape, sources with direct knowledge of the incident tell Daily Voice. He was spotted by a Philadelphia police task force and taken into custody "without incident" near South 17th and McKean streets, authorities said.  At 7:30 pm, @USMS_Philly was advised that @PhillyPolice South Task Force arrested Bernar…

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by Mac Bullock
Police & Fire
Caller Leads North Arlington PD To Overnight Out-Of-Town Car Burglar Caller Leads North Arlington PD To Overnight Out-Of-Town Car Burglar
Caller Leads North Arlington PD To Overnight Out-Of-Town Car Burglar North Arlington police nabbed a pre-dawn car burglar from out-of-town after being alerted by a caller, authorities said. The call of a burglary in progress behind a commercial building on River Road next to the Little League field along the Passaic River came in at shortly before 6 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 29, Lt. Michael Horton said. A masked burglar in a white pickup truck was burglarizing vehicles, the lieutenant said. Responding officers seized repeat offender Damon Wise, 51, of Newark as he fled the scene, Horton said. In his truck was a DeWalt toolbox that had just been stolen, he said. W…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Hackensack Woman Stabbed, Arrest Quickly Made Hackensack Woman Stabbed, Arrest Quickly Made
Hackensack Woman Stabbed, Arrest Quickly Made A 27-year-old Hackensack woman survived a stabbing before dawn Saturday, said city police who quickly made an arrest. City police seized Jonathan Salazar Sigcha, 29, who also lives in Hackensack, at the scene on Polifly Road shortly after 2:30 a.m. Oct 14, Police Director Raymond Guidetti said. They sent Sigcha to the Bergen County Jail to await a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack. The victim has since been released from the hospital, Guidetti said Saturday afternoon. Sigcha, who jail records list as an Ecuadorian national, is charged with aggravated assa…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Englewood Burglar Who Raided Homeowner's Fridge, Changed Clothes Ends Up With Jail Food: Police Englewood Burglar Who Raided Homeowner's Fridge, Changed Clothes Ends Up With Jail Food: Police
Englewood Burglar Who Raided Homeowner's Fridge, Changed Clothes Ends Up With Jail Food: Police Chances are good an intruder who made himself comfortable while burglarizing an Englewood home – raiding the refrigerator and changing his clothes – isn’t finding the accommodations at the Bergen County Jail as cushy. Carlos Liriano, 36, of the Bronx snatched $1,000 or so in cash and $14,000 worth of jewelry from the Old Quarry Road home just off Route 4 sometime between lunch and dinner on Friday, Oct. 13, Englewood Detective Lt. Fred Pulice said. Liriano "spent a significant amount of time" in the home, the lieutenant said. Then he got cocky. Detectives who diligently worked the case id…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Violent Garfield Ex-Con Charged With Englewood Shooting Violent Garfield Ex-Con Charged With Englewood Shooting
Violent Garfield Ex-Con Charged With Englewood Shooting A Garfield ex-con with a violent criminal history was charged with firing a gunshot at another man in Englewood earlier this year. Michael Dashawn Lockett, 31, apparently had some kind of beef with the victim when he squeezed off a shot on an otherwise quiet Green Street near Argonne Park in broad daylight this past Feb. 15, authorities said. No one was struck, they said. Englewood detectives and members of the US Marshals Service captured Lockett in Hackensack on Tuesday, Oct. 3. He was charged with aggravated assault and weapons possession and sent him to the Bergen County Jail, where h…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Hotel Guest Assaults Employees, Snatches Security Deposit, Caught On GS Parkway: Fort Lee PD Hotel Guest Assaults Employees, Snatches Security Deposit, Caught On GS Parkway: Fort Lee PD
Hotel Guest Assaults Employees, Snatches Security Deposit, Caught On GS Parkway: Fort Lee PD A social worker was nabbed on the Garden State Parkway in Paramus after he assaulted two employees at a Fort Lee hotel when they refused to return his security deposit, authorities said. Alexander Welch, 31, of Fairfield became irate after being charged his $100 security deposit for smoking inside a room at the Best Western Hotel on westbound Route 4 around 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 1, Deputy Police Chief Edward Young said. Welch assaulted a female employee who was at the register, then did the same to a male employee who came his co-worker’s aid, the deputy chief said. Welch snatched an envel…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
GOTCHA! Just-Released Repeat Offender Pinched For Porch Pirating In Franklin Lakes GOTCHA! Just-Released Repeat Offender Pinched For Porch Pirating In Franklin Lakes
Gotcha! Just-Released Repeat Offender Pinched For Porch Pirating In Franklin Lakes A repeat offender was caught snatching packages from a trio of mailboxes in a Franklin Lakes neighborhood, authorities said. Officers responding to a call of a trespasser at a Franklin Lakes Road residence grabbed Salvatore Cardinale, 47, of Hackensack on Mulberry Way shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 29, Capt. Mark McCombs said. Cardinale, who already had an outstanding warrant from the borough of Middlesex, had only just been released from the Bergen County Jail the day before after being arrested for shoplifting in Paramus over the weekend, records show. Franklin Lakes police charged…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Fire That Destroyed, Damaged Vehicles On Route 46 Lot Deliberately Set By PA Man: Prosecutor Fire That Destroyed, Damaged Vehicles On Route 46 Lot Deliberately Set By PA Man: Prosecutor
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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by Jerry DeMarco