Find Your Daily Voice
Saddle Brook-Elmwood Park
Your Local News for Saddle Brook and Elmwood Park, New Jersey
Sunday, sep 24
61°
Follow
News
Schools
Business
Obituaries
Police & Fire
Weather
Lifestyle
Politics
Sports
Events
Traffic
Legal
Real Estate
Jobs
Shop
Support Us
Saddle Brook-Elmwood Park
Follow
Find Your Daily Voice
News
Schools
Business
Obituaries
Police & Fire
Weather
Lifestyle
Politics
Sports
Events
Traffic
Legal
Real Estate
Jobs
Shop
Support Us
Home
About us
All sites
Advertise with us
Contact us
Terms of use
Privacy policy
Comment policy
Code of ethics
Site Map
© 2023 Cantata Media
61°
Sunday, sep 24
Police & Fire
Jersey City Man Shot By Police Charged At Them Wielding Large Knife, Videos Show
UPDATE: Less than a month after Jersey City police shot and killed a disturbed resident, state authorities publicly released videos that show him charging at tactical officers with a knife. Family members, friends and others have spent the time since the Aug. 27 incident calling city police murderers, accusing authorities of withholding information and demanding what they say is accountability for Andrew Washington’s death. During a protest outside City Hall on Wednesday, Sept.,20, they claimed that they were deliberately being kept in the dark. What some may not have known is that an inve…
Police & Fire
NJ House Explosion: Search-And-Rescue Operation Saves Family Members, Friends (
Update
)
HEROES: Everyone feared the worst. Yet if there’s a silver lining to be found in a devastating house explosion in West Milford on Friday, it’s that rescuers got those involved out alive. That includes a victim who was trapped for nearly an hour as firefighters tunneled their way into the leveled single-story ranch house. Five of those injured were airlifted to area hospitals following the dramatic search and rescue operation. A sixth declined further medical attention at the scene. Investigations continued combing through the wreckage well past daybreak as they try to determine what caused…
Police & Fire
Moped Driver Killed, Passenger Injured In Paterson Collision While Fleeing Totowa PD: State AG
UPDATE: A moped driver was killed and a passenger injured when the scooter collided with a sedan at a Paterson intersection during a Totowa police chase, authorities said. Totowa police in marked vehicles followed the gas-powered scooter into Paterson, apparently over the 31st Street Bridge over the Passaic River. The moped then collided with a Lexus at the intersection of McBride and Murray avenues shortly before 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20, according to a release issued Friday by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin.The scooter driver was thrown against the windshield, smashin…
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 a…
Police & Fire
Habitual Offender Charged With Death Of Garfield Man From Fake Oxy Pills Full Of Fentanyl
A habitual offender killed a fellow Garfield resident by giving him bogus oxycodone pills that contained fentanyl, authorities charged. Juhaan Justice Hammond, 30, is charged with strict liability for the drug-induced death this past Sunday of Ivan Santiago in Garfield, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella announced on Friday, Sept. 22. Santiago and an unidentified second person were hospitalized after overdosing on Lincoln Place shortly after 6:30 p.m. Sept. 17, Musella said. Narcan was administered, the prosecutor said, adding that Santiago was pronounced dead at the hospital. Detectiv…
Police & Fire
North Jersey Fire Chief Locks Eyes With Woman While Masturbating In ShopRite Lot: Police
A North Jersey fire chief was arrested for masturbating in a vehicle parked in a ShopRite parking lot, authorities said. Budd Lake Fire Chief Joe Compano was arrested and charged with lewdness following the Tuesday, Sept. 19 incident in the parking lot of the Sparta ShopRite store on North Village Boulevard, Sparta police Detective Lt. Tom Snyder said. It began around 11:50 p.m., when a woman loading groceries into her car called police to say that the man in a maroon Ford Explorer next to her was masturbating with his penis exposed, Snyder said. He masturbated more aggressively and tried h…
Police & Fire
Democratic Senator Bob Menendez Indicted On Federal Bribery Charges
Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey was indicted Friday on federal corruption charges that include allegations of him secretly supporting the government of Egypt and trying to influence U.S. prosecutors' case against Bergen County real estate magnate Fred Daibes. Mendendez, 69, who's chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made several moves in exchange for bribes, some of which were passed to his wife, Nadine Arsianian, a sweeping indictment unsealed on Sept. 22 alleges. A staggering array of charges were brought by the grand jurors in the Southern District of Ne…
Police & Fire
Hooked
: 16 Busted, $35K Seized In Passaic Sheriff’s Countywide Prostitution Raids
Sixteen arrests were made and $35,840 in alleged profits seized by Passaic County sheriff's detectives during a two-day series of prostitution raids at massage parlors and hotels countywide, authorities said. Key “pay-to-play” locations for illegal sex were pinpointed in Clifton, Paterson, Passaic, Wayne, and Woodland Park, Passaic County Sheriff Richard Berdnik said. Nearly all were chosen for the quality-of-life operations following citizens’ complaints, the sheriff said. Various units from his department supplied the detectives, Berdnik said. These included his Bureau of Narcotics, Int…
Police & Fire
Manhunt
: 12-Hour Search Ends In Franklin Lakes Following Fair Lawn Burglary, Pursuit, Crash
What began as a home burglary in Fair Lawn ended with a crash in Franklin Lakes and the arrest of the driver exactly 12 hours later. An out-of-town resident reported remotely seeing two burglars on a security camera in her Koenig Court home just off Route 208 at 8:06 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20, Fair Lawn Police Sgt. Eric Eleshewich said. The superintendent arrived and saw the pair flee through a living-room window, the sergeant said. Responding officers rolled up on two men and a vehicle parked on northbound Route 208 moments later. The driver got back into the car and sped off, leaving hi…
Police & Fire
2 Dead, Dozens Hurt When
Pa-b
ound Bus Carrying 40 Students Crashes On I-84 In NY
Two people died and dozens of others were injured when a Pennsylvania-bound bus crashed off I-84 in New York, authorities said. The bus carrying 40 high school students and four adults was heading toward Greeley, PA for band camp, when it tumbled town a 50-foot ravine near Exit 15 in Wawayanda around 1:15 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21, New York State Police and NY Gov. Kathy Hochul said. The two fatalities have been identified as Long Island residents: 43-year-old Gina Pellettiere of Massapequa, and 77-year-old Beatrice Ferarri of Farmingdale. Pellettiere was Farmingdale High Schoo…
Police & Fire
Gotcha
: Citizens ID Assailant Who Broke Eye Socket Of Patron At Lyndhurst Wendy's: Police
A 55-year-old fast-food customer had his eye socket broken when a Lyndhurst man nearly half his age sucker-punched him, authorities said. Eric Martinez, 28, fled the Wendy’s on Ridge Road after bashing the Belleville man in an entirely unprovoked attack as the victim waited online around 3:30 p.m. last Thursday, Sept. 14, Lyndhurst Detective Lt. Vincent Auteri said. Lynchurst Officer Joseph White retrieved surveillance images that were then published (see collage above), the lieutenant said. Soon calls began coming in. Police had obtained an arrest warrant when Martinez chose to surrender…
Police & Fire
Gotcha
! Police Crash Clifton Warehouse Burglary, Bust Trio, Thanks To Citizen's Call
Clifton police surprised three Paterson men in the middle of a local warehouse burglary, thanks to a conscientious citizen. It was just after midnight when officers were directed to Passaic Metal and Building Supplies on Central Avenue. There they spotted a box truck identified by the caller, Clifton Police Lt. Robert Anderson said. Seeing police, the trio hopped into the truck, then drove away with the headlights off, the lieutenant said. Multiple officers converged on them about two blocks away, Anderson said. They arrested the trio after finding burglary tools in the truck and fresh d…
Police & Fire
DUI Driver Who Fatally Pinned Atlantic County Worker's Van Gets Time In State Slammer
A 36-year-old South Jersey woman has been sentenced to six years in New Jersey State Prison for a fatal crash in which she was found to be using numerous drugs, authorities said. Bao “Joanna” Huynh, of Brigantine, was sentenced on the charge of vehicular homicide on Thursday, Sept. 21, according to the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office. She must serve 85% of the sentence before being eligible for parole. At 12:17 p.m. on June 26, 2021, Hector Salgado, 54, of Lindenwold was killed when a motor vehicle operated by Huynh struck his Dodge work van in Brigantine, the prosec…
Police & Fire
Update
: Lyft Driver From Morris Found Guilty Of Fondling Underage Prospect Park Passenger
A former U.S. military member from Morris County was convicted of sexually assaulting a Passaic County pre-teen while working as a Lyft driver. Julio Mejia, 43, of Wharton rejected a plea deal after investigators said the underage Prospect Park girl told them he had sex with her after she took a Lyft ride in August 2019 and then again after several weeks of texting. He took his chances with a jury in Superior Court in Paterson and was convicted of sexual assault, criminal sexual contact, enticing and child endangerment. Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Portelli scheduled sentencing for Feb. …
Police & Fire
Minivan Driver Wanted On Warrant Caught With Crack: Rochelle Park PD
A repeat offender from Paterson had more than a dozen baggies of crack for sale in his minivan when he was stopped by a Rochelle Park patrol officer, authorities said. Officer Chris Kiszka found an outstanding traffic warrant for Randy Ward, 27, after pulling over his minivan on West Passaic Street shortly before 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20, Capt. James DePreta said. A search following Ward's arrest turned up a sandwich bag with 15 individually packaged bags of crack, the captain said. Ward was charged with drug-related offenses and sent to the Bergen County Jail, where he remained Thur…
Police & Fire
Feds Help Dismantle Meth, Fentanyl Ring In North Jersey: Cops
An investigation by multiple North Jersey police departments and the Department of Homeland Security led to the arrest of three men for running a meth and fentanyl ring on Wednesday, Sept. 20, authorities said. Nilo Ibarra, a 38-year-old Jersey City resident, Ramon Lopez Arias, a 32-year-old West New York resident and Alexander Sanchez-Castillo, a 37-year-old North Bergen resident were arrested following an operation conducted by the Secaucus Police Department, the Jersey City Police Department Street Crimes Unit and the North Bergen Police Department, Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Mill…
Police & Fire
Pedo
File
: Ecuadorian National Charged With Sexually Assaulting Pre-Teens In Paramus
A 53-year-old Ecuadorian national who lives in Paramus sexually assaulted two pre-teens in the borough multiple times, authorities charged. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said detectives from his Special Victims Unit began investigating Edison Pro, who works as a handyman, after being contacted by the state Division of Child Protection & Permanency a month ago. A joint probe with Paramus police led to various charges of sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact and child endangerment, the prosecutor said on Thursday, Sept. 21. Pro was arrested in Paramus on Wednesday an…
Police & Fire
Out-Of-State Man Recorded Sex With Underage Teaneck Teen: Prosecutor
An unemployed man from Minnesota recorded himself sexually assaulting an underage teen multiple times in Teaneck, authorities charged. Isaiha Price, 25, of St. Paul, was arrested earlier this week and was being held at the Adult Detention Center in St. Paul, MN (in photo above), pending extradition to New Jersey, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. An investigation by his Special Victims Unit detectives and Teaneck police “revealed that Price recorded himself sexually assaulting a child who was under the age of 16 on more than one occasion in Teaneck,” the prosecutor said on Th…
Police & Fire
Drivers Not Seriously Injured In Crash That Closed Garden State Parkway For Hours
Two drivers suffered minor injuries in a crash that closed the Garden State Parkway for hours, authorities said. A Nissan and Volkswagon collided in the northbound lanes just before 8 p.m. near mile post 168.1 in Hillsdale, right past Demarest Farms on Wednesday, Sept. 20, according to witnesses and New Jersey State Police. One car was positioned in the southbound lanes under the Werimus Road overpass. The other was in the northbound lanes, facing the opposite way. Both cars were believed to have been heading north. Police said only that both drivers were taken to an area hospital with non…
Police & Fire
Seen
HIM? 9-Year-Old Pascack Valley Runaway Still Missing
A search continued in earnest for a 9-year-old rescue who got away from his Emerson home. Shaggy is a Schweenie -- a dachshund/shih tzu mix -- who wasn't wearing a collar when he went missing in Emerson around 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13. He's also quite fearful. Shaggy was last seen on High Street crossing Palisade Avenue into the golf course. His devastated owners have been hanging posters and asking whether anyone's seen the little guy. Anyone who lives in the area is asked to check security cameras beginning around the time he was last seen. If you see Shaggy, don't approach, follow, …
Police & Fire
Predator
Sting
: PA Man Expected Sex With Girl, 12, At NJ Hotel, Homeland Security Says
A Pennsylvania man who arranged what he thought was sex with a pre-teen in a New Jersey hotel was instead seized by federal agents when he showed up, authorities said Wednesday. Louis Goldenberg, 41 of Philadelphia, "began interacting on a messaging application with an undercover Homeland Security Investigations agent, who was posing as a middle-aged woman with a 12-year-old niece" last month, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said on Sept. 20. Goldenberg messaged the purported aunt, "continuously expressing interest in having sexual contact," the U.S. att…
Police & Fire
Couple Tries To Rescue Beagle Struck By Truck On GWB
A pair of good Samaritans rushed a dog who was struck on the George Washington Bridge to the hospital, but he didn't survive, they said. The unchipped, tri-color beagle, believed to be no older than two, was hit by a truck in the upper level's westbound lanes around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, they said. A couple driving past scooped him up and took the Oradell Animal Hospital in Paramus. "He didn't make it," the wife said. "We saw the dog running along the left lane as we got into the bridge so it’s likely [he] came from the NY side," she added. Port Authority police confirmed the repo…
Police & Fire
Wrong-Way Driver Crashes Off Route 80
No injuries were reported after a wrong-way driver crashed Wednesday on a Route 80 exit ramp. The Kia barreled up an embankment and into a tree off eastbound Exit 56B in Woodland Park mid-morning on Sept. 20. ABC Towing removed the SUV. New Jersey State Police responded and are investigating the cause.
Police & Fire
Worker At Wyckoff Warehouse Injured By Falling Plate Glass Sections
A worker was hospitalized after several large sections of plate glass fell on him at a warehouse in Wyckoff. The 31-year-old Ramsey resident was alert and conscious when his colleagues at Innovative Closet Designs on West Main Street freed him from beneath the debris around 1 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, Wyckoff Police Lt. Kevin Kasak said. Responding officers rendered first aid to the victim, who was then tended to by Wyckoff Volunteer Ambulance members and paramedics, the lieutenant said. He was taken to St. Joseph's University Medical Center with a cut on his head and possible injuries to hi…
Police & Fire
Crime Fighters From NJ Work Case Of Baby, 1, Killed By Fentanyl At NYC Day Care Center
The owner of a Bronx daycare center where a 1-year-old boy died from fentanyl exposure was seized by federal authorities on Tuesday along with her husband’s cousin. Grei Mendez De Ventura, 36, the owner of Divino Niño Daycare, and her alleged accomplice, Carlisto Acevedo Brito, 41, were charged by the federal government on Sept. 19 with possession with the intent and conspiracy to distribute drugs resulting in death. Meanwhile, a manhunt continued for De Ventura’s fugitive husband, who was identified as the leader of the drug operation. Children who napped where the defendants were cutting…
Police & Fire
Grandfather Struck, Killed By Fellow Senior Parishioner Outside Fairview Church
A 77-year-old grandfather from Ridgefield was laid to rest following a funeral at a Fairview church where he was fatally struck by a runaway sedan a week earlier. Athanios Dimitriou and a 56-year-old companion from North Bergen were having lunch under a canopy in the parking lot of the Ascension Greek Orthodox Church on Anderson Avenue when both were struck by a BMW 328 shortly before 11:30 a.m. Sept. 11. The driver – a fellow parishioner who, coincidentally, is also 77 – had accidentally hit the gas and backed into them, Fairview Police Capt. Michael Martic said. Detective Sgt. Anthony Sc…
Police & Fire
Downed Wires Halt Train Service In Bergen
NJ TRANSIT announced at 3 p.m.: "Bergen County Line rail service has resumed in both directions and is subject to up to 45-minute delays." ****** Service along NJ TRANSIT's Bergen Line was suspended in both directions for hours on Tuesday after a power line fell onto the tracks. A No. 58 train had left Port Jervis at 9:21 a.m. Sept. 19 and was due to arrive in Hoboken at 11:38 a.m. Sept. 19. However, at 11:15 a.m., the wire stopped the train near the Plauderville Station in Garfield. "There were no reported injuries to the 110 customers and crew on board," NJ TRANSIT reported. "PSE&G…
Police & Fire
Police Fully Justified In Shooting West New York Man Who Fired At Them, Grand Jury Rules
It was as open-and-shut as a police shooting can possibly get. That’s why a state grand jury found that police were more than justified in shooting a West New York gunman who’d just wounded one officer while firing point-blank at them with a gun in each hand. Dramatic police bodycam footage shows Kevin Colindres, 32, opening fire after emerging from his 59th Street home on June 3, 2022. In a clip recorded through the front-door window, Colindres is seen entering the vestibule in a t-shirt and shorts with both hands behind his back as police investigate a domestic violence call. He suddenl…
Police & Fire
Jersey Shore Man Had Online Sex With Minors, Then Shared It, US Homeland Security Agents Charge
UPDATE: Federal authorities have taken custody of an accused child porn trafficker from the Jersey Shore who they said had online sex with at least two minors he met on a social media app. Ocean County prosecutor’s detectives initially investigated Christopher Budelman, 36, of Brick, leading to an arrest in late September 2022. Following up on a referral from the New Jersey State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the prosecutor's investigators learned that Budelman used the Kik Messenger App to upload and share images of child sexual abuse, authorities said at the time. F…
Police & Fire
Update
: 'Chopped' Kosher Chef Jailed On New Child Sex Assault Charges Out Of Teaneck
A kosher chef from Teaneck who appeared on the Food Network show "Chopped” was jailed after a grand jury in Hackensack indicted him on charges of sexually assaulting a child. Shalom "Sal" Yehudiel, 41, was arrested at JFK Airport last month when authorities said he tried to flee the country. He'd only just had previous child sex assault charges against him dismissed by a judge in Hackensack at the time. A new indictment charges Yehudiel with sexually assaulting a girl who was 14 and 15 twice in Teaneck between November 2016 and April 2017. Yehudiel -- now lives in Aventura, FL -- surr…
Police & Fire
Footage Released Of Ex-Con Shot Dead By Newark Police Following Killings Of Boy, 8, Man
UPDATE: State authorities released body-camera footage of a Newark police foot chase that ended with a local ex-con suspected of a double homicide shot dead this past spring. Officers responding to the fatal May 3 shootings of a man and 8-year-old boy on Johnson Avenue in Newark saw Everett Rand toss what turned out to be a semi-automatic handgun with a large capacity magazine into a Dumpster, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said Monday, Sept. 18. Rand, 29, then took off on foot with several uniformed officers on his tail. A basic background search turned up a six-year his…
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Archive
61°
