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Sunday, mar 16
Tag:
Arson
News
NJ Man Who Paid To Torch $6M PA Book Warehouse, Injuring Firefighter, Sentenced: DOJ
A New Jersey man who orchestrated the arson of a Bucks County book warehouse—injuring a firefighter and causing over $6 million in damages—has been sentenced to six years in federal prison, authorities announced. Ramiz Duka, 62, of Cherry Hill, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Kelley Brisbon Hodge for his role in the Dec. 10, 2022, fire at Ebooks Web LLC on Bridgewater Road in Bensalem, Acting U.S. Attorney Nelson S.T. Thayer, Jr. said on Monday, March 10. Duka conspired with two men to set the warehouse ablaze, paying them $15,000 for the job, investigators previously revealed.…
News
FBI Probes Alleged Arson Fire At NJ Home Of Bayer Exec: Report
A suspicious fire that broke out at the New Jersey home of a pharmaceutical company executive earlier this week is under investigation by multiple agencies including the FBI, authorities said. Yahoo Finance was first to report the alleged attack on a Bayer executive March 4 in Morris County. The blaze broke out at a home on East Lane in Madison at approximately 7:30 that morning, according to Meghan Knab, a spokesperson for the Morris County Prosecutor's Office. The fire was quickly extinguished by local firefighters and the home did not suffer significant damage. Knab could not confirmed t…
Police & Fire
Woman Badly Burned In Suspicious Tenafly House Fire, Arson Investigators On Scene: Officials
A suspicious fire at a Tenafly home left a woman with severe burns as arson investigators work to determine the cause, authorities said. Tenafly police and firefighters responded to 12 Cameron Road on Thursday, Feb. 27, at 11:44 a.m., where they found a single-family home engulfed in flames, according to Bergen County Prosecutor's Office Deputy Chief of Detectives Jeff Angermeyer. A female victim managed to escape before first responders arrived, but she suffered smoke inhalation and severe burns, officials said. She was rushed to Hackensack University Medical Center for treatment…
Police & Fire
Armed Englewood Robbers Linked To Violent Home Invasion, Carjacking: Cops
Four Newark men arrested in a violent home invasion and carjacking in Union Township last September have been connected to multiple other crimes, including a high-profile armed robbery at a Bergen County restaurant, authorities said. At 7:30 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 20, four men forced their way into a residence in Union and assaulted two elderly occupants to obtain the keys to a luxury vehicle parked in the driveway, Township of Union police said. The suspects had arrived to the scene in a BMW X3 previously stolen from Livingston. The Livingston BMW was located shortly after in Newark, complet…
Police & Fire
Man Trying To Keep Warm Charged With Arson In Massive NJ Storage Facility Blaze: Cops
An 84-year-old man who authorities say was trying to keep warm has been charged with arson after starting a massive fire at a storage facility in Cape May County on the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 19, authorities said. Salvatore Gellura was working in his storage unit at Burleigh Storage in Middle Township and lit cardboard in a metal container to keep warm sometime around 8:49 a.m., Middle Township police said. The fire spread beyond the container and Gellura was unable to control it, police said. One firefighter was transported to a nearby hospital for smoke inhalation, police sa…
Police & Fire
Arsonist, DUI Driver Arrested Again — This Time For Package Thefts, Cops In Bergen County Say
A Waldwick woman with a criminal history has been arrested for stealing packages from a local apartment building, police said. Marialyse Debel, 64, was taken into custody outside her home on Wednesday, Feb. 12, following an investigation by the Waldwick Police Detective Bureau, Lt. Troy E. Seifert said. Authorities began looking into reports of stolen deliveries from The Station Apartments at 41 West Prospect St., on Feb. 3. Detective T.J. Palaia identified Debel as a suspect, leading to her arrest, police said. Debel has a prior arrest for arson in Midland Park on Sept. 22, 2024, dur…
Police & Fire
PA Fugitive Attacks FBI Agent During Bergen County SWAT Standoff, Prosecutor Says
A York, PA man wanted for arson is facing attempted murder and other charges after a tense standoff with law enforcement in Bergen County, NJ, during which he wielded a pickaxe and attacked an FBI agent, authorities announced on Monday, Feb. 3. Tyre (Tyrie) R. Dunn, 36, was arrested on Monday, Jan. 27, after an investigation by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, led by Prosecutor Mark Musella, alongside the FBI and Lodi Police Department. Dunn, who was already wanted in Pennsylvania, fled from law enforcement and barricaded himself inside a shed attached to a private home on Stokes St…
Police & Fire
Cops ID Hotel Arsonist Who Prompted SWAT Response In Bergen County
Police have identified the Rutherford man accused of setting an East Rutherford hotel room ablaze Thursday, Jan. 9. Vincente Carabello, 55, allegedly started the fire around 11:24 a.m. at the Fairfield Inn on 850 Paterson Plank Road, after getting into an argument with hotel staff, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. East Rutherford officers arrived on scene, with the help of the Bergen County Regional SWAT Team’s countywide patrol units, which were in the area. Carabello had fled before officers arrived, police said. First responders tended to the fire in the hotel …
Police & Fire
NJ Woman Identified As Victim Set On Fire In Deadly Brooklyn Subway Attack:
Nypd
Debrina Kawam, of Toms River, was identified as the person who was set on fire and killed on a New York City subway, authorities said. The 57-year-old woman was named as the victim of the attack on Sunday, Dec. 22, a New York Police Department spokesperson told Daily Voice. Investigators said a man lit Kawam on fire while she was sleeping on a stopped F train at the Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn just before 7:30 a.m., NBC News reported. While her last known address was on Waterbury Court in Toms River, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Kawam also spent some time in the ci…
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…
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