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34°
Tuesday, mar 19
Police & Fire
Four Caught, One Sought In Brutal Stabbing Death Outside NJ Bar
Authorities who’ve charged four men with the brutal murder of a man outside a Garfield bar last month turned to the public for help finding a fugitive gang member from Pennsylvania who sources said repeatedly stabbed the victim in the chest. Ricky “Angel” Vargas, 35, of East Stroudsburg, PA, and his friends confronted Richard Franceschi, 31, of Hawthorne outside JoJo's Bar & Grill on Monroe Street before dawn this past Feb. 4, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Vargas had a knife and co-defendant Jayson William Rivera, 23, also of East Stroudsburg, had a handgun, the prosecutor…
Police & Fire
Sharp-Shooting Officer Justified In Stopping Rifle-Wielding NJ Madman, Grand Jury Rules
UPDATE: A steely-nerved local New Jersey police officer acted appropriately when he fired the single shot that took down an irate man with a rifle who was threatening to kill a female homeowner, a state grand jury has found. Daniel Nevius, 55, of Sicklerville had raised his rifle and pointed it at police when Deptford Police Officer Luke Ivey stopped him, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said. State law and Platkin's own guidelines require his Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) to investigate the circumstances behind police-involved deaths. The guidelines guara…
Police & Fire
Central Jersey Driver Killed In Route 130 Crash: Police
A 68-year-old man from Monroe Township was killed in a one-car crash on Route 130 last week, authorities said. Mitchell G. Rolins was driving a Subaru Crosstek south near the Cranbury Circle at about 7 a.m. on Tuesday, March 12 when his SUV overturned several times and struck a utility pole, Cranbury Police Chief Michael J. Owens said. Rolins was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle, Owens said. Rolins was transported to Capital Health Reginal Medical Center in Trenton by Capital Health EMS and Paramedics in critical condition, the chief said. Rolins succumbed to his inj…
Police & Fire
Luxury Vehicles Stolen From Central Jersey Neighborhood: Police
Police in Monmouth County were looking for three suspects wanted for stealing luxury vehicles, authorities said. Howell Township police said officers responded to burglaries near Barrister Court and Vail Lane at around 5:14 a.m. on Sunday, Mar. 17. Three suspects "dressed all in black" entered two homes through an unlocked garage window and an unlocked rear sliding door. The suspects were able to steal keys and other property. The cars stolen from the homes were a grey 2024 Range Rover and a 2022 white Cadillac Escalade. The Range Rover was found in Jersey City. Howell police previous…
Police & Fire
NJ Man Stalked Teen Girl, Leaving Flowers And 'Disturbing' Notes: Police
A Monmouth County man was accused of stalking a teen girl, leaving her flowers and "disturbing" notes, authorities said. Thomas Watts, 70, of Long Branch, was arrested by West Long Branch police on Thursday, Mar. 14, the department said in a news release. He was charged with stalking and harassment. Investigators looked into several incidents, with the first one reportedly happening at around 10 p.m. on Friday, Mar. 8. Investigators said Watts first left notes and flowers for the 17-year-old girl at the ShopRite on the corner of routes 36 and 71 Police said Watts watched her…
Police & Fire
'Trail Of Tragedies': Illegal Rifle Empowered Man Who Murdered 3 In PA, New Jersey AG Says
UPDATE: A killing spree and manhunt in two states this weekend was "the latest in a horrific litany of illustrations of how illegal guns and assault rifles can empower one aggrieved and disturbed actor to do immense damage and leave a trail of tragedies in their wake,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. Andre Gordon Jr., 26, gunned down his stepmother, his 13-year-old sister and the mother of his two children in separate locations in Falls Township, PA, after carjacking an elderly woman in Trenton to get there, authorities said. The homeless gunman also bludgeoned his girl…
Police & Fire
Severe
Injury
: Female Driver, 94, Drags Female Pedestrian, 75, Outside NJ Public Library
A 75-year-old Paramus woman who was struck and dragged 20 feet by a sedan driven by a 94-year-old borough resident over the weekend has died, authorities confirmed. Helen Koons was in the crosswalk in the rear parking lot of the Paramus Public Library off East Century Road when the 2013 Toyota Corolla dragged her around 12:45 p.m. Saturday, March 16, Police Chief Robert M. Guidetti said. She was semi-alert when taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, the deputy chief said. Koons was pronounced dead at the hospital at 11:42 a.m. Sunday, he said. Boyd A. Loving for DAILY VOICE…
Police & Fire
College Student From NJ On 'American Idol': Did Conall Gorman Score Ticket To Hollywood?
When Conall Gorman's songwriting professor at Belmont University in Nashville, TV began promoting "American Idol" auditions, he went for it. Gorman, 19, watched the singing competition for years growing up in Montclair. Conall Gorman on "American Idol." "American Idol" Clip courtesy of FremantleMedia North America Inc. and 19TV LTD And now, he's on it. Gorman's performance of his own song "Backseat" for Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, and Luke Bryan air Sunday, March 17. Bryan said he was pulled into the "Conall vortex" with the very first note, Perry adding that he's on the road to being …
Police & Fire
Close
CALL: Stolen Car Rams Englewood Police Cruiser
An Englewood officer escaped serious injury when a police cruiser was rammed by a driver in a stolen car, authorities said. Several occupants were in the 2019 Honda Pilot when a license plate reader flagged the vehicle – which had been reported stolen out of Elizabeth earlier that day -- shortly after 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 13, Deputy Police Chief Matthew de la Rosa said. Officers tried to stop the SUV on South Dean Street, but it sped off, the deputy chief said. The pursuit headed south on Broad Avenue, where the Pilot slammed into a cruiser, sending it spinning out, he said. The po…
Police & Fire
Teen Girl Airlifted, 3 Juveniles Injured In Single-Car Franklin Township Crash: Police
A teenage girl was airlifted to the hospital in a single-car crash in Franklin Township Friday, March 15, authorities said. Responding officers performed lifesaving efforts on the 17-year-old girl, one of four perople in a car that crash on Canal Road at 10:10 p.m., Franklin Township Public Safety Director Quovella M. Maeweather said. The girl was flown by New Jersey State Police’s NorthStar helicopter to a local hospital for treatment of a serious head injury, police said. Three other juvenile occupants were also transported and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.…
Police & Fire
Bergenfield Widower, 94, Charged In Hit-And-Run Death Of Beloved Teacher From Dumont
UPDATE: A 94-year-old widower from Bergenfield was charged with the hit-and-run death of a teacher from Dumont, authorities confirmed on Friday. Ernest F. Hofmann was driving a 2002 Ford F-150 pickup that struck Elizabeth Feliciano-Rosa, 54, as she crossed Madison Avenue at Washington Avenue at 5:19 p.m. Thursday, March 14, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. The victim was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. Hofmann kept going, the prosecutor said. CPR was being conducted on the 44-year-old victim after she was struck at Washington &a…
Police & Fire
Somerset County Murder Suspect Who Dumped Body In NYC Captured In Philadelphia: Cops
A second arrest has been made in the murder of a Franklin Township man last December, authorities said. Daniel Matthews, 44, was arrested on Tuesday, March 12 in Philadelphia and charged with killing Artis Young and then taking his body back to Brooklyn, NY, Somerset County Prosecutor John McDonald said. Andrew Mumby, a 47-year-old New Brunswick resident was arrested last month. On Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023, police received a missing person report from Young's family, McDonald said alongside Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Chief of County Detectives Francisco Roman Jr., and Franklin Town…
Police & Fire
Stabbing
AT
American
Dream
: Video Posted, Secaucus Man Arrested
Video shot at the American Dream Mall captured images of a Secaucus man charged with a stabbing this week. It's believed that two men tried to grab him in the cellphone video recorded from a level above the confrontation at the mall in East Rutherford shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 12. The bare-chested assailant pulls the shirt over one man's head and knees him in the face before going after the second. HudPost posted the video on X. Eyewitnesses say a stabbing occurred in the American Dream Mall during this encounter. We have not confirmed these details. pic.twitter.com/bB…
Police & Fire
Man Placed Fake Explosive Device Near Ocean County Synagogue: Police
An Ocean County man was accused of strapping a fake explosive device to a utility pole near a synagogue, authorities said. Benjamin Gibber, 29, of Lakewood, was charged with third-degree creating a false public alarm. Lakewood police announced his arrest in a news release on Friday, Mar. 15. Officers responded to the pole near the intersection of Fourth and Forest avenues at around 7:45 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023. The intersection is near the Satmar Shul synagogue. The state police bomb squad also responded to the scene. "After extraction, it was determined that the device was ine…
Police & Fire
Brick Driver, 54, Killed In Wall Township Parkway Crash
A 54-year-old driver was killed when his vehicle veered off the Garden State Parkway in Monmouth County on Thursday, March 14, State Police said. Joseph Pace, of Brick township, was heading south in a Hyundai when he rear-ended a Jeep SUV in Wall Township near milepost 100.3 just after 3:05 p.m., New Jersey State Police Sgt. Jeffrey Lebron said. After the impact, the Hyundai continued south, running off the road, hitting two sign supports, down an embankment and through a fence. As a result of the crash, Pace was killed. The accident remains under investigation, and there is no additi…
Police & Fire
NJ Baby Killed By Dog ID'd In Campaign
Support is surging for a New Jersey family whose 3-month-old baby was killed by the family dog. Daymon Jair Balbuena was mauled by the dog at his home on Mereline Avenue in Avenel around 6:15 a.m. Saturday, March 9, according to a GoFundMe campaign, along with Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Woodbridge Police Department Director Robert Hubner. Daymon's mother, Sierra, suffered serious injuries in the attack, the campaign says. "The love he brought to his family during his short life will never be forgotten," the boy's obituary says. More than $16,000 had been rai…
Police & Fire
Imprisoned Sex Offender From Hackensack Gathered 42,000 Child Porn Files While Free: Prosecutor
A registered sex offender from Hackensack who was returned to prison last year is expected to spend much more time there following what authorities said was the discovery of more than 42,000 child porn images. Rahvae Richards, 32, served 3½ years of a five-year state prison sentence for trying to sexually assault a young city boy nearly a decade ago, records show. He’d also been downloading child pornography at the time, prosecutors said. Richards was paroled in October 2021, a year and a half short of what originally was supposed to be a five-year mandatory hitch. Sixteen months later, st…
Police & Fire
Lakewood Man Sold Fake US Postage Stamps Online: Prosecutor
A 33-year-old man from Lakewood has been arrested for selling counterfeit U.S. postage stamps online, authorities said. The fake stamps originated in China, according to Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer. Yisroel Kornik was charged with counterfeiting on Tuesday, March 12 in connection with a series of events that occurred in Lakewood from October 2023 through March 2024, the prosecutor said. This charge is the result of a joint investigation conducted by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Economic Crime Unit, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigat…
Police & Fire
Found
! Saddle Brook Man Reunited With Family
UPDATE: A Saddle Brook man who authorities said went missing this past Sunday was reunited with his family on Thursday, March 14, authorities confirmed. Jeffrey DeMaria, the 57-year-old owner-operator of a local trucking company, had last been seen near his home on Alberta Drive around 6:30 p.m. March 10, family members and police said. A search was launched and shared widely online. Then came word early Thursday afternoon. DeMaria and his family asked that no additional information be released publicly, Saddle Brook Police Officer In Charge John Zotollo said.
Police & Fire
Man Who Drove 12 Pounds Of Heroin, Fentanyl All The Way From Cali Busted In Bergen County: Feds
A California man was minutes from a dropoff after driving more than a dozen pounds of fentanyl and heroin cross country to New Jersey when he was stopped in Fort Lee for running a stop sign, authorities said. Timothy Alan Blank, 54, of Reseda, CA, made it 2,800 miles before Fort Lee police pulled his SUV over in Englewood Cliffs north of Sylvan and Myrtle avenues last Friday, March 8, according to a federal complaint. A Bergen County Sheriff's K-9 directed officers to the trunk, where it says they found the five kilos wrapped in five bricks. Blank collected the wrapped $195,000 of heroin a…
Police & Fire
Helicopter Makes Emergency Landing At Jersey School Field: Police
A helicopter operated out of an Essex County facility made an emergency landing at a Jersey Shore school field Thursday, March 14, authorities said. The commercial passenger helicopter operated by Zip Aviation of Caldwell touched down on a baseball field behind Middletown High School North, adjacent to Marvin Road, Middletown police said. The pilot, who is not being identified at this time, saw the field and determined that it would be safe to make the emergency landing after an indicator light came on, police said. He was the only occupant of the helicopter. There…
Police & Fire
NJ Drivers Brawl In NYC Road Rage Incident (
Video
)
A Garden State driver decided to administer his own brand of Jersey justice on the Cross Bronx Expressway on Tuesday, March 5. The video, which was shared by New York City Councilman Ying Tan and has gone viral, shows an altercation between the driver of the BMW, with New Jersey license plates, aggressively changing lanes and then coming to a stop in front of a minivan. He then gets out of the BMW and approaches the minivan, also apparently from New Jersey, screaming at the other driver, a 66-year-old man. The other driver proceeds to throw things at him, leading to punches being exchanged.…
Police & Fire
Update
: Hackensack Man Charged With Murder Of Paterson Woman, 22, Gunned Down Outside Her Home
Authorities on Wednesday captured one of a group of men who they said purposely shot and killed a 22-year-old Paterson woman last fall. Ex-con Christopher Thomas, 26, of Hackensack was charged with murder and weapons offenses, as well as with conspiracy, for his role in gunning down Mary “Tink” Taylor on Oct. 1, 2023 outside a bar across from the apartment building where she lived with her mom. Five men jumped into a car that sped off following the shooting shortly before 9:30 p.m. in the city’s Great Falls Historic District, witnesses told investigators. It wasn’t clear how many fired. A…
Police & Fire
Found
! Saddle Brook Man Reunited With Family After Four Days
UPDATE: A Saddle Brook man who authorities said went missing this past Sunday was reunited with his family on Thursday, March 14, authorities confirmed. Jeffrey DeMaria, the 57-year-old owner-operator of a local trucking company, had last been seen near his home on Alberta Drive around 6:30 p.m. March 10, family members and police said. A search was launched and shared widely online. Then came word early Thursday afternoon. DeMaria and his family asked that no additional information be released publicly, Saddle Brook Police Officer In Charge John Zotollo said.
Police & Fire
Man Charged With Killing NJ High Schooler With Fentanyl-Laced Pill
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A 17-year-old Park Ridge boy was killed by a single imitation painkiller laced with fentanyl that was given to him by a Westwood man who's been charged with causing his death. The boy thought he was taking an Oxycontin pill before he overdosed last Sept. 14, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Officers who responded to the emergency call administered Narcan, among other life-saving measures, the prosecutor said. The high school senior was pronounced dead a short time later. Detectives from the prosecutor’s Narcotic Task Force determined during a six-month investigatio…
Police & Fire
Serial Dog Thief Busted Again: Hunterdon County Prosecutor
A 45-year-old Alpha woman was arrested and charged on Saturday, March 9, after she tried to steal a dog, authorities said. And this is not her first dog stealing rodeo. Jennifer Goldthwaite entered a residence in Holland Township intending to snatch the pooch, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renée M. Robeson said. In 2020, Goldthwaite and a man named Christopher Gordon, 20, of Flemington, were caught after a Pennsylvania dog breeder told police that people were trying to enter his property and possibly steal his French bulldog puppies for sale, as previously reported by Daily Voice. Offic…
Police & Fire
Carteret Man Killed In Targeted Shooting: Prosecutor
A 23-year-old man from Carteret was killed in a targeted shooting, authorities said. Evan Blozen died as a result of the shooting, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Carteret Police Chief Dennis McFadden. On Tuesday, March 12, at approximately 10 p.m., police responded to Roosevelt Avenue. They found a man suffering from gunshot wounds. Blozen was taken to Raritan Bay Medical Center for treatment where he was pronounced dead after succumbing to his injuries, they said. Initial investigation has revealed that this does not appear to be a r…
Police & Fire
Skeletal Remains Found At Jersey Shore Construction Site: Prosecutor
An investigation is under way in a Jersey Shore town where skeletal remains were found, authorities confirmed. The remains were found on a piece of property on the 1100 block of Narrumson Road in Wall Township Tuesday, March 12 where work is being done,Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago and Wall Township Police Chief Sean O'Halloran said. News 12 was the first to break the story, noting human remains were found at an excavation project. What looks very much like SKELETAL REMAINS found at a construction home site in the Manasquan Shores section of Wall Township. Mo…
Police & Fire
Man Killed, Another Critical After New Brunswick Shooting
A 23-year-old New Brunswick man was killed and a second man is in critical condition after a targeted shooting, authorities said. Numi Simmons died in the attack, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and New Brunswick Police Chief Vincent Sabo. On Tuesday, March 12, at approximately 9 p.m., police responded to Throop Avenue and Delavan Street for the shooting. Police found two victims, both sustaining gunshot wounds, who were taken to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital for treatment, they said. Simmons succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead. Th…
Police & Fire
Central Jersey Drug Dealer Found In Atlantic City With Heroin, Cocaine: Police
A Mercer County man was accused of selling heroin and cocaine in Atlantic City, authorities said. Leroy Clark, 44, of Ewing, was arrested on Friday, Mar. 8, Atlantic City police said in a Wednesday, Mar. 13 news release. An officer saw Clark selling drugs to another man on the 1500 block of Atlantic Avenue at around 4:45 p.m. Two other officers were able to arrest him, and investigators searched his vehicle and hotel room. Police seized 420 bags of heroin, nearly 10 ounces of cocaine, and items for selling drugs. Clark was charged with three counts of possession of a controlled d…
Police & Fire
'
Ghost
Tags
': Massive Crackdown On License Plate Fraud Begins At GWB, Lincoln Tunnel
A massive campaign to identify and seize "ghost plate" vehicles roared from the starting line with 73 impounds, 282 summonses and eight arrests at the Lincoln Tunnel and George Washington and Triborough bridges, authorities announced on Tuesday. Port Authority police seized plates and vehicles from 30 motorists at the Lincoln and the GWB while issuing 142 summonses, sources there told Daily Voice. They also impounded three vehicles responsible for more than $700,000 in unpaid tolls and fees -- including more than $130,000 tied to a single New Jersey company, Green Brothers Logisti…
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