South Hackensack Officer's Route 46 Traffic Stop Leads To Cocaine Seizure, Ex-Con's Arrest South Hackensack Officer's Route 46 Traffic Stop Leads To Cocaine Seizure, Ex-Con's Arrest
South Hackensack Officer's Route 46 Traffic Stop Leads To Cocaine Seizure, Ex-Con's Arrest An ex-con staying at a Route 46 motel was caught with nearly a half-ounce of cocaine following a traffic stop, authorities said. South Hackensack Officer Kyle Skelley stopped a 2020 Honda CRV with a cracked windshield just off the highway around 9 a.m. Tuesday, Detective Sgt. James Donatello said. The driver, William J. Ayala, 40, of Paterson, acted nervously, the sergeant said. A background check turned up a mostly drug-related criminal history stretching back 20 years in Bergen and Passaic counties, as well as in Lakehurst and Miami Beach, FL, where Ayala had been charged with assaulting…
Feds: Hit Man From Philly Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire For NJ Political Operative Feds: Hit Man From Philly Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire For NJ Political Operative
Feds: Hit Man From Philly Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire For NJ Political Operative A Philadelphia resident admitted Wednesday that he was one of the two hit men paid by a onetime New Jersey political operative to kill a former associate. Bomani Africa, 61, who has a criminal history that includes convictions for robbery and drug-related crime, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder for hire via videoconference with a federal judge in Newark, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger announced. People immediately began wondering who the hired killers were after Sean Caddle, 44, admitted on Tuesday that he paid them to whack Michael Galdieri, the son of forme…
Passaic County Sheriff: Drug Detectives Nab Pair Of Older Dealers Passaic County Sheriff: Drug Detectives Nab Pair Of Older Dealers
Passaic County Sheriff: Drug Detectives Nab Pair Of Older Dealers Passaic County sheriff's detectives grabbed one Paterson man with several ounces of crack and another as he tried to flush more drugs, authorities said. Narcotics Bureau investigators followed and arrested Eric Seegers, 62, after watching Shawn Nero, 48, conduct business outside Nero's Madison Street apartment, Passaic County Sheriff Richard H. Berdnik said. Seegers was carrying 6½ ounces of crack and $1,400 in suspected drug proceeds, the sheriff said. The detectives then doubled back to Nero's. Seeing them at the door, he rushed back into the apartment and tried to destroy the remaining…
Bergen Nurse Practitioner Charged With Illegally Obtaining Thousands Of Oxy, Adderall Pills Bergen Nurse Practitioner Charged With Illegally Obtaining Thousands Of Oxy, Adderall Pills
Bergen Nurse Practitioner Charged With Illegally Obtaining Thousands Of Oxy, Adderall Pills A nurse practitioner from River Edge obtained thousands of Oxycodone and Adderall pills for distribution using bogus prescriptions, authorities charged. Mathew Testino surrendered to detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Narcotics Task Force on Wednesday. A judge freed him the next day, with conditions, pending trial. Testino, who turned 51 on Friday, had been wanted since being charged with dozens of drug-related counts this past March, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. He’s accused of “fraudulently obtaining and signing prescriptions on approximately 30 separate occasi…
Police: Repeat Offender Assaults Fair Lawn Liquor Store Manager, Arrested After Returning Police: Repeat Offender Assaults Fair Lawn Liquor Store Manager, Arrested After Returning
Police: Repeat Offender Assaults Fair Lawn Liquor Store Manager, Arrested After Returning A repeat offender from Norwood was arrested after assaulting a Fair Lawn liquor store manager who caught him shoplifting, authorities said. Matthew Savinovich, 27, had fled the ShopRite Liquors but returned to the Broadway store to retrieve a bag that he dropped while tangling with the manager on Thursday, Police Sgt. Sean Macys said. Police were waiting. Inside the bag, Macys said, were six bottles of shoplifted Patron tequila, Savinovich's cellphone -- and four used bags of heroin, along with a glass pipe. Detectives at headquarters matched Savinovich to an alert issued by Northvale pol…
Prosecutor: NJ Drug Dealer Indicted In Woman's OD Death, Fentanyl In System Was 5X Lethal Dose Prosecutor: NJ Drug Dealer Indicted In Woman's OD Death, Fentanyl In System Was 5X Lethal Dose
Prosecutor: NJ Drug Dealer Indicted In Woman's OD Death, Fentanyl In System Was 5X Lethal Dose A Burlington County drug dealer was indicted on charges stemming from a woman's fatal overdose in 2019, authorities said. Antoine Crawley, 35, of Pemberton's Sunbury Village section, was charged by a grand jury in the death of 27-year-old Brittney Wallace, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina said. An autopsy found that the fentanyl level in Wallace's system was more than five times the lethal dose, authorities said. The indictment returned June 24 charges Crawley with strict liability for drug-induced death, possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled …
Hookup Turns To Robbery After Leonia Man Is Drugged By Online 'Date' Hookup Turns To Robbery After Leonia Man Is Drugged By Online 'Date'
Hookup Turns To Robbery After Leonia Man Is Drugged By Online 'Date' A Leonia man was set up by a woman who met him online, drugged him at his home and then robbed him with help from two other men, authorities said. Katherine Berg, 32, of Paterson went to the victim’s Grand Avenue home in the early morning hours of June 26 and slipped him a drug that knocked him out, Police Chief Scott Tamagny said. A medical call brought police around 11 a.m. the next day, the chief said. A family member had found the 30-something victim with “numerous injuries and no memory of what had occurred,” Tamagny said. More than 24 hours had passed and the victim was immediately…
HEROES: Captive Woman Raped, Beaten Over Several Hours Rescued By Lodi Police HEROES: Captive Woman Raped, Beaten Over Several Hours Rescued By Lodi Police
Heroes: Captive Woman Raped, Beaten Over Several Hours Rescued By Lodi Police A horrific nightmare ended when Lodi police rescued a woman from a local criminal who authorities said held her against her will for several hours while raping and beating her. James McArow, 25, of Westervelt Place spent two months in the Bergen County Jail earlier this year for an incident last October when authorities said he stabbed two people. Lodi police got a 911 call Monday night that brought them to his backyard, where they found the victim hiding, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. She “had been held against her will and physically and sexually assaulted” by McArow, Musel…
Driver Who Killed Bayonne Man, 5-Year-Old Daughter Gets 37 Years Driver Who Killed Bayonne Man, 5-Year-Old Daughter Gets 37 Years
Driver Who Killed Bayonne Man, 5-Year-Old Daughter Gets 37 Years A Hamilton man who was driving at more than 10 times the speed limit when he crashed into another vehicle, killing a Bayonne man and his young daughter, was sentenced Thursday to nearly 40 years in prison, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office said. Scott Hahn, 39, was under the influence of drugs when he crashed into the back of another car at an Interchange 14C toll booth on the New Jersey Turnpike in Jersey City Feb. 22, 2016. Hahn was driving at 53 mph in what is a 5 mph zone, investigators later determined. The collision claimed the lives of Timothy O’Donnell, 48, and his five-year-ol…
Boy, 16, Critically Injured In Washington Township Hit-Run Drug Ripoff, Driver Caught Boy, 16, Critically Injured In Washington Township Hit-Run Drug Ripoff, Driver Caught
Boy, 16, Critically Injured In Washington Township Hit-Run Drug Ripoff, Driver Caught UPDATE: A 16-year-old Washington Township boy hung onto a fleeing vehicle and was thrown, suffering severe injuries, in a drug ripoff, authorities confirmed Friday. The 17-year-old driver, also from the township, was quickly taken into custody following Monday night's incident, Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Dennis Calo said. He was issued delinquency complaints accusing him of robbery, aggravated assault, endangering an injured victim, leaving the scene of a crash involving serious bodily injury and assault by auto, the prosecutor said. Calo didn't say whether his office will ask a judge…
Glen Rock Police Supervisors Nab CVS Shoplifting Suspects Glen Rock Police Supervisors Nab CVS Shoplifting Suspects
Glen Rock Police Supervisors Nab CVS Shoplifting Suspects Police supervisors get their hands dirty, too: A pair of Glen Rock police sergeants nabbed a couple – one of them a career offender who they said just shot up heroin -- after they shoplifted more than $725 worth of merchandise from a local CVS. Police Chief Dean Ackermann joined Sgts. Bryan Scott and Scott McGovern after they caught 52-year-old James Zottarelli just after 10 a.m. Monday in front of the Elmwood Avenue home where police said he’s been staying. Zottarelli has a criminal history dating back nearly 25 years, with dozens of arrests for drug-related crimes, as well as a host of pa…
Fort Lee PD: Homeless Ex-Con Fights Shopper For Purse, Flees In Stolen Car Fort Lee PD: Homeless Ex-Con Fights Shopper For Purse, Flees In Stolen Car
Fort Lee PD: Homeless Ex-Con Fights Shopper For Purse, Flees In Stolen Car A Fort Lee supermarket shopper struggled with a homeless career criminal who police said grabbed her purse before speeding off in a stolen car. Gregory Prior, 52, came up from behind and snatched the purse from a shopping cart full of groceries that the woman was pushing through the parking lot of the ACME on Lemoine Avenue shortly after 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Capt. Matthew Hintze said. The woman fought off Prior, then got the license plate number of the getaway car, which had been reported stolen out of Jersey City earlier in the morning, Hintze said. State Police found the car, parked and un…
Bail Reform: Wayne Police Arrest Fugitive Wanted In Four Counties Bail Reform: Wayne Police Arrest Fugitive Wanted In Four Counties
Bail Reform: Wayne Police Arrest Fugitive Wanted In Four Counties WAYNE, N.J. -- Two Wayne detectives nabbed a Clifton man wanted for skipping court in four counties. Detectives Paul Kindler and Vincent Ricciardelli were on a fugitive hunt Tuesday night on southbound Route 23 when they found Franklin Wesner III, Detective Capt. Laurence Martin said. Wesner III was wanted out of Middlesex County for selling drugs, out of Morris County for unpaied child support and out of Clifton and Hillsdale for unspecified warrants, Martin said. A search turned up 11 bags of heroin stamped "HEROIN KING," a small bag of pot, two metal spoons with heroin residue…