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Police & Fire
NJ Ex-Con Featured On 'America's Most Wanted' Sentenced For Deadly Stabbing NJ Ex-Con Featured On 'America's Most Wanted' Sentenced For Deadly Stabbing
NJ Ex-Con Featured On 'America's Most Wanted' Sentenced For Deadly Stabbing An Ocean County ex-convict and parolee once featured on the TV show "America's Most Wanted" will spend more than a decade in prison after admitting to his role in the stabbing death of another man, authorities said. Angelo Grenci, 47, of Berkeley Township, was sentenced on Friday, Apr. 19 to 20 years in state prison, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said in a news release. He pleaded guilty on Monday, Jan. 29 to aggravated manslaughter in the killing of 50-year-old Carlton Williams of Seaside Heights. Toms River and Berkeley Township police responded to RWJBarnabas C…

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by Chris Spiker
Police & Fire
Motorcyclist Killed In NJ Crash With State Trooper Was 'Sublimely Talented' Guitarist Motorcyclist Killed In NJ Crash With State Trooper Was 'Sublimely Talented' Guitarist
Motorcyclist Killed In NJ Crash With State Trooper Was 'Sublimely Talented' Guitarist They called him Frankie Fender. Frank Lando, that is: The 65-year-old Toms River motorcyclist, guitarist, and father killed in an April 9 crash in Southampton with a New Jersey state trooper. On Friday, April 19, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin released Lando's identity, as well as that of the trooper involved: Anthony Fernandes. Fernandes was conducting routine patrol duties along Route 70 around 11:35 a.m. in Southampton that day, when his marked patrol car collided with Lando's motorcycle near Burrs Mill Road, Platkin said. Lando was taken to Virtua Mount Holly …

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Pedestrian Struck, Killed In Middlesex County Pedestrian Struck, Killed In Middlesex County
Pedestrian Struck, Killed In Middlesex County A pedestrian was struck and killed in South Amboy, authorities said. The person was struck at about 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17 on South Broadway, according to daily New Jersey State Police fatal crash data. South Amboy police were not immediately available with more details.

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
Vacant Home Damaged In Two-Alarm Fire: Rahway FD Vacant Home Damaged In Two-Alarm Fire: Rahway FD
Vacant Home Damaged In Two-Alarm Fire: Rahway FD A vacant home went up in flames in a two-alarm fire in Rahway on the evening of Tuesday, April 16, authorities said. At 11 p.m., the Rahway Police Department and Rahway Fire Department responded to 1334 Pierce St. for a fire in a vacant 2-story 1-family wood frame home, Rachel Smith, the chief communications officer for the city said. Firefighters discovered the interior rear and exterior of the structure on fire, Smith said. The building was empty and no injuries were reported, Smith said. The fire was declared under control after 20 minutes and firefighters cleared the scene after a…

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
BREAK IN, RINSE, REPEAT: Recidivist With 30-Year Sheet Busted For Burglaries In 4 Bergen Towns BREAK IN, RINSE, REPEAT: Recidivist With 30-Year Sheet Busted For Burglaries In 4 Bergen Towns
Break IN, Rinse, Repeat: Recidivist With 30-Year Sheet Busted For Burglaries In 4 Bergen Towns It never ends with some guys. Mark C. Todd, most recently of Hasbrouck Heights, just turned 50 amid what has been a three-decade-long string of burglaries, thefts and police pursuits in nearly a dozen Bergen County towns. It got to the point that detectives from Maywood, Carlstadt and Hasbrouck Heights all went together to arrest the ex-con at his home last Friday morning, April 12. He was charged with break-ins in Maywood, Carlstadt, Elmwood Park and Fair Lawn. Tood has remained held in the Bergen County Jail this past week based on the likelihood that he’ll be returned to prison. He sp…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Newark Teen Arrested For Car Theft Ring: Police Newark Teen Arrested For Car Theft Ring: Police
Newark Teen Arrested For Car Theft Ring: Police A 17-year-old Newark teenager was hit with multiple charges after stealing a man's Porsche and then striking him with it last November, authorities said. On Sunday, Nov. 19, officers responded to The Fairway on a report of a stolen Porsche, Cedar Grove police said in a release. During the theft, the victim was hit with the vehicle and knocked to the ground, police said. Utilizing the Porsche's GPS, officers said they tracked the vehicle to the Lincoln Tunnel where Port Authority police stopped the Porsche and took suspects into custody.  Over the last five months, police conducted mul…

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
GOTCHA! East Orange Fugitive Caught, Charged With Shooting Prospect Park Woman On New Year's GOTCHA! East Orange Fugitive Caught, Charged With Shooting Prospect Park Woman On New Year's
Gotcha! East Orange Fugitive Caught, Charged With Shooting Prospect Park Woman On New Year's State and federal authorities captured a 23-year-old fugitive from East Orange who was wanted for shooting a woman on New Year’s Day in Paterson. It was just before 5 a.m. this past Jan. 1 that the 25-year-old victim from Prospect Park arrived at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center via private vehicle.  She’d been shot near the corner of Market Street and East 33rd Street, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Paterson Police Department Officer-In- Charge Isa Abbassi said in a joint announcement. Eudys Santios-Toribio was subsequently identified as the shooter and a manh…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
NJ Jail Officer Admits Bringing Inmate To 'Blind Spot' For Beating By Colleagues NJ Jail Officer Admits Bringing Inmate To 'Blind Spot' For Beating By Colleagues
NJ Jail Officer Admits Bringing Inmate To 'Blind Spot' For Beating By Colleagues 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A Passaic County correctional officer admitted that he brought an inmate to a "blind spot" at the county jail so two colleagues could beat him for squirting one of them with urine. Officer Lorenzo Bowden, 39, initially agreed with Sgt. Jose Gonzalez and Sgt. Donald Vinales not to talk after they'd received federal grand jury subpoenas two years ago this month, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said. Bowden eventually had a change of heart. The pretrial detainee was "transported through an area of the PCJ that does not have a video surveillance camera, which correctional officers …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Wife Had Husband Sell Jewelry She Stole From Residents Of NJ Senior Living Facility: Prosecutor Wife Had Husband Sell Jewelry She Stole From Residents Of NJ Senior Living Facility: Prosecutor
Ana Rios Ezequiel Rios Arrest A husband and wife have been arrested for stealing and selling jewelry from the senior living facility she worked at, authorities announced. Ana Rios, 40, of Piscataway, would swipe pieces of jewelry from residents of a Bridgewater senior living facility where she worked as a housekeeper, then turned them over to her 43-year-old husband, Ezequiel Rios, Somerset County Prosecutor John P. McDonald said. Rios then sold two of the pieces, which McDonald said held a street value estimated at $45,000. Ana is believed to have stolen the jewelry between May 2023 and February 2024. P…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
NJ Teacher Who Posed As Woman To Lure 70 Boys Into Sending Him Nudes Gets 17½ Years: Feds NJ Teacher Who Posed As Woman To Lure 70 Boys Into Sending Him Nudes Gets 17½ Years: Feds
NJ Teacher Who Posed As Woman To Lure 70 Boys Into Sending Him Nudes Gets 17½ Years: Feds UPDATE: It's a measure of how despicably and disgustingly a former Union County grade-school teacher and youth soccer coach from Morristown abused dozens of boys he'd met online that a plea bargain got him "only" 17½ years in federal prison. Steven Brooks, 37, must serve at least 85% of the negotiated sentence handed down in federal court in Newark on Thursday, April 18, for posing as a woman to lure at least 70 underage boys into sending him nude photos and videos. That means he'll be in his early 50s before he'll be eligible to experience freedom again. FBI agents who investigated Brooks…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
6-Car Crash Kills 41-Year-Old On Garden State Parkway: State Police 6-Car Crash Kills 41-Year-Old On Garden State Parkway: State Police
6-Car Crash Kills 41-Year-Old On Garden State Parkway: State Police A 41-year-old North Carolina man was killed in a multi-car crash on the Garden State Parkway in Essex County early Wednesday, April 17, authorities said. Tarron Francis was heading north in a Nissan SUV when he was struck by a Dodge passenger vehicle around 12:45 a.m. in Irvington, said Jeffrey Lebron, a spokesman for the New Jersey State Police. The impact caused a chain reaction crash involving four other vehicles, two Toyota SUVs, a GMC SUV and a Kia passenger vehicle, Lebron said. Francis died as a result of the crash, and the driver of the Dodge sustained moderate injuries and was tak…

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
NJ HS Teacher Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Student Freed From Jail Until Trial NJ HS Teacher Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Student Freed From Jail Until Trial
NJ HS Teacher Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Student Freed From Jail Until Trial A Mercer County high school teacher accused of sexually assaulting a student several times at a Monmouth County wildlife preserve was released from jail to await her trial, authorities said. A judge denied a request on Wednesday, Apr. 17 to keep 37-year-old Jessica Sawicki of Point Pleasant Beach in jail through her trial, a Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office spokesperson said. She was charged with five counts of second-degree sexual assault and five counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child. Sawicki was arrested on Monday, Apr. 8, according to an affidavit obtai…

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by Chris Spiker