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Fire Consumes Little Ferry Auto Body Shop Fire Consumes Little Ferry Auto Body Shop
Fire Consumes Little Ferry Auto Body Shop A worker was injured when a fierce fire blew through an auto body shop Saturday afternoon in Little Ferry, authorities said. The blaze broke out at Chizzy's Truck & Auto Repair on Bergen Turnpike off Route 46 around 2 p.m. It quickly went to two alarms. A worker sustained minor burns and was having trouble breathing, Police Chief James Walters said. Firefighters continued dousing flames.DAILY VOICE Several area departments provided mutual aid either at the scene or in coverage -- among them, Hackensack, Hasbrouck Heights, East Rutherford, Carlstadt, Wallington, Moonachie and Ridge…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Feds: Bean Counter Admits Embezzling Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars From Bergen Tour Company Feds: Bean Counter Admits Embezzling Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars From Bergen Tour Company
Feds: Bean Counter Admits Embezzling Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars From Bergen Tour Company Only a week after her former manager took a guilty plea in federal court, a Lyndhurst accountant admitted Monday that she helped embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars from the guided tour company they worked for. Ruby Baroni, 54, took a deal from the government rather than face trial – the same as Estela Laluf, 76, of River Edge, did last Monday, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Between 2010 and 2016, the pair conspired to write checks against the East Rutherford-based company’s bank accounts to cash, Honig said. Checks were also issued to actual company employees and co…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Fire Keeps Ski Slope At American Dream Mega Mall In Meadowlands Closed For Now Fire Keeps Ski Slope At American Dream Mega Mall In Meadowlands Closed For Now
Fire Keeps Ski Slope At American Dream Mega Mall In Meadowlands Closed For Now UPDATE: The indoor ski slope at the American Dream mega malls in the Meadowlands will remain closed until at least the end of this coming week following a fire that drew nearly 20 companies before dawn Saturday. "We can promise you that Big SNOW will be back and better than ever, just as soon as we can safely do so," an Instagram post by the company read. "At this point, we are uncertain of how long that will take." Firefighters doused the electrical blaze, which caused severe fire damage to the roof and ceiling and smoke damage elsewhere in the East Rutherford attraction after breaking ou…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Pre-Dawn Blaze Damages Ski Slope At American Dream Mega Mall Pre-Dawn Blaze Damages Ski Slope At American Dream Mega Mall
Pre-Dawn Blaze Damages Ski Slope At American Dream Mega Mall UPDATE: The indoor ski slope at the American Dream mega malls in the Meadowlands will remain closed until at least the end of this coming week following a fire that drew nearly 20 companies before dawn Saturday. "We can promise you that Big SNOW will be back and better than ever, just as soon as we can safely do so," an Instagram post by the company read. "At this point, we are uncertain of how long that will take." Firefighters doused the electrical blaze, which caused severe fire damage to the roof and ceiling and smoke damage elsewhere in the East Rutherford attraction after breaking ou…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Father, Son Killed, Mom, 66, Critical In North Arlington House Fire Father, Son Killed, Mom, 66, Critical In North Arlington House Fire
Father, Son Killed, Mom, 66, Critical In North Arlington House Fire UPDATE: A father and son were killed and the mom rescued in a pre-dawn house fire in North Arlington, authorities said. Furious CPR efforts on the 75-year-old father and his 44-year-old son on the front lawn of the 9th Street home were fruitless after the three-alarm fire trapped them shortly after 4 a.m. Friday, Police Chief Scott Hedenberg said. Safwat F. Saad and his son, Maged Saad, were both pronounced dead at the scene, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. The mother, Amal Z. Saad, 66, was taken to Clara Maas Medical Center in Belleville in critical condition after responders …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
KIDNAPPING: Driver Seized On Route 46 After Abducting Giants Game Companion, Police Report KIDNAPPING: Driver Seized On Route 46 After Abducting Giants Game Companion, Police Report
Kidnapping: Driver Seized On Route 46 After Abducting Giants Game Companion, Police Report An intense police search for a domestic violence victim who was abducted in Lyndhurst following Sunday’s Giants game ended with her Hudson County captor captured at gunpoint on Route 46, responders said. Iran Iznaga Garabito shoved the domestic violence victim into a Chevy wagon and drove her around for nearly an hour with the child safety locks on before she escaped at the network of ramps that connect highways in Ridgefield Park, authorities said. The 25-year-old Cuban national then chased her on foot through the grass median and halfway across Route 46 before a Port Authority police offi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Police: Car Thief Drives Wrong Way On Route 3 Police: Car Thief Drives Wrong Way On Route 3
Police: Car Thief Drives Wrong Way On Route 3 A car thief drove the wrong way on Route 3 before police caught him in Lyndhurst, authorities said. East Rutherford police broke off a pursuit when Christian Diaz, 34, Newark drove the Ford SUV west in the eastbound lanes of Route 3 just after midnight Saturday. Hearing their alert, Lyndhurst Sgt. Richard Jasinski began chasing the vehicle after Diaz drove the wrong way through the highway entrance, Detective Lt. Vincent Auteri said. The pursuit continued at high speed through the township, with Diaz ignoring lights and signs, Auteri said. Officer Matthew Dudek and Anthony Giaquinto joine…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Pissed-Off Retiree Who Fired Shots Over Bergen Neighbor's 'Loud' Parties Gets 364 Days In Jail Pissed-Off Retiree Who Fired Shots Over Bergen Neighbor's 'Loud' Parties Gets 364 Days In Jail
Pissed-Off Retiree Who Fired Shots Over Bergen Neighbor's 'Loud' Parties Gets 364 Days In Jail UPDATE: A retired defense contractor who admitted firing several shots from a handgun outside his Carlstadt home because of a neighbor's "loud parties and noise" must spend a plea-bargained 364 days in the Bergen County Jail. David Knoll, who had no previous history of trouble, had been suffering from depression exacerbated by COVID-19 isolation when he squeezed off three shots into the air in early May, defense attorney Brian Neary told a judge in Hackensack on Friday. Knoll, 62, for his part, told the judge he didn't intend to kill or frighten anyone with the .22-caliber handgun but reali…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Three Charged In $3 Million Burglary Of 50 Cent’s Bergen County Crib Three Charged In $3 Million Burglary Of 50 Cent’s Bergen County Crib
Three Charged In $3 Million Burglary Of 50 Cent’s Bergen County Crib A stolen car helped tie three ex-cons to the $3 million burglary of 50 Cent’s luxury apartment above the Hudson River, authorities said. The rapper, songwriter, TV producer and actor posted on Instagram that he was in Miami the third week of January, which law enforcement sources said afforded the thieves the opportunity. 50 – whose real name is Curtis Jackson – reported the break-in of his apartment to Cliffside Park police on Jan. 17. It “involved an estimated loss of approximately three million dollars in U.S. currency and jewelry,” Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Friday, wit…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Contractor Charged With Sexually Assaulting Pre-Teen In Bergen, Passaic Over Several Years Contractor Charged With Sexually Assaulting Pre-Teen In Bergen, Passaic Over Several Years
Contractor Charged With Sexually Assaulting Pre-Teen In Bergen, Passaic Over Several Years A Paterson contractor was charged with sexually assaulting a pre-teen in Bergen and Passaic counties over the course of five years and then trying to bribe a witness when investigators caught on to him. Milton Carchipulla, a 39-year-old self-employed general contractor, remained held Monday in the Bergen County Jail for a series of alleged assaults that date back to 2012. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said detectives from his Special Victims Unit began investigating Carchipulla after receiving a report in January that he’d “engaged in sexual activity with a child under the age of si…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Three Injured In Crash Outside MetLife Stadium Three Injured In Crash Outside MetLife Stadium
Three Injured In Crash Outside MetLife Stadium One driver suffered skull and facial fractures, while his passenger a had a broken leg and another driver sustained less serious injuries in a crash Thursday night on Route 3 near MetLife Stadium, responders said. East Rutherford and Lyndhurst firefighters teamed up to extricate the driver and passenger of one of the vehicles, which struck a utility pole in the eastbound crash with another vehicle shortly after 6 p.m., East Rutherford Deputy Police Chief Phillip Taormina said. All three taken to Hackensack University Medical Center after a medical chopper that was placed on …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
MEADOWLANDS RACETRACK MURDERS: Jersey City Man Tipped Off Shooters, Authorities Charge MEADOWLANDS RACETRACK MURDERS: Jersey City Man Tipped Off Shooters, Authorities Charge
Meadowlands Racetrack Murders: Jersey City Man Tipped Off Shooters, Authorities Charge A fourth Jersey City man has been charged with two counts of murder for arranging the shooting deaths of two young Paterson men outside the Meadowlands Racetrack last fall, authorities said Monday. Davon Womack, 23, is accused of tipping off the shooters that Davonte Scudder, 22, and Brian Astacio, 21, were in the parking lot of the East Rutherford complex the night of Oct. 25. Womack had “noticed the victims at the complex and then communicated with the co-defendants, who then traveled to the complex parking lot,” New Jersey State Police Col. Patrick J. Callahan and Bergen County Prosecut…

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by Jerry DeMarco