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WILD RIDE: Beaten, Bitten Uber Driver Pepper Sprays Carjacking Couple In Elmwood Park WILD RIDE: Beaten, Bitten Uber Driver Pepper Sprays Carjacking Couple In Elmwood Park
Wild Ride: Beaten, Bitten Uber Driver Pepper Sprays Carjacking Couple In Elmwood Park An Uber driver was beaten and bitten by a paroled armed robber he’d picked at a Route 46 motel but managed to pepper-spray the ex-con and his companion before they could carjack him, Elmwood Park police said. Dahmier Garvey, 23, and Johanna Bell, 19, got into his vehicle near the Red Carpet Motel on the eastbound highway early Sunday night, the 36-year-old victim from Wyckoff told responding officers. He told them that there was no smoking in the vehicle, he said, and that Uber company police required that both wear COVID masks, Police Chief Michael Foligno said. Bell, of Hawthorne wore …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
SWAT STANDOFF: Disturbed Barricaded Subject Emerges Without Incident In Wyckoff SWAT STANDOFF: Disturbed Barricaded Subject Emerges Without Incident In Wyckoff
SWAT Standoff: Disturbed Barricaded Subject Emerges Without Incident In Wyckoff A troubled resident who remained barricaded in a Wyckoff home for nearly an hour and a half Sunday eventually walked out unharmed, authorities said. A Bergen County Regional SWAT team was summoned and ramps on and off Route 208 were temporarily closed during the Grandview Avenue incident near St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. It began with a 911 call for "an emotionally disturbed person with a knife inside the home" around 1:45 p.m., Police Chief David Murphy said. "The person involved ultimately walked out unharmed and was transported" by the Wyckoff Volunteer Ambulance Corps to a local…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Feds: Wyckoff Man Busted Using Dead Brother's Identity To Get COVID Relief Loan Feds: Wyckoff Man Busted Using Dead Brother's Identity To Get COVID Relief Loan
Feds: Wyckoff Man Busted Using Dead Brother's Identity To Get COVID Relief Loan A Bergen County man stole his dead brother’s identity to get a $150,000 COVID economic disaster loan, said federal authorities who arrested him Thursday. Nathanael Zimmerman, 40, of Wyckoff also orchestrated a mortgage fraud scheme among applicants for Federal Housing Administration-FHA insured loans, submitting bogus bank statements and collecting a portion of the proceeds, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. The loans defaulted and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development lost more than $300,000, she said. Last year, Zimmerman used his deceased brother’s personal iden…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Wyckoff School District: Principal Might Have Avoided Lengthy Suspension By Cooperating Wyckoff School District: Principal Might Have Avoided Lengthy Suspension By Cooperating
Wyckoff School District: Principal Might Have Avoided Lengthy Suspension By Cooperating UPDATE: Administrative Law Judge Nanci Stokes said she'll tell the state commissioner of education that the Wyckoff Board of Education doesn't have to reinstate Eisenhower Middle School Principal Christopher Iasiello while it continues an investigation. Stokes said Iasiello's appeal to immediately be reinstated doesn't "clearly and convicingly" prove that he's suffering irreparable harm, that there's a "reasonable probability of ultimate success" or that he'll endure greater harm than the Board of Education. It also doesn't establish any legal right to his claim, she found. The principal's …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
‘Beautiful Soul' Bergen Native, 16, Killed In Delaware Crash ‘Beautiful Soul' Bergen Native, 16, Killed In Delaware Crash
‘Beautiful Soul' Bergen Native, 16, Killed In Delaware Crash A funeral service for Margaret "Maggie" Browne, a 16-year-old Wyckoff native who was killed in an ATV crash in Delaware this week, will be streamed from the church. “I not only knew this beautiful soul but I got the chance to coach her,” wrote Brianna Johnson of the Shore Pride All Stars competitive cheerleading team in Millsboro, DE. “She was definitely one of a kind. Words cannot explain how everyone is feeling.” The team itself wrote that Maggie, who’d previously been with the CC Champs of Waldwick, “brought a smile to everyone she was around and was a friend to anyone she came in c…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Man Missing For Weeks Found Dead Across Street From Parents’ Bergen Home Man Missing For Weeks Found Dead Across Street From Parents’ Bergen Home
Man Missing For Weeks Found Dead Across Street From Parents’ Bergen Home TRAGIC ENDING: With so much snow falling on New Jersey in recent weeks, the fear was that a Wyckoff man who went missing during a late January mega-storm was buried somewhere and wouldn't be found until it melted. Those fears came true Monday, when the body of 40-year-old Andrew R. Fraioli was found across the street from his parents’ home. No foul play was suspected, Wyckoff Police Lt. Joseph Soto said Monday afternoon. Fraioli, who worked as a drug counselor in Camden and had no special needs, came north five weeks ago from his Lindenwold home to help his 74-year-old dad dig out from the…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Bergen Sports Memorabilia Store Employee Charged With Stealing, Fencing Collectibles Bergen Sports Memorabilia Store Employee Charged With Stealing, Fencing Collectibles
Bergen Sports Memorabilia Store Employee Charged With Stealing, Fencing Collectibles A now-former employee at a Bergen County collectibles and sports memorabilia store was busted after he stole and sold merchandise, authorities said. The owner of the Wyckoff shop called police after he reviewed security video and “determined that an employee was most likely responsible,” Lt. Joseph Soto said. Detective Sgts. Mark Tagliareni and Michael Ragucci tracked some of the items to a Moonachie business that bought them from Thomas Bowers, 33, of Prospect Park, Soto said. They also recovered other items stolen from the Wyckoff shop at another business in Randolph, the lieutenant said…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Lifestyle
TONIGHT: New Jersey Native Nick Jonas Hosting 'SNL' TONIGHT: New Jersey Native Nick Jonas Hosting 'SNL'
Tonight: New Jersey Native Nick Jonas Hosting 'SNL' New Jersey native Nick Jonas will be hosting "Saturday Night Live" Saturday, Feb. 27. The 28-year-old will be doubling as the host and musical guest. Jonas, who grew up in Little Falls and Wyckoff with his three brothers, will reportedly be performing his new single "Spaceman." The singer and songwriter has only ever been on "SNL" as a musical guest -- solo in 2016, and in 2009 with his brothers. Tune into NBC at 11:30 p.m. to watch. Nick JonasArt Streiber/NBC

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Mysterious Disappearance Of Wyckoff Man, 40, Has Some Wondering: Is He Buried In Snow? Mysterious Disappearance Of Wyckoff Man, 40, Has Some Wondering: Is He Buried In Snow?
Mysterious Disappearance Of Wyckoff Man, 40, Has Some Wondering: Is He Buried In Snow? TRAGIC ENDING (UPDATE): With so much snow falling on New Jersey in recent weeks, the fear was that a Wyckoff man who went missing during a late January mega-storm was buried somewhere and wouldn't be found until it melted. Those fears came true Monday, when the body of 40-year-old Andrew R. Fraioli was found across the street from his parents’ home. No foul play was suspected, Wyckoff Police Lt. Joseph Soto said Monday afternoon. Fraioli, who worked as a drug counselor in Camden and had no special needs, came north five weeks ago from his Lindenwold home to help his 74-year-old dad di…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Worker Critically Injured In Explosion At Ramapo College Worker Critically Injured In Explosion At Ramapo College
Worker Critically Injured In Explosion At Ramapo College UPDATE: A construction worker was gravely injured in a pipe-valve explosion Tuesday morning at Ramapo College of New Jersey in Mahwah, responders said. Mahwah firefighters carried the victim out after he was struck in the head and knocked out by a valve cap during a pressure test on an 8-inch water line on the second floor of the college library shortly after 8 a.m., they said. A helicopter was cancelled because of the weather and he was taken by ambulance to Hackensack University Medical Center with severe head trauma, responders said. They were doubtful about his chances for survival. T…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Teacher At School That Principal Left Gets 6 Months No-Pay For Hitting Student, Touching Others Teacher At School That Principal Left Gets 6 Months No-Pay For Hitting Student, Touching Others
Teacher At School That Principal Left Gets 6 Months No-Pay For Hitting Student, Touching Others Already dealing with the mysterious departure of their principal and vice-principal, parents of students at Wyckoff’s middle school learned this week that a teacher there was recently disciplined for inappropriately touching students. As with the abrupt departure of Eisenhower Middle School Principal Christopher Iasiello and Assistant Principal Christopher Giordano, parents this week said they had no idea that an arbitrator two weeks ago upheld a six-month suspension without pay for teacher Scott Levy. No announcements were made nor information shared, parents in the northwest Bergen Count…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Where Did Bergen School Principal, Assistant Principal Go? Those Who Know Won't Say Where Did Bergen School Principal, Assistant Principal Go? Those Who Know Won't Say
Where Did Bergen School Principal, Assistant Principal Go? Those Who Know Won't Say It’s been nearly a month since their local middle school principal and his second in command suddenly "vanished" from the district, and concerned parents in Wyckoff, as well as their children, still have no idea why. Had they gotten into some kind of trouble? Were they fired? Did they quit? “We found out that we had no principal and vice-principal through the hair salon and through town gossip,” prominent civil attorney Michael Epstein said during a Wyckoff Board of Education Zoom meeting Monday night. Parents in the northwest Bergen County town who are concerned for their children’s safet…

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by Jerry DeMarco