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Bergen County Lawyer, 79, Attacked In His Office, IT Worker Charged With Attempted Murder

An IT worker was charged with attempted murder after a 79-year-old attorney was beaten in his Fair Lawn office, authorities said.

Mohammad Ramadan

Mohammad Ramadan

Photo Credit: BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR

Associates said Friday that Ira J. Levine was out of the intensive care unit following Tuesday’s attack, in which he was struck with what Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella described as a “wooden baton.”

His accused assailant, Mohammad Ramadan, 34, of Rochelle Park remained held in the Bergen County Jail pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack on charges that also include aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury and weapons offenses.

Ramadan apparently was handling a service issue at Levine's Plaza Road office when an employee heard a commotion and called police at 2:44 p.m. Tuesday.

The victim was taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson with head injuries, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said without identifying Levine by name.

Ramadan had "attempted to kill" him, Musella said.

The Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification collected evidence.

Detectives from Musella’s Major Crimes Unit arrested Ramadan on Wednesday, the prosecutor said. Not much was initially known about him.

Levine, on the other hand, is well-known, particularly to law enforcement.

The Bayonne native, who founded The Levine Law Firm, was Fair Lawn’s borough prosecutor for 20 years beginning in 1978. Two years earlier, he was appointed as the first chairman of the Fair Lawn Municipal Ethics Committee.

Levine also served on the Board of Directors of the Fair Lawn Mental Health Center, was a past Fair Lawn Lions Club president and was an adjunct professor and lecturer of business law at FDU.

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