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Hudson County HS Student, 17, Charged With Sex Crimes Against Female Classmate: Prosecutor Hudson County HS Student, 17, Charged With Sex Crimes Against Female Classmate: Prosecutor
Hudson County HS Student, 17, Charged With Sex Crimes Against Female Classmate: Prosecutor A 17-year-old male student was charged with criminal sexual contact following two incidents involving a female classmate at a Hudson County high school, authorities announced Tuesday. The unnamed teen was charged Monday after an investigation opened Jan. 18 by the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit revealed two separate incidents that occurred inside the building during the school year, Prosecutor Esther Suarez said. The teen was charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact and released to a legal guardian pending an initial court appearance. Sex crimes can be rep…

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by Valerie Musson
News
Police: Enraged Fairview Mom Restrained From Attacking Homeless Man Who Fondled Daughter, 13 Police: Enraged Fairview Mom Restrained From Attacking Homeless Man Who Fondled Daughter, 13
Police: Enraged Fairview Mom Restrained From Attacking Homeless Man Who Fondled Daughter, 13 A furious mom had to be restrained after she went after a homeless man who Fairview police said fondled her 13-year-old daughter on the street. The pair were walking past a restaurant on Anderson Avenue near Walker Street when Mario Camey “cupped” the girl’s butt around 10 a.m. Saturday, Police Chief Martin Kahn said. The mother confronted the 45-year-old Guatemalan national, who laughed and said her daughter was “very pretty,” the chief said. A bystander jumped in and separated them, then told the 5-foot-2-inch, 130-pound Camey to go into the restaurant, after the mother tried to get at h…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Garfield Man, 71, Charged With Sexual Contact With Teen Garfield Man, 71, Charged With Sexual Contact With Teen
Garfield Man, 71, Charged With Sexual Contact With Teen A 71-year-old Garfield man was jailed on charges of having sexual contact with an underage minor. Authorities didn’t specify the “inappropriate sexual conduct” alleged against Mikulas “Mickey” Banacky, who Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said is married and unemployed. He did say it involved “a child under the age of sixteen in Garfield.” Banacky, a Czech immigrant who lives on Gaston Avenue, had a prior arrest on his record. He spent nearly two months in the Bergen County Jail in 2014 after being charged with simple assault and making threats, records show. This time he was charged…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
NJ Landlord Faces Sex Crimes Against 7 More Tenants, Total Climbs To 20 NJ Landlord Faces Sex Crimes Against 7 More Tenants, Total Climbs To 20
NJ Landlord Faces Sex Crimes Against 7 More Tenants, Total Climbs To 20 A New Jersey landlord federally accused of demanding sexual favors from tenants in exchange for rent relief is facing additional charges against seven new alleged victims, bringing the total to 20, authorities said Thursday. Joseph Centanni was charged with five additional counts of second-degree sexual assault and seven additional counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact, Acting Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay V. Ruotolo and Elizabeth Police Department Chief Giacomo Sacca and Director Earl Graves said. The 74-year-old Mountainside resident -- who owns hundreds of residential rental …

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by Cecilia Levine
News
NJ BAIL REFORM: Released Twice In Two Weeks, Ridgefield Park Man Gropes Woman, Police Charge NJ BAIL REFORM: Released Twice In Two Weeks, Ridgefield Park Man Gropes Woman, Police Charge
NJ Bail Reform: Released Twice In Two Weeks, Ridgefield Park Man Gropes Woman, Police Charge A repeat offender wanted for groping a local woman may have been ready to strike again when a Ridgefield Park police officer grabbed him, authorities said. It became the third time that Michael Hernandez, 22, had been arrested in Bergen County in a little over a month -- as well as the third time that police ended up seeing him released. The first time, they were required to release Hernandez under New Jersey's bail reform law after they said they caught him breaking into cars on May 16. SEE: Detective Work Produces Ridgefield Park Vehicle Burglary Arrest Ten days later (May 26), Hernande…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Indictment: Paterson Man Sexually Assaulted One Child In Front Of Another Indictment: Paterson Man Sexually Assaulted One Child In Front Of Another
Indictment: Paterson Man Sexually Assaulted One Child In Front Of Another A Paterson man sexually abused a 13-year-old child in front of an 8-year-old, a state grand jury indictment alleges. Mario E. Hernandez, 54, originally was arrested last month following an investigation by detectives from Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes’s Special Victims Unit. The unit was alerted by the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency, Valdes said. Detectives interviewed both children as well as other witnesses, the prosecutor said. The older child reported being sexually assaulted by Hernandez last fall, she said, adding that the 8-year-old reported witnessing…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
NJ Driving School Instructor Charged With Sexually Assaulting Students NJ Driving School Instructor Charged With Sexually Assaulting Students
NJ Driving School Instructor Charged With Sexually Assaulting Students A 59-year-old Somerset County ex-driving school instructor was arrested for sexually assaulting two driving students during sessions, authorities said. Steven Collucci, who previously worked for Dill's Driving School, is accused of sexually assaulting two 16-year-old alleged victims, Somerset County Prosecutor Michael H. Robertson said. The first alleged victim reported being touched in a sexual manner by Collucci, of Somerville, while driving in the Bridgewater and Hillsborough area in June 2017, Robertson said. Then, in January 2021, a second individual reported being touched s…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Ex-Teacher, Wrestling Coach Indicted For Criminal Sexual Contact Worked At Dozens Of NJ Schools Ex-Teacher, Wrestling Coach Indicted For Criminal Sexual Contact Worked At Dozens Of NJ Schools
Ex-Teacher, Wrestling Coach Indicted For Criminal Sexual Contact Worked At Dozens Of NJ Schools A former special education teacher and college wrestling coach who worked for dozens of New Jersey schools and youth programs has been indicted for endangering the welfare of a minor, filming/possession of child exploitive material, and criminal sexual contact, authorities said.  John M. Denuto, 44, of Spotswood, was indicted on more than two dozen counts of charges relating to child endangerment, invasion of privacy, possession of child pornography witness tampering and more, according to Middlesex County Yolanda Ciccone and Chief John Zebrowski of the Sayrevil…

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by Jon Craig
News
Authorities: Sitter From Paterson, 33, Fondles Wayne Kid After Sharing Booze, Pot Authorities: Sitter From Paterson, 33, Fondles Wayne Kid After Sharing Booze, Pot
Authorities: Sitter From Paterson, 33, Fondles Wayne Kid After Sharing Booze, Pot A 33-year-old Paterson man babysitting on New Year’s Eve gave booze and pot to a 13-year-old Wayne youngster before fondling the underage teen, authorities charged. Joseph Montgomery was arrested last Wednesday, but Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Wayne Police Chief Jack McNiff didn’t announce it until Monday. In a joint release, Valdes and McNiff said Wayne police responded to the home on Jan. 2 on a report of the child being “inappropriately touched” by Montgomery. Detectives from the prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit and Wayne Police Department spoke with the alleged vic…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Police: Teaneck Ex-Con Fondles, Threatens Englewood Restaurant Worker With Razor Police: Teaneck Ex-Con Fondles, Threatens Englewood Restaurant Worker With Razor
Police: Teaneck Ex-Con Fondles, Threatens Englewood Restaurant Worker With Razor Englewood police captured a violent repeat offender from Teaneck who twice tried to fondle a restaurant worker before threatening her with a box cutter, authorities said. Responding officers found and arrested Jermaine Oshen Thompson, 37, after he’d fled the West Palisade Avenue restaurant, Deputy Police Chief Gregory Halstead said. It was the sixth time Thompson had been arrested in the past 11 months. A judge had freed Thompson in September pending trial after he was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in a domestic violence incident in Hackensack. He’d been arrested a …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
GOTCHA! Saddle River Patrol Officer Nabs Wanted Rockland Sex Offender From Washington Township GOTCHA! Saddle River Patrol Officer Nabs Wanted Rockland Sex Offender From Washington Township
Gotcha! Saddle River Patrol Officer Nabs Wanted Rockland Sex Offender From Washington Township A Saddle River patrol officer on the lookout for car thieves caught a fugitive sex offender wanted out of Rockland County sleeping in his car, authorities said. Michael Rosen, 32, of Washington Township, remained held Wednesday in the Bergen County Jail pending extradition proceedings on a fugitive warrant issued by a judge in New City. Saddle River Police Officer Diana Golonek was on patrol when she spotted a 2009 Audi sedan parked with its high beams on and temporary license tags on Chestnut Ridge Road around 5 a.m. Tuesday, Police Chief Jason Cosgriff said. It being a prime time of day …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Paramus School Therapist From Washington Township Loses License For Kissing, 'Sexting' Student Paramus School Therapist From Washington Township Loses License For Kissing, 'Sexting' Student
Paramus School Therapist From Washington Township Loses License For Kissing, 'Sexting' Student A Washington Township youth therapist had her license permanently revoked for making out and exchanging suggestive texts with a 17-year-boy she was counseling from a private Paramus High School, authorities said Wednesday. Tara Cardinale, 39, pleaded guilty to criminal sexual contact rather than go to trial following her arrest by members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit earlier this year. Cardinale, who worked at the Alliance Academy, agreed to the permanent revocation of her New Jersey license as a clinical social worker as a condition of the plea, Attorney General G…

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by Jerry DeMarco