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Police & Fire
SWAT RAID: PalPark Parents Charged With Running Drug Mill, 80 Lbs Of Pot, $303,610, Gun Seized SWAT RAID: PalPark Parents Charged With Running Drug Mill, 80 Lbs Of Pot, $303,610, Gun Seized
SWAT Raid: PalPark Parents Charged With Running Drug Mill, 80 Lbs Of Pot, $303,610, Gun Seized A Palisades Park couple with young children were charged with running a drug mill from their home, said authorities who reported seizing 80 pounds of pot, $303,610 in alleged proceeds and a gun during a raid. David Baez, 36, was stopped and taken into custody after driving away from the Hillside Avenue home that he shares with Massiel Inoa, 28, and their children, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Their children were with Inoa, 28, when detectives and borough police -- backed by a Bergen County Regional SWAT team -- raided the home moments later, Musella said. Members of Musella’…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Accused Killer In Palisades Park Stabbing Captured In Maryland Accused Killer In Palisades Park Stabbing Captured In Maryland
Accused Killer In Palisades Park Stabbing Captured In Maryland UPDATE: A bus company employee who stabbed and killed a fellow Palisades Park resident fled to Maryland, where he was captured, authorities said. Jose M. Rivera Mes, 29, remained held in the Prince George’s County Jail in Upper Marlboro, MD pending extradition to New Jersey to face murder and weapons charges in Superior Court in Hackensack. Rivera-Mes stabbed Danilo Gonzalez-Flores, 37, with a kitchen knife outside the ShopRite on Roosevelt Avenue shortly after 7 p.m. last Monday, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. He'd been gashed so deeply across his stomach that organs were exp…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
UPDATE: Accused Killer In Palisades Park Stabbing Captured In Maryland UPDATE: Accused Killer In Palisades Park Stabbing Captured In Maryland
Update: Accused Killer In Palisades Park Stabbing Captured In Maryland UPDATE (JULY 31): A bus company employee who stabbed and killed a fellow Palisades Park resident fled to Maryland, where he was captured, authorities said. Jose M. Rivera Mes, 29, remained held in the Prince George’s County Jail in Upper Marlboro, MD pending extradition to New Jersey to face murder and weapons charges in Superior Court in Hackensack. Rivera-Mes stabbed Danilo Gonzalez-Flores, 37, with a kitchen knife outside the ShopRite on Roosevelt Avenue shortly after 7 p.m. last Monday, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. He'd been gashed so deeply across his stomach that organ…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
COLD CASE CRACKED: DNA From Soda Can Helps Solve PalPark Business Break-Ins COLD CASE CRACKED: DNA From Soda Can Helps Solve PalPark Business Break-Ins
Cold CASE Cracked: DNA From Soda Can Helps Solve PalPark Business Break-Ins Palisades Park police cracked a pair of cold-case burglaries after the results of a DNA test on a soda can led them to a familiar face from a neighboring town. Officers responding to a break-in at what was then the Happy Diner on Broad Avenue in 2018 found a damaged and emptied cash register outside the Honey Pig Bossam next door, Detective Sgt. Alex Monteleone said. They contacted the owners of both businesses, one of whom reported finding an iPad and $100 missing – along with a soda can that had been left on a counter, he said. Sgt. Sean Cotrrell secured the can, which was sent to t…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Fort Lee Funds Dedicated To Families Displaced In Devastating Apartment Building Fire Fort Lee Funds Dedicated To Families Displaced In Devastating Apartment Building Fire
Fort Lee Funds Dedicated To Families Displaced In Devastating Apartment Building Fire UPDATE: A fund established to aid Hurricane Sandy victims will go toward helping families displaced by a fire that destroyed an apartment building near the George Washington Bridge. Two volunteer firefighters were hospitalized with relatively minor injuries in the six-alarm fire on Hudson Terrace in Fort Lee, which ignited Saturday afternoon, continued through the night and collapsed portions of the five-story brick building. Authorities initially feared the worst when a resident was unaccounted for, Mayor Mark Sokolich said, but that tenant apparently is out of the country. The Red Cros…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Mayor: Fears Of Fatality Unfounded In Furious Fire That Destroyed Fort Lee Apartment Building Mayor: Fears Of Fatality Unfounded In Furious Fire That Destroyed Fort Lee Apartment Building
Mayor: Fears Of Fatality Unfounded In Furious Fire That Destroyed Fort Lee Apartment Building UPDATE: No serious injuries were reported in a raging fire that destroyed an apartment building near the George Washington Bridge. Two volunteer firefighters were hospitalized with relatively minor injuries from the six-alarm fire on Hudson Terrace in Fort Lee, which ignited Saturday afternoon, continued through the night and collapsed portions of the five-story brick building. Authorities initially feared the worst when a resident was unaccounted for, Mayor Mark Sokolich said, but that tenant apparently is out of the country. The Red Cross had put up about a dozen families at local hote…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Fire Rages At Fort Lee Apartment Building Fire Rages At Fort Lee Apartment Building
Fire Rages At Fort Lee Apartment Building UPDATE: No serious injuries were reported in a raging fire that destroyed an apartment building near the George Washington Bridge. Two volunteer firefighters were hospitalized with relatively minor injuries from the six-alarm fire on Hudson Terrace in Fort Lee, which ignited Saturday afternoon, continued through the night and collapsed portions of the five-story brick building. Authorities initially feared the worst when a resident was unaccounted for, Mayor Mark Sokolich said, but that tenant apparently is out of the country. The Red Cross had put up about a dozen families at local hotel…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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NJ Uber Rider Accused Of Threatening Driver With Fake Gun For Oral Sex Indicted NJ Uber Rider Accused Of Threatening Driver With Fake Gun For Oral Sex Indicted
NJ Uber Rider Accused Of Threatening Driver With Fake Gun For Oral Sex Indicted A gun-wielding Uber rider from Fort Lee who threatened to kill a driver if she didn’t give him oral sex had taken off his shirt and was sitting in the front seat when police showed up, authorities said. The Uber driver had fooled Andrew Mendez, 30, into waiting while she ran into a Paterson grocery store to get something to drink, an indictment returned by a state grand jury says. Officers who seized Mendez also found an imitation handgun that the driver said he’d “racked” during their ride, it says. Mendez has remained in the Passaic County Jail ever since the incident on Feb. 16, 2020. …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Paterson PD Raids Stash House That Supplied Open-Air Drug Market At City Park Paterson PD Raids Stash House That Supplied Open-Air Drug Market At City Park
Paterson PD Raids Stash House That Supplied Open-Air Drug Market At City Park Dealers were doing brisk business at an open-air drug market in and around a Paterson park when city police raided their stash house, seizing 1,500 heroin folds, nearly 100 vials of crack and two handguns. As the investigators watched, a three-man team of dealers took orders and retrieved drugs for buyers from an apartment over a Rosa Parks Boulevard storefront around the corner from Barbour Park, Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said Tuesday. After a series of arrests, they obtained warrants and hit the apartment, he said. There, the director said, they seized: a .38-caliber Taurus…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Responders: Driver Involved In Hit-Run Pedestrian Crash Near GWB In Fort Lee Returns To Scene Responders: Driver Involved In Hit-Run Pedestrian Crash Near GWB In Fort Lee Returns To Scene
Responders: Driver Involved In Hit-Run Pedestrian Crash Near GWB In Fort Lee Returns To Scene UPDATE: A pickup truck driver who took off after hitting a pedestrian in Fort Lee returned to the scene, authorities said. Richard Giacobone, a 42-year-old former Palisades Park police officer who left the department in disgrace, received a trio of summonses in connection with the Friday night rush-hour crash, records show. A 52-year-old Fort Lee woman was in the crosswalk at a three-way stop on Fletcher Avenue near Constitution Park when Giacobone turned his 2017 Ford Raptor left off eastbound Lewis Street and hit her shortly after 5 p.m., , Capt. Ricky Mirkovic said. Giacobone then …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Prosecutor: Leonia Phys Ed Teacher Had 'Inappropriate Sexual Relationship' With Student Prosecutor: Leonia Phys Ed Teacher Had 'Inappropriate Sexual Relationship' With Student
Prosecutor: Leonia Phys Ed Teacher Had 'Inappropriate Sexual Relationship' With Student UPDATE: A Leonia High School physical education teacher was arrested after authorities learned of an "inappropriate sexual relationship" with a student, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Friday.  Samantha Krakower, who turned 24 on Wednesday, was charged with second-degree sexual assault by someone with “supervisory or disciplinary power” over a victim 16 to 17 years old, he said. Krakower, a former high school and college softball standout who lives in Palisades Park, also was charged with criminal sexual contact and child endangerment. She remained held in the county l…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Leonia High School Phys Ed Teacher Charged With Sexually Assaulting Underage Teen Leonia High School Phys Ed Teacher Charged With Sexually Assaulting Underage Teen
Leonia High School Phys Ed Teacher Charged With Sexually Assaulting Underage Teen UPDATE: A Leonia High School physical education teacher was arrested after authorities learned of an "inappropriate sexual relationship" with a student, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Friday. Samantha Krakower, who turned 24 on Wednesday, was charged with second-degree sexual assault by someone with “supervisory or disciplinary power” over a victim 16 to 17 years old, he said. Krakower, a former high school and college softball standout who lives in Palisades Park, also was charged with criminal sexual contact and child endangerment. She remained held in the county lockup Frid…

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by Jerry DeMarco