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Police & Fire
AGAIN? Another Alarm Malfunction Brings Massive Law Enforcement Response To Westwood HS AGAIN? Another Alarm Malfunction Brings Massive Law Enforcement Response To Westwood HS
Again? Another Alarm Malfunction Brings Massive Law Enforcement Response To Westwood HS The second alarm system malfunction at Westwood Regional High School in a little over two weeks created a confusing scene as parents and guardians were dropping off their children on Thursday. The system triggered a 7:43 a.m. May 2 lockdown, similar to what occurred on April 16, when the system malfunctioned twice, Westwood Regional Schools Supt. Jill Mortimer said. As before, a legion of tactical and other law enforcement officers converged on Washington Township -- among them, a Bergen County Regional SWAT team and police from the township, Westwood, Emerson, River Val…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Shot Fired In Photo Booth At Urban Air, Police Seize Boys 12, 15 Shot Fired In Photo Booth At Urban Air, Police Seize Boys 12, 15
Shot Fired In Photo Booth At Urban Air, Police Seize Boys 12, 15 A steel plate prevented a potential tragedy at Urban Air in South Hackensack when a loaded gun brought into a photo booth by two boys -- one 12, the other 15 -- went off, authorities said. "If not for the steel plate, the round could have gone through the machine and struck an innocent victim," South Hackensack Police Detective Sgt. James Donatello said.  The 6:30 p.m. shooting on Sunday, April 28, was another in a series of incidents that have recently drawn a massive law enforcement response to the all-ages Urban Air Trampoline & Adventure Park just off westbound Route 80. Surve…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
UPDATE: Woman Shot Dead At Konica Minolta HQ, Killer Surrenders In Montclair UPDATE: Woman Shot Dead At Konica Minolta HQ, Killer Surrenders In Montclair
Update: Woman Shot Dead At Konica Minolta HQ, Killer Surrenders In Montclair UPDATE: An intense search for a man who authorities said shot and killed his girlfriend at their workplace in Ramsey on New Year's Eve ended when he surrendered to police, multiple law enforcement sources told Daily Voice. The body of 41-year-old Crystal (Camargo) Peterson was found shortly before 7:30 p.m. Sunday in a cafeteria area at Konica Minolta's headquarters just off Route 17 near the Rockland County border, sources with direct knowledge of the homicide said. She'd been shot in the head, they said. Charged with murder and possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose was Lui…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Bergen Biz Partner Of Power 105.1 DJ Envy Busted By Feds In Multi-Million-Dollar Fraud Scheme Bergen Biz Partner Of Power 105.1 DJ Envy Busted By Feds In Multi-Million-Dollar Fraud Scheme
Bergen Biz Partner Of Power 105.1 DJ Envy Busted By Feds In Multi-Million-Dollar Fraud Scheme A New Jersey real estate investor and influencer who's business partners with Power 105.1 DJ Envy was seized early Wednesday by federal agents who charged him with orchestrating a multimillion-dollar Ponzi-like investment scheme. Promising returns that were too good to be true, Cesar Humberto Piña "exploited celebrity status and social media" to scam dozens of people out of millions of dollars, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said on Oct. 18. Piña, 45, who lives in the suburban Bergen County town of Franklin Lakes, craftily "developed a devoted following" whom he then victi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Gunpoint Rapist Robbed, Kidnapped One Of His Saddle Brook Victims: Prosecutor Gunpoint Rapist Robbed, Kidnapped One Of His Saddle Brook Victims: Prosecutor
Gunpoint Rapist Robbed, Kidnapped One Of His Saddle Brook Victims: Prosecutor Authorities on Friday seized a former Montclair High School football star who they said kidnapped and robbed one of multiple rape victims at gunpoint in Saddle Brook. There may be other victims, they said. Fokam Parfait, a 25-year-old repeat offender, fled the kidnapping rape on a motorcycle last Friday, March 24, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said in announcing his arrest a week later. Investigators from his Special Victims Unit and Saddle Brook police found that Parfait had also sexually assaulted “multiple” victims while armed in the township. Parfait – who played safety and lin…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Guatemalan National From North Bergen Charged With Sexually Assaulting Fairview Child Years Ago Guatemalan National From North Bergen Charged With Sexually Assaulting Fairview Child Years Ago
Guatemalan National From North Bergen Charged With Sexually Assaulting Fairview Child Years Ago An unemployed Guatemalan national living in North Bergen molested a young Fairview child at least four times going back more than a decade, authorities charged. Eddy Chocoj, 34, has remained in the Bergen County Jail since his arrest on Monday, Nov. 21, records show. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also placed a detainer on Chocoj on Tuesday. Such detainers are sought whenever local authorities jail immigrants who are suspected of illegally living in the United States. Chocoj is charged in Superior Court in Hackensack with multiple counts of sexual assault, along with one of…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Saddle Brook Police Chief Eyes Reinstatement, Restitution After Judge Stops Funeral Escort Case Saddle Brook Police Chief Eyes Reinstatement, Restitution After Judge Stops Funeral Escort Case
Saddle Brook Police Chief Eyes Reinstatement, Restitution After Judge Stops Funeral Escort Case Suspended Saddle Brook Police Chief Robert Kugler is seeking reinstatement, and restitution, following a judge's ruling that he was wrongly being prosecuted for assigning police escorts to processions from his family-owned funeral home. And despite having waited 18 months for vindication, Kugler isn’t angry. “I’ve turned the page,” he told Daily Voice. “I’m moving forward and expect to proudly return to be chief of police once again and serve my community and the general public. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.” State authorities wrongly applied a borough ordinance meant to keep police …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Teaneck Resident, 69, Charged With Robbing Bank Right Down The Street Teaneck Resident, 69, Charged With Robbing Bank Right Down The Street
Teaneck Resident, 69, Charged With Robbing Bank Right Down The Street GOTCHA! A man who robbed a Teaneck bank of several thousand dollars lives right up the block, authorities said after he was taken into custody a short time later. Leo Richard Jones Jr., 69, was dressed all in black when he passed a note "threatening bodily injury" to a teller at the Chase Bank on Cedar Lane shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19, Teaneck Deputy Police Chief Andrew McGurr said. No weapon was shown, the deputy chief said. A bank employee dialed 911 as Jones ran up the street toward the Cedar Lane garden apartment complex where he lives (at right in photo above), McGurr sai…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
UPDATE: Arrests Made In Edgewater Shooting Of Critically Wounded Rapper 'Lil TJay' UPDATE: Arrests Made In Edgewater Shooting Of Critically Wounded Rapper 'Lil TJay'
Update: Arrests Made In Edgewater Shooting Of Critically Wounded Rapper 'Lil TJay' UPDATE: An ex-con from the Bronx shot rapper “Lil TJay” and a companion during a robbery attempt in Edgewater, authorities said. Mohamed Konate, 27, was being held pending extradition to Bergen County to face charges that include attempted murder, armed robbery and weapons charges, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella announced Wednesday night. Konate shot Tione Jayden "Lil Tjay" Merritt, 21, of the Bronx multiple times, leaving him with life-threatening injuries, and wounded Antoine Boyd, 22, also of the Bronx, at the Promenade a short distance south of the George Washington Bridge short…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Authorities: Convicted Pyro Calls In Lyndhurst Car Fire, Waits For Responders, Lands In Jail Authorities: Convicted Pyro Calls In Lyndhurst Car Fire, Waits For Responders, Lands In Jail
Authorities: Convicted Pyro Calls In Lyndhurst Car Fire, Waits For Responders, Lands In Jail A paroled arsonist was waiting when firefighters in Lyndhurst responded to his call of an SUV fire. It didn’t take long for investigators to charge him with setting it. Christopher Baulch, 43, has an extensive criminal history that includes prison time served for torching two occupied Lyndhurst apartment buildings in 2000 – one on Christmas Eve, the other on New Year’s Eve – and then trying to play hero, records show. “In both cases, he went to help the people,” the sentencing judge in Hackensack said at the time. Baulch -- formerly of Lyndhurst and currently of Wayne – also has a chi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
STANDOFF ENDS: Lyndhurst Resident Who Turned Flamethrower On SWAT Team Surrenders STANDOFF ENDS: Lyndhurst Resident Who Turned Flamethrower On SWAT Team Surrenders
Standoff Ends: Lyndhurst Resident Who Turned Flamethrower On SWAT Team Surrenders UPDATE: A Lyndhurst man was charged with two counts of attempted murder for firing a flamethrower at SWAT team members during a 21-hour standoff. Robert C. Condit, 51, was also charged with nine counts of possession of prohibited weapons and ammunition, aggravated assault, violating a court order, obstruction of the law and unlawful use of a body vest, among other counts, criminal records in Superior Court in Hackensack show. Condit, who reportedly was angered after a judge ordered him to surrender his weapons, remained held in the Bergen County Jail on Thursday, May 5, after an exhaustive…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
UPDATE: New Milford High School Student Drowned Trying To Retrieve Ball For Soccer Players UPDATE: New Milford High School Student Drowned Trying To Retrieve Ball For Soccer Players
Update: New Milford High School Student Drowned Trying To Retrieve Ball For Soccer Players UPDATE: The body of a New Milford High School senior was removed from a borough pond hours after what witnesses said was a tragic accident. Clinten Ajit, 18, was doing a good deed when he went into the Hard Castle Pond behind the Dorchester Manor Apartments near the borough athletic fields around 7:15 p.m. Friday, April 22. "Some kids accidentally kicked a soccer ball in the water and [he] said he would get it for them," a responder said after police spoke with witnesses. "He didn't know how to swim and never came back up." Responding officers found Ajit's shoes on the bank, the ball floa…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
UPDATE: Ex-BF Cleared, Gang Member Charged With Stabbing Leonia Woman To Death UPDATE: Ex-BF Cleared, Gang Member Charged With Stabbing Leonia Woman To Death
Update: Ex-BF Cleared, Gang Member Charged With Stabbing Leonia Woman To Death UPDATE: A Paterson gang member now charged with killing a Leonia woman in the garden apartment she shared with her daughter ran out when he heard the girl wake up, then circled back as if he was just arriving, investigators said. Nile Diakos, 35, was recorded on phone calls and in texts admitting that he killed Alicia Arnone by stabbing her in the neck and chest last Saturday, March 26, according to court papers. Authorities originally charged her former live-in boyfriend, Andrae Daniels of Lodi, with killing Arnone, 35. But new information emerged that led them to drop murder charges aga…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Out-Of-State Teen Charged With Sexually Assaulting Underage Paramus Youngster Out-Of-State Teen Charged With Sexually Assaulting Underage Paramus Youngster
Out-Of-State Teen Charged With Sexually Assaulting Underage Paramus Youngster An out-of-state man sexually assaulted an underage Paramus teen multiple times, authorities charged. Elijah Hutchens, 18, of Huntsville, Alabama also had an unsecured gun within the victim’s reach, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Paramus police notified detectives from Musella’s Special Victims Unit of the alleged assault of the under-16 victim last Wednesday, March 16, the prosecutor said. Hutchens was in custody at Bergen New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus, although Musella didn’t explain why. He’s awaiting a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackens…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
ICE Puts Hold On MS-13 Member Captured After Escaping NJ Police Station In Handcuffs ICE Puts Hold On MS-13 Member Captured After Escaping NJ Police Station In Handcuffs
ICE Puts Hold On MS-13 Member Captured After Escaping NJ Police Station In Handcuffs Many figured New Jersey's bail reform law would free a purported MS-13 gang member who escaped from a local police station before being captured in Rhode Island. Before that could happen, however, federal immigration authorities issued a detainer on Adilson Estrada-Garcia, a 24-year-old Guatemalan national living in Cliffside Park. Estrada-Garcia was brought to the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack on Thursday. Before he even saw a judge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued the detainer. Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton has honored detainer requests for defendants who've be…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Bergen County Jail Inmate Sexually Assaulted By Violent Paterson Ex-Con, Authorities Charge Bergen County Jail Inmate Sexually Assaulted By Violent Paterson Ex-Con, Authorities Charge
Bergen County Jail Inmate Sexually Assaulted By Violent Paterson Ex-Con, Authorities Charge An ex-con with a violent history sexually assaulted a fellow inmate in the Bergen County Jail, authorities charged. Nasir Newsome, 25, of Paterson was being housed in the Bergen County Jail under an overflow agreement with Passaic County authorities after being charged with resisting arrest earlier this year, records show. Passaic County is paying Bergen County a little over $100 a bed per night to house each of up to 200 inmates as a means of easing overcrowding while officials determine the fate of the aging jail in Paterson. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said the county sheriff’…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Bergen Prosecutor: Fair Lawn HS Teacher Had Sex, Shared Drugs With Student Bergen Prosecutor: Fair Lawn HS Teacher Had Sex, Shared Drugs With Student
Bergen Prosecutor: Fair Lawn HS Teacher Had Sex, Shared Drugs With Student UPDATE: A Fair Lawn High School graphic arts teacher had sex and shared drugs with a student, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Friday. Detectives from Musella's Special Victims Unit were notified by the Institutional Abuse Investigation Unit of the New Jersey Department of Children and Family on Wednesday that Christine E. Knudsen, 44, had "engaged  in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student at the school where she is employed," the prosecutor said. "An investigation by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and the Fair Lawn Police Department revealed that Knudsen, of…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
CHILD PORN: Ex-Mahwah Councilman Gets Probation CHILD PORN: Ex-Mahwah Councilman Gets Probation
Child Porn: Ex-Mahwah Councilman Gets Probation UPDATE: A former Mahwah councilman who admitted having child porn avoided prison time and won't have to register as a Megan's Law offender thanks to a plea deal. Charles Jandris, a 56-year-old father of two, was sentenced to five years probation in Superior Court in Hackensack late last week as part of the deal. Jandris was operating a children's day care center with his mother when he was arrested in February 2019, authorities said at the time. SEE: A former EMT captain and Mahwah councilman who co-owns and operates a children's day care center with his mother was charged with posses…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Hackensack Store Manager Charged With Collecting, Sharing Hundreds Of Child Porn Images Hackensack Store Manager Charged With Collecting, Sharing Hundreds Of Child Porn Images
Hackensack Store Manager Charged With Collecting, Sharing Hundreds Of Child Porn Images A retail store supervisor from Hackensack was caught collecting and sharing hundreds of child porn images, authorities said Friday. Ryan McVey, a 33-year-old Maywood native, was arrested during a raid Thursday of his Quail Heights apartment on Prospect Street, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Detectives from Musella’s Cyber Crimes Unit learned that McVey “used the Internet to view, download, and possess more than 400 digital files and distributed multiple digital files depicting nude and/or sexually explicit prepubescent and pubescent children,” the prosecutor said. McVey remain…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Police: ‘Zoombombers’ Invade Asian-American Virtual Church Service Police: ‘Zoombombers’ Invade Asian-American Virtual Church Service
Police: ‘Zoombombers’ Invade Asian-American Virtual Church Service Several people hijacked a virtual service of a predominately Asian-American church in Englewood, uttering ethnic slurs and posting pornographic images, authorities said. More than 150 congregants and others with the Bergen County church were subject to the bias attack on Zoom, Police Detective Capt. Timothy Torell said Saturday. Although invasions of video conferences were once dismissed as trolling, that changed once the spread of COVID-19 made Zoom the app of choice for many forced to communicate remotely. The FBI considers the systemic “weaponization” of Zoom as hate speech and harassme…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Englewood Police Chief Lawrence Suffern Retires Englewood Police Chief Lawrence Suffern Retires
Englewood Police Chief Lawrence Suffern Retires Englewood Police Chief Lawrence Suffern retired on Wednesday.  Suffern, who’d been on vacation and was due to return Wednesday, was Bergen County's only Black police chief. He retired effective Thursday, city officials announced in a release. “Best chief ever to have served our great city,” Mayor Michael Wildes said following the announcement. “Respected in the county and serving since he was 18 years old for the last 33 years.” "What a sad day in Englewood this is!" wrote Rasheed J. Goins. "Thank you for your leadership and serving our community with such grace for all these yea…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Authorities ID Mahwah Man Accused Of Stabbing Wife Dead With Kitchen Knife Authorities ID Mahwah Man Accused Of Stabbing Wife Dead With Kitchen Knife
Authorities ID Mahwah Man Accused Of Stabbing Wife Dead With Kitchen Knife UPDATE: Authorities on Tuesday night identified a Mahwah retiree who they said stabbed his wife dead with a kitchen knife after her morning shower. Dieter R. Zimmerman, 73, called police around 7:45 a.m. from the couple's home on Indian Field Court, a townhouse development off Belgrove Drive near the Rockland border,  to tell them what happened, authorities said. Township police found Zimmerman with “several scratches and a bleeding cut on a finger” and his 69-year-old wife, Jaquelin, on a floor in an upstairs bathroom adjacent to the master bedroom, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Authorities: Mahwah Woman Stabbed Dead, Husband In Custody After Calling Police Authorities: Mahwah Woman Stabbed Dead, Husband In Custody After Calling Police
Authorities: Mahwah Woman Stabbed Dead, Husband In Custody After Calling Police UPDATE: Authorities on Tuesday night identified a Mahwah retiree who they said stabbed his wife dead with a kitchen knife after her morning shower. Dieter R. Zimmerman, 73, called police around 7:45 a.m. from the couple's home on Indian Field Court, a townhouse development off Belgrove Drive near the Rockland border, to tell them what happened, authorities said. Township police found Zimmerman with “several scratches and a bleeding cut on a finger” and his 69-year-old wife, Jaquelin, on a floor in an upstairs bathroom adjacent to the master bedroom, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella sa…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
UPDATE: Authorities Find Vehicle That Killed Wedding Guest Outside Bergen Catering Hall UPDATE: Authorities Find Vehicle That Killed Wedding Guest Outside Bergen Catering Hall
Update: Authorities Find Vehicle That Killed Wedding Guest Outside Bergen Catering Hall UPDATE: Authorities have the hit-and-run vehicle that struck and killed a 20-year-old wedding guest from Massachusetts outside a popular Route 17 catering hall Saturday night. Now they just need to determine who was driving. Witnesses and several occupants who were in the vehicle at the time were being interviewed. "We need to make sure which one was the actual driver," Bergen County Prosecutor's Chief of Detectives Robert Anzilotti told Daily Voice around noontime. An alert initially was broadcast for a red Dodge that fled the scene after the victim from Roxbury, MA was struck outside t…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
VIDEO: Police, Marchers Clash In Englewood, Four Arrested VIDEO: Police, Marchers Clash In Englewood, Four Arrested
Video: Police, Marchers Clash In Englewood, Four Arrested Tensions were quickly escalating Saturday when the organizer of a peace march in Englewood and a city police officer went chest-to-chest. Then things got out of hand. The officer was one of several who apparently were trying disperse a march early Saturday evening, repeatedly telling participants and onlookers to back up, after what appeared to be a separate incident that occurred along the route several minutes into the event. That's when he and Ainsworth Minott faced off, video shows (see below). Almost instantly, the officer and others push forward. Some marchers are forced to the grou…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Judge Releases Hackensack Woman Accused Of Killing Newborn Judge Releases Hackensack Woman Accused Of Killing Newborn
Judge Releases Hackensack Woman Accused Of Killing Newborn UPDATE: A judge in Hackensack on Tuesday released a Hackensack woman less than 24 hours after she was booked into the Bergen County Jail on charges of killing her newborn son. Kimberly Aponte, 19, hid the unwanted pregnancy from her family, authorities said. Aponte gave birth before dawn Saturday to a full-term boy whom she then wrapped in a towel and stuffed into a hamper, they said. Aponte's father called city police to the family's Hackensack Avenue apartment Saturday afternoon, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. There, the officers found the lifeless child, he said. Aponte,…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Palisades Park Police Sergeant Accused Of Stealing $10K From Resident Suspended Palisades Park Police Sergeant Accused Of Stealing $10K From Resident Suspended
Palisades Park Police Sergeant Accused Of Stealing $10K From Resident Suspended A Palisades Park police sergeant accused of stealing thousands of dollars from a borough resident was suspended from his job, authorities said Thursday. The police department received a complaint from a resident saying Christopher Sambogna, 50, stole $10,000 for them, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. The sergeant, in his 16th year with the department, broke into the resident's safe to steal the money March 1, according to a criminal complaint. Police received a complaint from the resident the following day, documents show. Sambogna was arrested Aug. 12 and charged with thef…

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by Cecilia Levine