Find Your Daily Voice
Highland Lakes-Vernon
Your Local News for Highland Lakes and Vernon, New Jersey
Wednesday, nov 6
61°
Follow
News
Schools
Business
Obituaries
Police & Fire
Weather
Lifestyle
Politics
Sports
Events
Real Estate
Tags
Jobs
Shop
Support Us
Highland Lakes-Vernon
Follow
Find Your Daily Voice
News
Schools
Business
Obituaries
Police & Fire
Weather
Lifestyle
Politics
Sports
Events
Real Estate
Tags
Jobs
Shop
Support Us
Home
About us
All sites
Advertise with us
Contact us
Terms of use
Privacy policy
Code of ethics
Site Map
© 2024 Cantata Media
61°
Wednesday, nov 6
Tag:
Uber
Police & Fire
Uber Driver Rapes Drunken Villanova Student In Her Dorm, Returns For Venmo Transaction: DA
An Uber driver from Montgomery County was arrested for raping a Villanova University student who was drunk after a night out with friends, according to authorities. Mirvan Dinler, 26, of Trappe, picked the victim up at a Philadelphia nightclub in an UberX and drove her back to her dorm in Hovnanian Hall at the Radnor Township campus on Friday, Sept. 13, police paperwork reads. Dinler then followed the student back to her dorm and raped her then forced her to perform oral sex on him, the paperwork says. The victim told authorities that the last thing she remembered was waking up to find…
Police & Fire
Uber Driver Slashed With Box Cutter, 71-Year-Old Female Passenger Jailed
A 71-year-old passenger from Bergenfield was jailed after New Milford police said she slashed an Uber driver with a box cutter. The 53-year-old driver from Newark picked up Linda Buckner in Hackensack and was driving her home when she became irate for some reason and slashed his face, New Milford Police Capt. Kevin Van Saders said. Officers Pierre Hanikeh, Daniel O’Neill and Shane Churaman and their colleagues from Teaneck met with the injured driver on New Bridge Road near the borders of their towns around midnight Saturday, May 4, the captain said. He has two cuts on his face, …
Police & Fire
Bergen County Man's Assault On Palestinian-American Wasn't Bias Crime: Cops
A 31-year-old Bergen County man was arrested for assaulting a Palestinian American who said he was called a terrorist in Jersey City on Monday, Nov. 27, authorities said. At 1:30 a.m., Mo Hamzeh said on his Instagram that he was waiting on an Uber outside Grove Station when a man asked him where he was from. Hamzeh said Baltimore, and then when the man persisted, Hamzeh said he told him he was Palestinian. The man and several of his friends began following Hamzeh, yelling racial slurs before sucker punching him in the face, he said. Hamzeh said he fell and his twisted his knee, bumping the…
Police & Fire
NJ Driver Was 10X Over Legal Limit, Going 85 MPH In CT Uber Crash Near University, Police Say
A 19-year-old DUI driver from New Jersey was 10 times over the legal limit and driving at 85 mph when he crashed into an Uber carrying four of his peers from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut last month, officials said. Tyler Delk of South Orange, has been charged with assault with a motor vehicle, DUI, reckless driving, and other offenses on Tuesday, Oct. 24 by Fairfield Police for the Friday, Sept. 29 crash on Jefferson Street. Delk suffered a brain injury, dissected carotid artery, broken jaw, broken ribs, collapsed lung, and lacerated spleen in the crash, according to a GoFundMe …
Police & Fire
Fleeing Mall Suspect Caught After Ordering Uber: Wayne PD
A suspect who ran from a Wayne police officer at the Willowbrook Mall got tripped up when he called for an Uber, authorities said. A mall security guard had flagged down Officer William Hall following shoplifting from the Pac Sun clothing store shortly before 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15, Detective Capt. Dan Daly said. The officer approached Khaalil Tariq Branch, 29, of Philadelphia, who “feigned that he was looking for identification and suddenly ran through the parking lot,” the captain said. Hall chased Branch to Willowbrook Boulevard and onto Riverside Drive before he and Officer Matthew Ber…
Police & Fire
Comatose NJ Lifeguard Suffers Brain Injury In Crash With Uber In CT
A 19-year-old New Jersey resident is in a medically-induced coma following a crash involving several of his Sacred Heart University peers last month in Connecticut. Tyler Delk, of South Orange, was behind the wheel of an Audi that ended up on its roof in a collision with an Uber carrying four female passengers on Friday, Sept. 29, according to Fairfield Police Lt. Edward Nook Jr. and a GoFundMe for Delk. The scene of the crash that left six students in critical condition.DoingItLocal.com The JCC Metrowest in West Orange said Delk is a lifeguard at the facility. The Fairfield, CT crash …
Police & Fire
Driver, Passenger Hospitalized After Uber Barrels Into Parked Teslas Off Route 17
An Uber driver and his female passenger were hospitalized after a chain-reaction collision that sent his sedan off rain-slicked Route 17 and into the parking lot of a Tesla dealership. Two vehicles in the Tesla Paramus lot on the northbound highway just before A&S Drive were damaged by the Toyota Corolla shortly before 7 a.m. Saturday, June 24. The pair in the Corolla were taken to Hackensack University Medical Center by Paramus EMS. Citywide Towing removed the sedan. Outside the Tesla Paramus dealership on northbound Route 17 before A&S Drive.Boyd A. Loving A second car invol…
Police & Fire
Hackensack HS Seniors Get Into Scrape After Targeting Uber Driver In 'Assassin' Game
A half-dozen Hackensack High School seniors who started out having innocent fun got more than they bargained for when one of them firedt a toy Orbeez gun at an Uber driver. The teens were headed to the Walmart off Route 46 in Teterboro as part of the increasingly popular "Senior Assassin" game when they say they were cut off. Played by high school seniors and university students, the group-chat game involves teams that "eliminate targets" by shooting at one another with water guns that fire gel pellets, then share the encounters on social media. It's naturally caused concern in certain cir…
News
Vigilantes Defy Prosecutor, Snare Elmwood Park Man In Alleged Plan To Send Uber For Boy For Sex
A group of vigilantes led police to an Elmwood Park man accused of sending an Uber to pick up a fare whom he thought was a 14-year-old boy for sex. Just a week after Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella threatened to arrest citizens who conduct their own stings, the vigilantes summoned Elmwood Park police to the North Street home of Orhan Sokoli around 3:30 a.m. last Friday, Dec. 30. They told the officers who responded that Sokoli sent an Uber to a designated address thinking he was having an underage boy picked up for sex at his home after meeting on a dating site and exchanging texts, P…
News
Uber Driver Struck On Route 17 After Getting Out To Help Ill Passenger
An Uber driver was struck by a passing car after he got out to help an ill passenger on Route 17 in Waldwick, authorities said. The 31-year-old Yonkers driver pulled his 2019 Cherokee to the side of the southbound highway just past the Sheridan Avenue exit shortly after midnight on Saturday, Dec. 3, "when he learned that his rear passenger was not feeling well in the back seat," Waldwick Police Lt. Troy E. Seifert said. The Uber driver was then struck in the right lane by a 2018 Honda Civic operated by a 37-year-old Bergenfield resident, the lieutenant said. The victim was taken to Hackens…
News
Out-Of-Control SUV Crosses Palisades Parkway Median, Slams Head-On Into Uber Carrying Diabetic
Responders feared the worst after an out-of-control SUV crossed the grass median of the Palisades Interstate Parkway and slammed head-on into an Uber headed in the opposite direction. What's more, the Uber passenger was suffering a medical episode and was going in and out of consciousness when officers arrived an instant later, PIP police said. A 37-year-old Suffern man who was driving the 2021 Honda Passport told police he was headed south in Englewood Cliffs when he tried to avoid hitting another vehicle and lost control of the SUV, Lt. Raymond Walter said. The Passport barreled across t…
News
Gotcha
! Armed, Dangerous Fugitive Wanted By
Nypd
, ATF Captured By Fairview Police
An armed and dangerous fugitive wanted by the NYPD and ATF had nowhere to run when Fairview police surprised him, authorities said. Alvin Eusebio, a 37-year-old ex-con, was wanted for shootings in Manhattan and Queens, as well as federal firearm offenses in Miami, when a colleague from the NYPD warrant squad told Fairview Police Detective Lt. Michael Martic that he might be in town. An Uber driver from the city had apparently dropped Eusebio off at an apartment building at the corner of Broad Avenue (Route 1&9) and Prospect Avenue in Fairview, the lieutenant said. Detectives obtained …
News
Why Uber Is Paying NJ Record $100 Million Back In Taxes
In a record-setting misclassification case, Uber has agreed to pay New Jersey $100 million back in taxes after a state audit found the ride-share company misclassified drivers as independent contractors. This is the most amount of money New Jersey has received for this type of case, and covers 297,866 drivers. The payment follows New Jersey Department of Labor (NJDOL) audits that assessed Uber and its subsidiary Rasier LLC a combined $78 million in past-due contributions plus penalties and interest of $22 million. Employers who misclassify workers as independent contractors skip…
News
PalPark Burglary Cracked With Arrest Of Uber Robber's Accused Getaway Driver
A Garfield man who was charged last week in the knifepoint robbery of an Uber passenger had also been busted for a burglary in Palisades Park, authorities confirmed. Allen Ernst, 28, and an accomplice bolted from a Palisades Park home when a resident who lives there returned around 4:30 p.m. July 14, said Capt. Anthony Espino, the officer in charge of the department. The pair – who apparently entered through an unlocked sliding rear door -- dropped a pillowcase full of valuables as they fled, the captain said. Police from Leonia and Ridgefield and a Bergen County sheriff’s K-9 unit helped …
Police & Fire
Unidentified Man Steals Nearly $700 In Razors From Morris County CVS, Flees In Rideshare: PD
Recognize him? Authorities are seeking the public’s help identifying a man they say stole hundreds of dollars’ worth of razors from a Morris County CVS store and fled in a rideshare vehicle. The suspect pictured above stole about $680 worth of razors from CVS on East Main Street in Denville just before 4:20 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 20, the Morris County Sheriff’s Office said in a release. The suspect then tried to steal several more items from the Walgreens down the street before an employee confronted him and chased him out of the store, police said. The man was then seen getting into the …
News
Uber Driver, Accomplices Stage Knifepoint Holdup Of Passenger At Saddle Brook Hotel: Prosecutor
An Uber passenger was robbed at knifepoint outside a Saddle Brook hotel by a man who’d conspired with the female driver and another accomplice to hold him up, authorities said. Uber driver Karina Eremyan, 30, of Fair Lawn was behind the wheel when ex-con Antonio Bowen, 28, of Fair Lawn put a knife to the passenger’s neck in the parking lot of the Crowne Plaza Saddle Brook hotel off Route 80 around 3:30 a.m. March 23, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Bowen forced the fare to turn over his backpack, which contained $3,000 and other undisclosed items, the prosecutor said Friday. Th…
News
FBI: Groomed-For-Sex Indiana Girl, 15, Rescued After Paterson Man Pays Uber To Bring Her To NJ
A 22-year-old Paterson man showered a 15-year-old Indiana girl he'd met online with money, gifts and compliments before paying an Uber driver to bring her to him for sex, federal authorities said. Arnold Castillo "groomed" the girl, gaining her trust and alienating her from her family and other support systems before convincing her to leave Lawrence, IN, for New Jersey, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Southern Indiana charged. Castillo "paid and arranged for an Uber driver to pick up the minor and transport her across state lines to him," alleges to an FBI complaint on file in U.S. District …
News
Uber To Pay Millions For Penalizing Riders With Disabilities, Federal Authorities Announce
Uber will forfeit nearly $1.8 million to more than 1,000 passengers with disabilities and refund double the amount of wait time fees to more than 65,000 others to resolve a federal complaint, authorities announced. Uber will also furnish an additional $500,000 to others harmed by the practice and will also waive wait time fees for certified riders with disabilities going forward, the Justice Department said Monday. The agreement settles federal allegations that the ride-hailing giant violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, authorities said. The double-money-back part of the deal coul…
News
Uber Driver, Buddy Stole $165K In Luxury Items, Cocaine, 15 LBS Of Marijuana: Kearny PD
A Newark Uber driver and his buddy from the Bronx were nabbed after a four-month-long investigation that yielded 15 pounds of pot, $165,000 in luxury goods and more, police said. Javier Ortega, 40, of Newark, NJ, and Severiano Ybert Perez, 42, of Bronx, NY, were arrested on Tuesday, July 12, Kearny Police Chief George King said. The investigation all started with two burglaries reported in one multi-family home on Argyle Place on Feb. 27, police said. The suspects matched the description of the burglars who committed similar thefts at a Kennedy Boulevard, North Bergen, on Feb. 2…
Police & Fire
Filipino Government Attorney Shot Dead In Philadelphia Uber With Mom
A 36-year-old government attorney from the Philippines was shot in the head and killed during a trip to Philadelphia this weekend, the country's consulate general confirmed. John Albert Laylo was in the back of an Uber with his mom when nearly 15 shots were fired into the rear window and driver's side of the car at 38th and Spruce Streets around 4:10 a.m. Saturday, June 18, police said. Laylo was rushed to Penn Presbyterian Hospital in critical condition, and died Sunday morning after being on life support, police said. The incident was random and possibly a road-rage inciden…
News
Uber, Lyft Drivers Used Bogus Insurance Cards: Hudson Prosecutor
Three alleged rideshare drivers were arrested in New Jersey on insurance fraud charges, authorities said. Muhammad Khan, 21, Haq Khan, 24, and Yasir Raza, 34, have each been accused of collecting insurance money from ridesharing apps such as Uber and Lyft, for car accidents that never happened, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said. The alleged drivers told the rideshare companies that the accidents occurred in a 2018 Tesla, which they claim was previously damaged in another accident, the prosecutor said. They say an insurance company determined the damage was a "total loss." It…
News
Police: Uber Driver Punches Bergen Customer In Head, Flees, Video Shows
An Uber driver punched a customer in the head after refusing him a ride from a Bergen County golf course, authorities said. Security video from the Soldier Hill Golf Course shows the driver dropping the victim with a closed-fist punch to the temple shortly after 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 17, Emerson Police Chief Michael Mazzeo said. He got back into his car and drove off but was nabbed moments later by River Edge police thanks to a "stop and hold" issued by their Emerson colleagues, the chief said. The victim told police he got into the back seat for a ride home when the driver said he could…
News
Chilling Dashcam Footage Shows Uber Driver Begging For Life Before Passenger Kills Her: Report
"I'm begging you, I have four kids." Those were some of Christina "Christi" Marto Spicuzza's last words before her Uber passenger, Calvin Anthony Crew, 22, shot and killed her during a ride last weekend in Pennsylvania, according to a recent news report. Crew, of Penn Hills, used his girlfriend's phone to order the Uber before ordering 38-year-old Spicuzza to drive at gunpoint, as she begged for her life the entire time, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette says citing court documents. Spicuzza's body was found with a single gunshot wound to her head, by an Amazon driver on a street in Pitcair…
News
Uber Driver, Mom Of Four Found Dead In PA
A mother of four who did not return from her work as an Uber driver was found dead in Pennsylvania on Saturday, according to the police. Christina “Christi” Marto Spicuzza, 38, of Turtle Creek, had been missing since Thursday, Feb. 10. Two days later, the Monroeville police were called to the 500 block of Rosecrest Drive in Allegheny County around noon for a body discovery — later identified as that of Spicuzza's, authorities said in an updated release. The victim's family had reported her as missing on Friday after she “failed to return home after taking several Uber fares on Thursday ni…
News
Uber Refunds Passenger $600 After Getting Stranded On I-95 For Hours
Uber has refunded a $600 bill a Virginia man was slapped with after he got stuck on I-95 due to snow, according to People. Andrew Peters flew in from San Francisco to Dulles International Airport but said he "didn't really realize" how bad the weather was going to be on Jan. 3. He ordered an Uber and ended up getting stuck on the snow-packed I-95 for 9 hours with his driver and was eventually charged a $600 bill for the ordeal, as was originally reported by WTOP. After the story went viral, People magazine reached out to Uber who confirmed that Peters would be refunded for the experience: …
News
Uber Passenger Slapped With $600 Bill After Hours Stranded On I-95
A Virginia Uber passenger ended up paying hundreds of dollars after the car he was in got stranded on I-95 due to snow, according to WTOP. Andrew Peters, of Richmond Virginia, told the station he was going home after arriving from San Francisco at Dulles International Airport and was clueless of the weather nightmare he was going to encounter. “It was kind of scary,” Peters told WTOP. “We didn’t have any food or water.” He finally made it home after a grueling nine hours and paid a $200 Uber bill. But -- to add insult to injury -- Peters said Uber added $400 in additional charges…
Police & Fire
Uber Driver Wanted For Locking Woman In Car Until She Gave Her Number: Police
Authorities in southeastern Pennsylvania are looking for an Uber driver who is accused of locking a woman in his car and forcing himself on her until she agreed to give him her phone number. On Dec. 13, an arrest warrant was issued for Maher Abdelga-Elmeleh, 42, on charges of indecent assault, harassment, and false imprisonment, Marple Township police said. Investigators allege Abdelga-Elmeleh picked up the woman in October and drove her to her destination in Broomall. When the passenger arrived in Broomall, she was unable to get out of the car because the door was locked, police sai…
News
Route 17 Crash Closes Two Lanes
A driver was hospitalized Tuesday morning after a multi-vehicle collision on southbound Route 17 in Hackensack. The left and center lanes were temporarily closed near the exit for Hasbrouck Heights before the road splits between Routes 17 and 80 around 9:30 a.m. following the crash, which involved a Mercedes driven by the injured female motorist, an Uber driver's Honda and a crane-arm flatbed truck. Large backups immediately followed. The Mercedes driver's injuries didn't appear life-threatening, responders said.
News
Feds: NJ Uber Carjacker Gets 8 Years Without Parole
A Union County man who dragged a female Uber driver from her vehicle and threw her to the ground during a carjacking must spend the next seven years in federal prison. Rakeem McNair, 22, of Roselle, joined Raquin Tanner, 26, of Newark in taking a deal from the government rather than risk trial. Both he and Tanner -- who got 6½ years -- must serve out just about all of their plea-bargained sentences because there's no parole in the federal prison system. The victim was in the driver’s seat of her parked car on Summer Avenue in Newark around 11 p.m. Aug. 13, 2019 when Tanner, McNair and anot…
News
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 …
News
Man Gets Life In Prison For Killing NJ College Student Who Mistook His Car For Uber
A South Carolina man was sentenced to life in prison for killing a college student from New Jersey who mistook his vehicle for her Uber. South Carolina senior Samantha "Sami" Josephson, 21, of Robbinsville, NJ, ordered an Uber ride home after a night out in Downtown Columbia around 2 a.m. March 29, 2019. Thinking Nathaniel Rowland's vehicle was her ride home, she hopped inside. Instead of bringing Josephson back to her apartment, 27-year-old Rowland used childproof locks on his a black Chevrolet Impala to keep her from escaping, and stabbed her 120 times, prosecutors said. Her body was f…
Next Page
Archive