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Police & Fire
UPDATE: Convicted Stalker Goes After NJ Police Chief Yet Again UPDATE: Convicted Stalker Goes After NJ Police Chief Yet Again
Update: Convicted Stalker Goes After NJ Police Chief Yet Again A convicted stalker who authorities said won't stop harassing Hillsdale Police Chief Sean Smith is back behind bars – only this time it might be for awhile. Patrick McMeekin, 56, of Newark spent a combined 20 months in the Bergen County Jail before and after he was convicted of a stalking campaign several years ago. He finished out a six-month state prison stretch last June, records show. SEE: Convicted Stalker Targets Same Bergen Victim With Emails To Schools, Towns, Others Soon after he was released he was once again sending slanderous emails to a host of people accusing Hillsdale …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
SHOCKER: NJ Teacher Had Sex With Student Starting At 15 In School, Car, House: Authorities SHOCKER: NJ Teacher Had Sex With Student Starting At 15 In School, Car, House: Authorities
Shocker: NJ Teacher Had Sex With Student Starting At 15 In School, Car, House: Authorities A married teacher had intercourse as part of a years-long sexual relationship with a former Garfield Middle School student beginning when the youngster was 15, including several times in a car -- and even at the school, authorities charged. Amy Impero D'Ovidio, a 46-year-old Bergen County native, had worked for the Garfield Board of Education when the alleged encounters began, they said. She was 35 at the time. Locations included “within the Garfield Middle School, at a private residence in Cedar Grove, as well as within a vehicle at unknown locations in Bergen, Essex, and Passaic counties…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Paramus Man Who Stabbed Dad Dead Tried Burning Body To Destroy Evidence, Detectives Say Paramus Man Who Stabbed Dad Dead Tried Burning Body To Destroy Evidence, Detectives Say
Paramus Man Who Stabbed Dad Dead Tried Burning Body To Destroy Evidence, Detectives Say UPDATE: A Paramus man who’d just stabbed his father to death dragged the body to a bathroom and tried to set it on fire last week as part of an attempt to conceal what he’d done, authorities said. Melvin Thomas repeatedly stabbed his father, 61-year-old Manuel Thomas, in the chest with a kitchen knife on Valentine’s Day, a criminal complaint says. He then dragged the bloody corpse to a bathroom where he tried igniting it with a lighter, according to the complaint filed by Paramus Police Detective Justin Sicari. “This attempt failed,” the detective wrote. Melvin Thomas wiped off the bloody…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
GOTCHA! Police From Neighboring Towns, Sheriff's K9 Help Hillsdale PD Nab Career Criminal GOTCHA! Police From Neighboring Towns, Sheriff's K9 Help Hillsdale PD Nab Career Criminal
Gotcha! Police From Neighboring Towns, Sheriff's K9 Help Hillsdale PD Nab Career Criminal Teamwork with their colleagues in neighboring Pascack Valley towns helped Hillsdale police capture a drug-addicted repeat offender as he fled yet another crime, authorities said. Ex-con Daniel Margulies, 32, of Teaneck bolted from the Walgreens at the Plaza at Hillsdale with several items late Sunday afternoon, Feb. 18, Officer Jordan Bruce reported. He made it to the train station when Bruce and Officer Sean Marro him moments later.The officers chased him down Broadway before Margulies began ducking through backyards, he said. To call Margulies “known to police” overstates the obviou…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Paramus Murder: Man Stabbed Dad Dead, Left Him In Home Two Days, Sources Say Paramus Murder: Man Stabbed Dad Dead, Left Him In Home Two Days, Sources Say
Paramus Murder: Man Stabbed Dad Dead, Left Him In Home Two Days, Sources Say UPDATE: A Paramus man who’d just stabbed his father to death dragged the body to a bathroom and tried to set it on fire last week as part of an attempt to conceal what he’d done, authorities said. Melvin Thomas repeatedly stabbed his father, 61-year-old Manuel Thomas, in the chest with a kitchen knife on Valentine’s Day, a criminal complaint says. He then dragged the bloody corpse to a bathroom where he tried igniting it with a lighter, according to the complaint filed by Paramus Police Detective Justin Sicari. “This attempt failed,” the detective wrote. Melvin Thomas wiped off the b…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
WILD CHASE: Career Offender, 62, In Multi-Town Police Pursuit Caught After Blowing Two Tires WILD CHASE: Career Offender, 62, In Multi-Town Police Pursuit Caught After Blowing Two Tires
Wild Chase: Career Offender, 62, In Multi-Town Police Pursuit Caught After Blowing Two Tires A wild police pursuit through several Bergen County towns ended with the arrest of a 62-year-old former repeat offender from Fair Lawn who authorities said stole the car from Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. Daniel McKay at one point tried fleeing on two flat tires before the stolen sedan broke down and he was arrested on Franklin Turnpike in Allendale, witnesses said. Upper Saddle River Detective Capt. Edward Kane said the Valentine's Day pursuit began after McKay pulled over on Lake Street and asked officers out on another call for directions shortly before noon. One of the officer…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
GOTCHA! Band Of Bandits Charged In Back-To-Back Route 46 Gas Station Holdups: Bergen Prosecutor GOTCHA! Band Of Bandits Charged In Back-To-Back Route 46 Gas Station Holdups: Bergen Prosecutor
Gotcha! Band Of Bandits Charged In Back-To-Back Route 46 Gas Station Holdups: Bergen Prosecutor A quartet of disguised New Yorkers tied to holdups on their side of the Hudson committed back-to-back gunpoint robberies of gas station convenience stores just minutes from the George Washington Bridge, authorities charged. The total take: five grand. Rahquan Brooks, 20, and Kevin Ulysses, 19, of the Bronx had two juveniles with them when they drove up to the Exxon station on eastbound Route 46 just before the Overpeck Creek bridge in Ridgefield Park shortly before 4:30 a.m. July 24, 2022, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. The silver sedan had been carjacked out of Brooklyn thre…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Woman Deliberately Set Rutherford Garden Apartment Fire, Authorities Charge Woman Deliberately Set Rutherford Garden Apartment Fire, Authorities Charge
Woman Deliberately Set Rutherford Garden Apartment Fire, Authorities Charge A woman remained held Tuesday after authorities charged her with deliberately igniting a fire in the kitchen of a garden apartment in the Rutherford complex where she lives. Mary Anne Hampl, 62, was arrested shortly after 7 p.m. last Thursday, Feb. 8, after borough firefighters doused the Hastings Avenue blaze, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Hampl, who Musella said is unemployed, is accused of intentionally creating a fire and smoke condition with items purposefully placed on a stove. The prosecutor didn't suggest a possible motive. Detectives from his Arson Squad charged Ham…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Hackensack Tenant Charged With Slashing Woman Less Than Half Her Age Hackensack Tenant Charged With Slashing Woman Less Than Half Her Age
Hackensack Tenant Charged With Slashing Woman Less Than Half Her Age A 24-year-old Hackensack resident was hospitalized after she was attacked with a razor by a 52-year-old city woman in a local apartment building, authorities said. The victim was expected to survive a leg laceration after being taken to Hackensack University Medical Center around 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 11. Jenny Cabrera De Jimenez, who responders said lives at the scene of the stabbing in the Cambridge Arms on Polifly Road, a few blocks from westbound Route 80, was arrested a short time later. The married De Jimenez, who's employed as a gym maintenance worker, was charged with aggravated …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Haledon Police Raid Clandestine Ecstasy Lab In Center Of Town, Seize Resident, 23 Haledon Police Raid Clandestine Ecstasy Lab In Center Of Town, Seize Resident, 23
Haledon Police Raid Clandestine Ecstasy Lab In Center Of Town, Seize Resident, 23 Haledon police busted a 23-year-old resident who they said mixed toxic and potentially fatal chemicals to produce homemade Ecstasy in the center of town. Acting on a reliable tip, investigators led by Detective Jeffrey Welsh obtained a search warrant and -- assisted by their department's Special Services Bureau -- hit the clandestine Haledon Avenue lab on Saturday, Feb. 10, Deputy Police Chief George Guzman said. They seized Santiago Zapata Palomeque after finding two five-gallon buckets of 3,4-Methylenedioxy​methamphetamine in his bedroom, the deputy chief said. They also found cocaine, …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Ridgewood Photographer Possessed Child Porn: Prosecutors Ridgewood Photographer Possessed Child Porn: Prosecutors
Ridgewood Photographer Possessed Child Porn: Prosecutors A 70-year-old Ridgewood medical photographer was arrested and charged on Thursday, Feb. 8 with using the internet to view child pornography, authorities said. Following a monthslong investigation, the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office Cyber Crimes Unit searched the residence of Rob Wolfson, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. The investigation revealed Wolfson used the internet to watch, download and possess items depicting nude and/or sexually explicit prepubescent and pubescent children, Musella said.  Wolfson was charged with possession of child pornography and rem…

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
Cliffside Officer Nabs Passing Motorist With Loaded Gun, High-Capacity Mag: PD Cliffside Officer Nabs Passing Motorist With Loaded Gun, High-Capacity Mag: PD
Cliffside Officer Nabs Passing Motorist With Loaded Gun, High-Capacity Mag: PD When a Cliffside Park police officer asked a motorist he'd stopped for having bogus plates whether there was anything inside the car that he should be concerned about, he got a blunt answer. Namely: A loaded gun, authorities said. Melvin E. Chinchillalavandaverde, 24, "seemed nervous" when Officer Julio Perez-Tavera stopped his red 2007 Hyundai Tiburon near the corner of Riverview Place and Palisades Avenue shortly after 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 6, Deputy Police Chief Vincent Capano said. So the officer asked a natural question, then got Chinchillalavandaverde's consent to search the c…

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by Jerry DeMarco