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Passaic County Man Convicted Of $80,000 Back-To-Back Bank Robberies Passaic County Man Convicted Of $80,000 Back-To-Back Bank Robberies
Passaic County Man Convicted Of $80,000 Back-To-Back Bank Robberies A Passaic County man was convicted by a federal jury of robbing two area banks just weeks apart. Jurors found Jose Soto, 52, of Passaic guilty of robbing a PNC branch in Passaic of $35,000 and a Valley National Bank in Little Falls of $45,000 following a six-day trial in U.S. District Court in Newark. They also convicted Soto of conspiring with a Paterson man to commit the holdups and brandishing a firearm. Soto pointed a silver and black gun at customers and employees at the Main Street Valley National branch in Little Falls on Feb. 27, 2020, authorities said. His accomplice, Nicholas Or…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Bail Reform Poster Boy Wanted On Warrants Out Of Eight North Jersey Towns Nabbed By Maywood PD Bail Reform Poster Boy Wanted On Warrants Out Of Eight North Jersey Towns Nabbed By Maywood PD
Bail Reform Poster Boy Wanted On Warrants Out Of Eight North Jersey Towns Nabbed By Maywood PD A serial burglar wanted on warrants out of no fewer than eight towns in four counties was captured by Maywood police and charged with a break-in at a local dry cleaner. Nicolas G. Torres, 40, of Passaic, has been repeatedly arrested and then subsequently released under New Jersey’s 2017 bail reform law, mostly on commercial burglary charges, over the past several years, records show. His criminal record stretches back more than a decade before that, however. Earlier this year, Torres was linked to break-ins at businesses in Fort Lee, Leonia, Englewood Cliffs, Little Falls, Montclair, Ridg…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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NJ Rapper Fetty Wap Cops To Drug Conspiracy In Exchange For 5-Year Minimum In Federal Prison NJ Rapper Fetty Wap Cops To Drug Conspiracy In Exchange For 5-Year Minimum In Federal Prison
NJ Rapper Fetty Wap Cops To Drug Conspiracy In Exchange For 5-Year Minimum In Federal Prison Paterson rapper Fetty Wap must spend at least five years in federal prison in exchange for pleading guilty to his role in a multi-million-dollar drug trafficking ring, authorities said. The platinum-selling rapper – whose real name is William Junior Maxwell II – had been charged last year with conspiring to transport more than 100 kilos of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine from the West Coast for sale in New Jersey and on Long Island. Rather than risk a possible life sentence at trial, Maxwell took a deal from the government, pleading guilty in U.S. Eastern District Court in Central Islip, Long …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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RELEASED: NJ Rapper, Associate Plead Guilty In Passaic Shooting, Freed Pending Sentencings RELEASED: NJ Rapper, Associate Plead Guilty In Passaic Shooting, Freed Pending Sentencings
Released: NJ Rapper, Associate Plead Guilty In Passaic Shooting, Freed Pending Sentencings A former Jersey City rapper who beat a murder rap in 2014 walked out of jail after cutting a deal with prosecutors for his role in a shooting in Passaic two years ago. He could be headed back to the joint for another 18 months, however. Video captured a celebratory welcoming committee greeting Albert Robinson outside the Passaic County Jail in Paterson after he and co-defendant Darnell Reeves were released. Robinson  – known as “Albee Al The Gladiator” – and Reeves had been held since September 2019 following their arrests on attempted murder charges, among other offenses, in a non-fatal …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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'Person' Struck, Killed By Train In Passaic 'Person' Struck, Killed By Train In Passaic
'Person' Struck, Killed By Train In Passaic Authorities on Tuesday were trying to identify a person struck and killed overnight by a commuter train in Passaic. The No. 1101 Main Line train left Hoboken -- bound for Suffern, NY -- shortly after 1:30 a.m. The pedestrian was struck at the Passaic station around 2 a.m. There were no injuries to the six customers or crew on board. NJ TRANSIT police were investigating. They not only hadn't identified the victim as of mid-morning on Tuesday. They didn't have a gender or approximate age. "It's still under investigation," said Emma Wright, NJT's senior public information officer.

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Ex-Cons Just Out Of Prison Charged With Carjacking Hackensack Driver In Rochelle Park Ex-Cons Just Out Of Prison Charged With Carjacking Hackensack Driver In Rochelle Park
Ex-Cons Just Out Of Prison Charged With Carjacking Hackensack Driver In Rochelle Park Two ex-cons who'd only just been released from prison carjacked a Hackensack driver outside a Rochelle Park supermarket, authorities charged. Anthony Aguilar, 24, of Garfield and Elijah Battle, 25, of Paterson were wearing masks when they accosted the driver and took his Audi in the parking lot of the D-Mart Indian-Asian Farmers Market on Rochelle Avenue around 8 p.m. June 16, they said Friday. The robbers abandoned the vehicle a couple of blocks away and fled in a red Toyota Rav 4 that had been reported stolen out of Paterson, investigators said. The victim sustained minor injuries. Mea…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Fetty Wap Busted By Feds For Making Death Threat, Flashing Gun On Facetime While Free On Bond Fetty Wap Busted By Feds For Making Death Threat, Flashing Gun On Facetime While Free On Bond
Fetty Wap Busted By Feds For Making Death Threat, Flashing Gun On Facetime While Free On Bond Paterson rapper Fetty Wap is in custody again, this time for flashing a gun and threatening to kill a “rat” during a Facetime call while he was free on bond in another case, federal authorities said. The Dec. 11, 2021 video call violated conditions of the hip-hop artist’s release following a major drug bust late last year, they said, leading to his arrest in New Jersey on Monday, Aug. 8. As a result, federal authorities on Long Island asked a judge Monday afternoon to revoke his $500,000 bond and order that Wap – whose real name is Willie Junior Maxwell II – remain in custody during the ong…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Body Of Man Chased By Police Pulled From Passaic River Two Days Later Body Of Man Chased By Police Pulled From Passaic River Two Days Later
Body Of Man Chased By Police Pulled From Passaic River Two Days Later The death of a man whose body was recovered from the Passaic River following a police chase was being investigated by county and state authorities, a family member said she was told. Meanwhile, she and other loved ones wait in anguish for answers. Everyone agrees that the body retrieved from the river below Route 21 Monday evening was that of Thadius Wilder, a 35-year-old father of five from Passaic. Wilder, who had a history of drug arrests, was last seen running from police on that very same highway on Saturday, said his sister, Amber Wilder-Hunter. Wilder-Hunter filed a missing person…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Passaic Officer Abandons Seriously Injured Female Passenger In Pre-Dawn DWI Crash: Prosecutor Passaic Officer Abandons Seriously Injured Female Passenger In Pre-Dawn DWI Crash: Prosecutor
Passaic Officer Abandons Seriously Injured Female Passenger In Pre-Dawn DWI Crash: Prosecutor An off-duty City of Passaic police officer was drunk when he crashed his car and took off on foot, leaving a seriously injured female companion from Clifton behind, authorities said following his arrest. Edgar Delgado, 31, remained held in the Passaic County Jail on a host of charges -- including leaving the scene of a crash, endangering an injured victim and DWI -- following a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Paterson on Saturday. Clifton police found the 28-year-old victim in the vehicle, which had struck an unoccupied car outside the Passaic Metal & Building …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Back-To-Back Blazes In Passaic Doused Back-To-Back Blazes In Passaic Doused
Back-To-Back Blazes In Passaic Doused Firefighters doused a pair of back-to-back blazes in Passaic. The first ignited in the rear second-floor bedroom and partially extended to the attic of a small house on 9th Street, just off South Street, shortly before 11:30 p.m. Sunday, responders said. Firefighters knocked the two-alarm blaze down in minutes and had it under control moments later. Barely 20 minutes later, a basement fire across town brought the city's bravest to the Don Polin restaurant, which has connecting apartments above and behind. That fire was quickly extinguished, as well. No injuries were reported in either fi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Passaic County Man Admits Laundering More Than $2.8 Million For International Drug Cartels Passaic County Man Admits Laundering More Than $2.8 Million For International Drug Cartels
Passaic County Man Admits Laundering More Than $2.8 Million For International Drug Cartels UPDATE: A Passaic County man admitted laundering more than $2.8 million in drug cash for international cartels operating in New Jersey and New York, authorities announced. Enmanuel Nunez-Reyes, 29, of Paterson became the fifth of six county residents charged in the case to take a deal from the government rather than face trial. Nunez-Reyes told a federal judge in Newark via videoconference that he accepted more than $2.8 million in cash and bought more than 100 cashier’s checks at local bank branches in New Jersey and elsewhere, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. It was all "part of …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Passaic House Fire Doused Passaic House Fire Doused
Passaic House Fire Doused Friends said a woman and her teenage children lost most of their belonging when a July 4th weekend fire damaged their Passaic home. Firefighters quickly got to the Third Street address off Essex Street shortly before 8:30 p.m. and had the fire under control in barely a half-hour. They limited the fire damage to the first floor, where the blaze apparently began, and the second floor, which sustained heavy smoke damage. No injuries were reported. Mutual aid responders included firefighters from Clifton, Paterson and Wallington. City fire officials were investigating the cause. The 3rd…

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by Jerry DeMarco