Fair 66°
Police & Fire
Arrest Made By Fairview PD After Facebook 'Buyer' Snatches $5,700 Gold Chain, Gun From Seller Arrest Made By Fairview PD After Facebook 'Buyer' Snatches $5,700 Gold Chain, Gun From Seller
Arrest Made By Fairview PD After Facebook 'Buyer' Snatches $5,700 Gold Chain, Gun From Seller Fairview police arrested a Newark man who they said threatened to shoot a local resident with his own gun during what the victim thought would be the sale of a $5,700 gold chain on Facebook Marketplace. The 44-year-old victim told police he was contacted by an “Alvaro Robles” after posting the 14k gold Cuban chain for sale last October, Capt. Michael Martic said. He gave the caller his address, the captain said, and a short time later a heavily tinted Mazda CX-5 pulled up to the 6th Street residence. The victim told police he sat down in a backyard chair and placed a 9mm Ruger behind him a…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Kickbacks Convinced Doc To Scam Medicare Out Of Nearly $21 Million: NJ Feds Kickbacks Convinced Doc To Scam Medicare Out Of Nearly $21 Million: NJ Feds
Kickbacks Convinced Doc To Scam Medicare Out Of Nearly $21 Million: NJ Feds A doctor pocketed cash kickbacks from lab companies and others for filing more than $20.7 million in bogus Medicare claims for medically unnecessary -- and often expensive -- COVID and cancer genetic tests, among other scams, a federal grand jury in Newark has charged. Alexander Baldonado, 68, of Queens already was awaiting trial dating back to charges brought a few years ago when grand jurors in Newark this week returned a superseding indictment that digs deeper into the allegations. Baldonado approved lab tests billed to Medicare in exchange for cash payoffs "from a laboratory representat…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Fitness Trainer Killed On NJ Turnpike Mourned By Clients Fitness Trainer Killed On NJ Turnpike Mourned By Clients
Fitness Trainer Killed On NJ Turnpike Mourned By Clients A New York fitness studio is mourning the loss of one of its trainers, killed in a New Jersey Turnpike crash early this week. Jerome "Jerry" Christal-Gattanella was rear-ended and killed while his car was parked in the shoulder of the northbound side of the highway in Newark late Monday, Feb. 19, as previously reported by Daily Voice. The 42-year-old New York City resident worked as a trainer at Inwood Fitness, who announced his passing on Instagram.  One of his clients said she waited and waited for him to show up for their session the following day. He never did. "Jerry, I waited f…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
GOTCHA! South American Theft Network Fugitive Pegged In $25,000 Dumont Home Burglary, More GOTCHA! South American Theft Network Fugitive Pegged In $25,000 Dumont Home Burglary, More
Gotcha! South American Theft Network Fugitive Pegged In $25,000 Dumont Home Burglary, More A wanted member of a notorious transnational group of thieves was tied by Dumont detectives to the theft of $25,000 in cash during a home break-in two months ago. Jhan Michael Rodriguez-Fonseca, 26, lives in Jersey City and most recently worked as a food delivery driver, Dumont Police Chief Brian Joyce said. He really belongs to what’s known as the South American Theft Group network and is tied to other burglaries in the state, the chief said. He was also wanted by the NYPD and by agents with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), he said. Primarily from Colombia, the members of the…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Air Canada Jet To Newark Receives Bogus Midair Threat: Port Authority PD Air Canada Jet To Newark Receives Bogus Midair Threat: Port Authority PD
Air Canada Jet To Newark Receives Bogus Midair Threat: Port Authority PD A threat directed toward an Air Canada flight brought a major police presence to Newark Airport Monday, Feb. 19, officials said. Port Authority police and its canine unit responded to EWR Terminal A at around noon after airport police received the report of the threat, a PAPD spokesperson said. The plane landed at EWR Terminal A without incident, and all passengers deplaned safely with no reported injuries.  At 2:52 p.m. PAPD and its canine unit fully cleared the aircraft and normal operations resumed. The incident is under investigation.

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
NJ Child Porn Trafficker Got Child To Perform Online For Him, Feds Charge NJ Child Porn Trafficker Got Child To Perform Online For Him, Feds Charge
NJ Child Porn Trafficker Got Child To Perform Online For Him, Feds Charge A child porn trafficker from Middlesex County got a minor to perform online for him, federal authorities charged. Francisco Villafane, 37, of Perth Amboy, initially lost contact after he began texting with the youngster in 2020, but they resumed communication in late 2023, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Villafane "exchanged sexually explicit content with the victim and solicited explicit material...including videos of the victim engaging in sexual acts at Villafane’s request," the U.S. attorney said. Members of his Newark Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force ch…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
NJ Rap Record Exec Admits Drug Op With Kilos Of Heroin, Fentanyl Stashed In Cliffside, Harrison NJ Rap Record Exec Admits Drug Op With Kilos Of Heroin, Fentanyl Stashed In Cliffside, Harrison
NJ Rap Record Exec Admits Drug Op With Kilos Of Heroin, Fentanyl Stashed In Cliffside, Harrison Newark native Dawan "DB" Brown had just gotten a record label and recording studio going when the hammer came down. He's now likely to spend a significant amount of time behind bars after accepting a deal from federal prosecutors. Brown, 38, had been a local teenage boxing phenom from the South Ward who became a Golden Glove champion 20 years ago. According to his online bio, the Weequahic High School graduate worked for 14 years as a custodian with the Newark Board of Education before launching his own record label, 100 Percent Pure Ent, in 2018. Two years later Brown opened the Excl…

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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
Obituaries
Montclair Native, Attorney Laura Marchini Dies, 37 Montclair Native, Attorney Laura Marchini Dies, 37
Montclair Native, Attorney Laura Marchini Dies, 37 Laura Marchini, an attorney with Montclair roots, died on Feb. 2, 2024 at 37 years old, her obituary on the Bizub Quinlan Funeral Home website reads. Laura graduated from Montclair High School and earned her JD at Rutgers School of Law, after completing her bachelor's degree at Montclair State University. According to her obituary, Laura worked as a submissions editor of the Women’s Rights Law Reporter while at Rutgers. She was also a Courtroom Advocates Project coordinator, co-chair of the Women’s Law Forum and founded the Take Back the Night Rally and March in Newark, her obitua…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
GUILTY! Serial Newark Rapist Attacked Woman With Infant Before BF Disarmed Him: Prosecutors GUILTY! Serial Newark Rapist Attacked Woman With Infant Before BF Disarmed Him: Prosecutors
Guilty! Serial Newark Rapist Attacked Woman With Infant Before BF Disarmed Him: Prosecutors A serial rapist from Newark has been convicted of following an Irvington woman home and raping her at knifepoint as her 3-week-old son was on the floor nearby, authorities announced. Kervin Joseph-Michel, 43, kidnapped and sexually assaulted the 21-year-old woman in Irvington, after accosting her as she walked home carrying her three-week-old infant son on Nov. 4, 2015, according to Robert Florida, a spokesperson for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. The victim said Joseph-Michel repeatedly tried to engage her in conversation, but she rejected his advances and continued walking hom…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Postal Carrier Admits Collecting Disability While Operating Morris Travel Agency: Feds Postal Carrier Admits Collecting Disability While Operating Morris Travel Agency: Feds
Postal Carrier Admits Collecting Disability While Operating Morris Travel Agency: Feds A now-former postal service worker from Morris County admitted lying to the government to collect $155,000 in disability benefits while running her own travel agency, authorities said. Pamela VanSyckle, 60, of Oak Ridge, VanSyckle began receiving disability benefits in September 2020 for an injury that she claimed had occurred while working as a rural carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Over the course of three years, VanSyckle continued to complete and sign "multiple federal claim forms alleging that she had not worked or had outside employment," th…

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by Jerry DeMarco