NJ Couple Charged With Running Five-Finger Discount Ring NJ Couple Charged With Running Five-Finger Discount Ring
NJ Couple Charged With Running Five-Finger Discount Ring A Passaic County couple ran a retail theft ring that paid thieves to shoplift specific items from a list that they provided, authorities charged. Ali Soto, 42, and Vickiana Colon, 36, both of North Haledon, were both charged with being leaders of an organized theft operation, among other offenses. The arrests were made on Dec. 14, 2022 but weren’t announced until Wednesday, Jan. 4, in a joint release issued by Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes, West Milford Township Police Chief James Devore and North Haledon Police Chief Todd Darby. They didn’t say why. Wednesday's release…
Tap Tap Trap: Female Food Delivery Driver Escapes Knifepoint Robbery Attempt In Clifton Tap Tap Trap: Female Food Delivery Driver Escapes Knifepoint Robbery Attempt In Clifton
Tap Tap Trap: Female Food Delivery Driver Escapes Knifepoint Robbery Attempt In Clifton The tap-tap-tap that a female food delivery driver heard on her car window after being sent to a bogus address in Clifton was made by a teen with a knife who was looking to rob her, authorities said. The driver was already apprehensive when she couldn’t find the exact address, Clifton Police Detective Lt. Robert Bracken said. That’s because it was bogus, the lieutenant said. Suddenly, he said, the driver spotted a female standing in a nearby driveway trying to coax her out of her car. “When the victim refused, the female approached and attempted to forcefully gain access into the passenge…
SERIAL PORCH PIRACY: 40 Packages From Different Addresses Found In New Milford Traffic Stop SERIAL PORCH PIRACY: 40 Packages From Different Addresses Found In New Milford Traffic Stop
Serial Porch Piracy: 40 Packages From Different Addresses Found In New Milford Traffic Stop A traffic stop by a New Milford police officer turned up dozens of packages swiped from various victims' homes, authorities said. Freddy Collado, 38, of Perth Amboy, was taken into custody after a computer check by Officer Daniel O'Neill found an outstanding traffic warrant following the Milford Avenue stop for tinted windows and no front license plate, Capt. Kevin Van Saders said. Collado was carrying $2,600 in cash and had "numerous packages with different names and addresses," as well as brass knuckles, in the car, the captain said. "In total, there were approximately 40 items located,…
Battle Rapper Serius Jones Caught Ditching Gun In Bathroom Of Bergen Restaurant: Police Battle Rapper Serius Jones Caught Ditching Gun In Bathroom Of Bergen Restaurant: Police
Battle Rapper Serius Jones Caught Ditching Gun In Bathroom Of Bergen Restaurant: Police A rapper from Bergen County who recently served time for pimping in California was carrying a gun when Ridgefield Park police investigating the possible violation of a restraining order found him in a local restaurant, authorities said. Saleem Bligen, 41, had fled when officers responded to a call at an apartment building where he once lived on Bergen Avenue and Mount Vernon Street shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, Lt. Art Jensen said. Officers Kenneth Knebl, Joe Avila, Christopher Dooley and Lavrone Green searched the nearby business district and found Bligen at a local eatery, the l…
Mall Shopping Spree With Stolen Credit Cards, Driver's Licenses Derailed By Officer: Maywood PD Mall Shopping Spree With Stolen Credit Cards, Driver's Licenses Derailed By Officer: Maywood PD
Mall Shopping Spree With Stolen Credit Cards, Driver's Licenses Derailed By Officer: Maywood PD GOTCHA! A group of ID thieves were headed to an apparent shopping spree at a mall in Paramus when they were stopped by a Maywood police officer who found an "alarming" amount of credit cards and driver's licenses in innocent victims' names, authorities said. Officer Matthew DellaBella stopped the Subaru Forester after the driver, Karina Espinal, 26, of Newark, made an illegal turn at Maywood Avenue and Essex Street, Police Chief Terence R. Kenny said. Espinal told the officer they were headed to the Garden State Plaza to do some holiday shopping, the chief said. She "didn't have her driver…
GOTCHA! Ex-Con Who Took Truck From Lot Off Route 46 Caught Returning For His Ride, Police Say GOTCHA! Ex-Con Who Took Truck From Lot Off Route 46 Caught Returning For His Ride, Police Say
Gotcha! Ex-Con Who Took Truck From Lot Off Route 46 Caught Returning For His Ride, Police Say A fugitive ex-con with a decades-long criminal record was busted again after he was caught on security footage unhooking a tractor from a trailer at an industrial building off Route 46 and driving off with it, authorities said. Moonachie Police Officer Scott Lemongello viewed the footage from a neighboring building on Hollister Road in Teterboro soon after the theft early Sunday, Oct. 9. It showed Christopher Mason, 58, most recently of Morrisville, PA, pulling up in a van, parking and then heading into the lot next door, where he began testing door handles on parked trucks, Police Chief Ri…
Judge Refuses To Release Garfield Ex-Con Charged With Threatening Adult, Child With Scissors Judge Refuses To Release Garfield Ex-Con Charged With Threatening Adult, Child With Scissors
Judge Refuses To Release Garfield Ex-Con Charged With Threatening Adult, Child With Scissors A judge ordered that a Garfield ex-con remain jailed after authorities said he put a pair of scissors to the neck of an adult and threatened a child during a domestic assault. Several Garfield officers who responded to reports of a domestic dispute found Hugo A. Orejuela, 39, hiding behind a Lincoln Place garage shortly before 11 p.m. Sept. 29, Capt. Mario X. Pozo said. Orejuela had been breaking things before grabbing the scissors and threatening two victims, the captain said. Orejuela pushed one of them to the ground, causing a minor injury, he said. Police charged Orejuela with aggrava…
SCHOOL LOCKDOWN: Hackensack Police Capture Knife-Wielding Man Wanted For Attacking Woman SCHOOL LOCKDOWN: Hackensack Police Capture Knife-Wielding Man Wanted For Attacking Woman
School Lockdown: Hackensack Police Capture Knife-Wielding Man Wanted For Attacking Woman A Hackensack grade school was locked down as police pursued -- and then captured -- a knife-wielding Morris County man who they said had just assaulted and terrorized a local woman. Officer Aaron Rios and Police Officer Stanislav Tovbin heard "loud arguing" coming from a Railroad Avenue home while responding to a 911 call late Wednesday morning, Sept. 28, said Capt. Michael Antista, the officer in charge of the department. The frantic emerged and told them that she'd just been restrained by 19-year-old Jean Paul Rubio, the captain said. Rubio "attempted to strangle her, bit her lip and ref…
Traffic Stop: $51,000 Seized By Bergen Prosecutor's Detectives Traffic Stop: $51,000 Seized By Bergen Prosecutor's Detectives
Traffic Stop: $51,000 Seized By Bergen Prosecutor's Detectives A Queens motorist had $51,154 in suspicious cash in his vehicle when he was stopped by Bergen County prosecutor’s detectives, authorities said. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Peng Cheng, 33, who lives just off the Grand Central Parkway in Flushing, was stopped by members of his Narcotic Task Force in an undisclosed Ridgefield location. The investigators charged Cheng with money laundering after they found – and seized – the cash, the prosecutor said. They released him pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack, Musella said. Meanwhile, h…
Franklin Lakes Home Burglarized, Range Rover Stolen In Statewide Teen Crime Spree Franklin Lakes Home Burglarized, Range Rover Stolen In Statewide Teen Crime Spree
Franklin Lakes Home Burglarized, Range Rover Stolen In Statewide Teen Crime Spree Another beneficiary of New Jersey’s bail reform law broke into a million-dollar Franklin Lakes home and drove off in the owner’s car during a months-long crime spree from one end of the state to the other, authorities charged. Records show Tamir Pitts, 18, has been arrested numerous times over the past several months only to be released almost immediately from county jails or station houses in New Jersey under the state’s 2017 Bail Reform and Speedy Trial Act.  Then he’s arrested again. It was mid-July, authorities said, when Pitts was charged with stealing and then abandoning a BMW a…
Dual Threat: Wayne Twins Sexually Harass Same Woman, Tangle With Police, Authorities Report Dual Threat: Wayne Twins Sexually Harass Same Woman, Tangle With Police, Authorities Report
Dual Threat: Wayne Twins Sexually Harass Same Woman, Tangle With Police, Authorities Report Twin brothers from Wayne sexually harassed a local mom repeatedly, then tangled with police who arrested them both, authorities said. The woman told police that she was walking in her neighborhood with her young child on Aug. 29 when Ryan Kayal, 33, rode up on a bicycle and “threatened to force himself on her sexually,” Detective Capt. Dan Daly said. Kayal was “evasive and uncooperative,” then walked away and refused to stop when they found him on the bicycle a short time later, the captain said. They’d taken Kayal into custody when his twin, Daniel, emerged from their home and tried to fr…
GOTCHA! Saddle River Officers Nab Trio Of Teens Who Fled Burglary Attempt In Stolen SUV GOTCHA! Saddle River Officers Nab Trio Of Teens Who Fled Burglary Attempt In Stolen SUV
Gotcha! Saddle River Officers Nab Trio Of Teens Who Fled Burglary Attempt In Stolen SUV Police in Saddle River nabbed a trio of car thieves -- one of them 18, the others 15 -- moments after they tried breaking into a million-dollar-home, authorities said. Officers responding to a burglary-in-progress call on Bayberry Drive this past Tuesday morning spotted a parked Cadillac Escalade that had been reported stolen a short time earlier from a burglarized home in Mountain Lakes, Police Chief Jason Cosgriff said. Seeing them, the driver hit the gas. The officers pursued the SUV into Allendale and Waldwick before breaking off the pursuit at Route 17 out of concerns for civilian saf…