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Police & Fire
Electric Car Fire At New Hackensack Apartment Complex Takes 7 Hours To Douse Electric Car Fire At New Hackensack Apartment Complex Takes 7 Hours To Douse
Electric Car Fire At New Hackensack Apartment Complex Takes 7 Hours To Douse A Hackensack firefighter was injured in an electric car blaze that took nearly seven hours to fully douse in the parking garage of a new apartment complex, authorities said. The firefighter was released after being treated at Hackensack University Medical Center for an undisclosed injury sustained at The Walcott, which opened a year ago on Main Street. The fire broke out around 1:30 a.m. Friday, March 8, in the lower-level parking garage of the six-story building. Firefighters quickly located an Audi Q5 SUV and immediately knocked down the flames. "Additional precautions and measures were…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
UPDATE: Teaneck Woman Remains Hospitalized After Husband’s Suicide Fire Kills 2nd Victim UPDATE: Teaneck Woman Remains Hospitalized After Husband’s Suicide Fire Kills 2nd Victim
Update: Teaneck Woman Remains Hospitalized After Husband’s Suicide Fire Kills 2nd Victim FOR THE RECORD: A Teaneck woman remained hospitalized weeks after her husband ignited a gasoline-fueled fire that killed himself and another woman in their basement apartment. Ranjodh Singh IV, 35, “purposely set fire to himself in the basement apartment” shortly after midnight Feb. 19, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said last week. “As a result, the fire spread rapidly through the basement and trapped the other two occupants of the apartment,” Musella said. He used an accelerant, the prosecutor said, which responders said was gasoline. Singh died before dawn. Single mom Manjin…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
HOME INVASION: Female Saddle Brook 'Guest' Let Armed Robbers In, Authorities Charge HOME INVASION: Female Saddle Brook 'Guest' Let Armed Robbers In, Authorities Charge
Home Invasion: Female Saddle Brook 'Guest' Let Armed Robbers In, Authorities Charge 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A Saddle Brook home invasion in which a group of thugs from Passaic County took $12,500 in cash, $3,000 worth of jewelry and more at gunpoint was made possible by a female "guest," federal authorities revealed.  Lanasia "Lay" Smith, 24 (top left above), sent ex-con Jancarlos "M" Rodriguez, 23 (bottom right), "a picture of a safe located in the residence" hours before the June 28, 2022 robbery, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Smith then left the front door unlocked for Rodriguez and two cohorts -- fellow ex-con Jahad "Hadie" Foxworth, 25, and Jamere "Rebels" Dixon, 23 --…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Man Held Sexually Abused Woman Captive At Gunpoint In Hackensack Home: Police Man Held Sexually Abused Woman Captive At Gunpoint In Hackensack Home: Police
Man Held Sexually Abused Woman Captive At Gunpoint In Hackensack Home: Police A car salesman was arrested by Hackensack police after he held a woman he’d sexually abused captive at gunpoint, authorities said. Christopher Baboolal, 29, was seized without incident at the Poplar Avenue home where the victim had been held against her will, said Hackensack Police Capt. Michael Antista, the officer in charge of the department. They recovered a gun – for which Baboolal didn’t have a permit -- and a high-capacity magazine, which is also illegal in New Jersey, the captain said. Colleagues from neighboring Ridgefield Park brought the woman to city police headquarters, Antista…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
What Happens When You Try To Rob Two Stores Across From Police HQ? Ask Little Ferry PD What Happens When You Try To Rob Two Stores Across From Police HQ? Ask Little Ferry PD
What Happens When You Try To Rob Two Stores Across From Police HQ? Ask Little Ferry PD "This is a robbery, give me all your Oxy pills and Percocet,” read the note a would-be robber handed to a female pharmacist at a CVS in Little Ferry. “Otherwise my boys are coming in.” The unarmed bandit might have succeeded had he not chosen a target DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET from police HQ. It was shortly before noon Wednesday, Feb. 21, when Santiago Munoz-Pelaez entered the Liberty Street CVS in a blue hoodie, batting gloves and a mask covering his nose and mouth, Little Ferry Police Chief James Walters said. The pharmacist backed up after reading the note and told Munoz-Pelaez, 25, of…

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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
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
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
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
FOUND: Missing Paramus Man, 19, Turns Up Overnight Near Home FOUND: Missing Paramus Man, 19, Turns Up Overnight Near Home
Found: Missing Paramus Man, 19, Turns Up Overnight Near Home UPDATE: A 19-year-old man reported missing late Tuesday was found at the Hackensack shopping center commonly known as the Riverside Square Mall, authorities said. Security officers found Jonathan Chen at the Shops at Riverside just off Route 4 and called Paramus police around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7, Paramus Police Chief Robert Guidetti said. "We thank all agencies and the assistance we received from the public who reached out on our social media accounts to assist," the chief said.

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Ex-Con Accusing Of Pinning Hackensack Woman Down By Her Hair, Plunging Knife Next To Her Head Ex-Con Accusing Of Pinning Hackensack Woman Down By Her Hair, Plunging Knife Next To Her Head
Ex-Con Accusing Of Pinning Hackensack Woman Down By Her Hair, Plunging Knife Next To Her Head A transient ex-con was charged with domestic violence after authorities said he pinned a Hackensack woman to the floor by her hair and threatened her with a knife before dawn Monday. Robert Raghoenathsingh, 40, formerly of Lodi but more recently of Passaic, plunged the knife into the floor next to the victim's head in her Prospect Avenue apartment around 2 a.m. Feb. 5, the woman told police. He then stood on her hair so she couldn't get up, her report says. Raghoenathsingh -- who jail records show is a divorced Yemeni national -- made headlines in 2019 when he brought what proved to be bas…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Instacart Driver Leads Maywood Police To Hackensack Couple Trying To Steal Car: Authorities Instacart Driver Leads Maywood Police To Hackensack Couple Trying To Steal Car: Authorities
Instacart Driver Leads Maywood Police To Hackensack Couple Trying To Steal Car: Authorities Thanks to a conscientious Instacart driver, Maywood police caught an 18-year-old Hackensack man and a 17-year-old female companion trying to steal a vehicle, authorities said. The delivery driver directed police to the rear parking lot of a Hammell Place apartment complex shortly after 8 p.m. last Wednesday, Jan. 31, Maywood Detective Sgt. William Phayre said. Sgt. Gregory Mulawka and Officer Alana Luna were already in the area investigating another reported motor vehicle burglary when the call came in from Maybrook Drive, the sergeant said. Phayre headed to Hammell Place and tog…

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by Jerry DeMarco