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Police & Fire
Teaneck Swindler Whose Family Helped Fleece Investors Of $4.7M Gets 8 Years In State Slammer Teaneck Swindler Whose Family Helped Fleece Investors Of $4.7M Gets 8 Years In State Slammer
Teaneck Swindler Whose Family Helped Fleece Investors Of $4.7M Gets 8 Years In State Slammer UPDATE: A Teaneck con man who was captured after trying to flee the country must spend the next three years in state prison for running a Ponzi scheme with family and friends that fleeced dozens of unwitting investors out of $4.7 million. Chander Singh, 46, reshaped a failed company into an unscrupulous criminal venture by soliciting loans from investors to buy distressed properties, authorities said. Singh promised double-digit returns from what would be renovations of the ratholes, which he found with the help of his parents and brother, all of whom worked as real estate agents, they said…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Handyman Convicted Of Raping Bergen Pre-Teen In Her Family's Home Handyman Convicted Of Raping Bergen Pre-Teen In Her Family's Home
Handyman Convicted Of Raping Bergen Pre-Teen In Her Family's Home A self-employed handyman was convicted Friday of raping a pre-teen while working at a Bergen County home. Alejandro Velasquez-Martinez, a 48-year-old Colombian national living in Morristown, sexually assaulted the girl while doing tile repairs in her family’s home in Demarest the morning of August 19, 2019, jurors in Hackensack found. Velasquez-Martinez was arrested in Demarest and then booked into the Bergen County Jail the next day. Superior Court Judge Nina Remson, who presided over the trial, scheduled sentencing for Aug. 4. Velasquez-Martinez faces a minimum of 25 years in state pris…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
UPDATE: Getaway Driver, 21, In Fairview Drug Murder Gets 30 Years Without Parole UPDATE: Getaway Driver, 21, In Fairview Drug Murder Gets 30 Years Without Parole
Update: Getaway Driver, 21, In Fairview Drug Murder Gets 30 Years Without Parole The getaway driver in the cold-blooded killing of a Fairview man during a drug-related apartment robbery was sentenced to 30 years without parole in state prison. David Martinez, 21, of North Bergen watched as three men who were in the apartment when David Duque Soto was shot in June 2019 took guilty pleas rather than risk the consequences of a trial. Martinez let a jury decide his fate and was convicted on March 13 in Hackensack of felony murder, armed robbery, conspiracy and weapons possession. Assistant Bergen County Prosecutors Suzanne Cevasco and Matthew Fitzpatrick presented 16 witn…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Arrest Made In Elmwood Park Rape Arrest Made In Elmwood Park Rape
Arrest Made In Elmwood Park Rape A Paterson man was charged last week with raping a woman in Elmwood Park last year. Andre Williams, 41, was identified during an investigation into an alleged July 8, 2022 sexual assault in the Elmwood Village area, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Detectives from his Special Victims Unit and Elmwood Park police handled the investigation leading to charges against Williams of aggravated sexual assault and criminal restraint, the prosecutor said on Monday, May 1. They arrested Williams last Friday and sent him to the Bergen County Jail.

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Construction Worker Living In Cliffside Park Busted For Child Porn Construction Worker Living In Cliffside Park Busted For Child Porn
Construction Worker Living In Cliffside Park Busted For Child Porn A married construction worker who lives in Cliffside Park was arrested by authorities who said he collected child porn. Valter M. Garcia Cordova, a 39-year-old Ecuadorian national, remained held in the Bergen County Jail on Thursday, April 27. He’d been arrested a day earlier, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said, by members of his Cyber Crimes Unit who’d conducted a court-approved search of Cordova’s Longview Avenue home off Edgewater Road. Cordova “used the Internet to view, download and possess items depicting nude and/or sexually explicit prepubescent and pubescent children,” the…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
ICE Puts Hold On Inmate Charged With String Of Sex Assaults In Bergen, Hudson ICE Puts Hold On Inmate Charged With String Of Sex Assaults In Bergen, Hudson
ICE Puts Hold On Inmate Charged With String Of Sex Assaults In Bergen, Hudson An accused North Jersey serial sex offender isn't going anywhere now. ICE has placed a detainer on Fokam Ngongang Parfait, a former Montclair High School football star who's accused in a series of sexual assaults at hotels in Saddle Brook and Secaucus. The 25-year-old repeat offender has been held in the Bergen County Jail since his arrest by detectives from the county prosecutor's office on March 31. Parfait was initially charged with kidnapping, raping and robbing a victim at gunpoint in Saddle Brook on March 24. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said investigators from his Special …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Bi-State Bust: 32 Pounds Of Pot Plus Hash, 'Shrooms Seized By Bergen Narcs Bi-State Bust: 32 Pounds Of Pot Plus Hash, 'Shrooms Seized By Bergen Narcs
Bi-State Bust: 32 Pounds Of Pot Plus Hash, 'Shrooms Seized By Bergen Narcs A Bergen County duo -- one from Lodi and the other Saddle Brook -- were busted along with an associate from Queens with 32 pounds of pot, more than a pound of hash and some psilocybin mushrooms for sale, authorities said. Anthony Nunez, 32, of Richmond Hill was arrested by members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Narcotic Task Force after a search of his vehicle in Fort Lee turned up 14 pounds of marijuana and some mushrooms, Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Jose A. Castro-Lopez, 34, of Lodi was arrested after a search of his vehicle in Saddle Brook produced three pounds of pot, the prosecuto…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Drug Sting Nabs City Teen Selling 10 Bricks Of Heroin In Bergen: Prosecutor Drug Sting Nabs City Teen Selling 10 Bricks Of Heroin In Bergen: Prosecutor
Drug Sting Nabs City Teen Selling 10 Bricks Of Heroin In Bergen: Prosecutor An 18-year-old unemployed Paterson man got stung selling 250 bags of heroin to a Bergen County undercover detective and another 250 on the street, authorities said. Naje Dior Brabson remained held in the Bergen County Jail on Thursday, April 20, while awaiting a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said members of his Narcotic Task Force chased Brabson down on Tuesday after seeing him sell five bricks of heroin. He'd previously sold five bricks to an undercover detective, the prosecutor said. Brabson was charged with tw…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Gang Member Who Stabbed Leonia Woman Dead Gets 30-Year Plea Deal Gang Member Who Stabbed Leonia Woman Dead Gets 30-Year Plea Deal
Gang Member Who Stabbed Leonia Woman Dead Gets 30-Year Plea Deal UPDATE: A Paterson gang member pleaded guilty to stabbing his new girlfriend to death in the Leonia apartment that she shared with her young daughter. Murder pleas are rare in Bergen County, where deals are often cut for just about every other charge. Nile “OG Cripp” Diakos, 36, nonetheless got a deal from prosecutors in the March 26, 2022 stabbing death of Alicia Arnone, 35. In exchange for his guilty plea, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said his office will seek a 30-year prison sentence for Diakos. Diakos was at the apartment with Arnone’s 13-year-old daughter when Leonia polic…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Hackensack Man, 21, Killed In Grisly Route 46 Hit And Run ID'd, Search For Car Continues Hackensack Man, 21, Killed In Grisly Route 46 Hit And Run ID'd, Search For Car Continues
Hackensack Man, 21, Killed In Grisly Route 46 Hit And Run ID'd, Search For Car Continues UPDATE: A pedestrian who was struck and killed by a late-night hit-and-run driver on Route 46 last week was identified Tuesday as a 21-year-old Hackensack resident. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said authorities were still searching for the driver who kept going after his or her vehicle struck Jossy Israel Laguna-Matamoros on eastbound Route 46 (Winant Avenue) near Ridgefield Avenue in Ridgefield Park shortly after 11 p.m. Friday, April 7. Laguna-Matamoros was then struck, pinned and dragged beneath a Tesla in the westbound lanes, responders said. Firefighters raised the vehicle t…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Pedestrian Identified In Grisly Route 46 Hit And Run Death Pedestrian Identified In Grisly Route 46 Hit And Run Death
Pedestrian Identified In Grisly Route 46 Hit And Run Death UPDATE: A pedestrian who was struck and killed by a late-night hit-and-run driver on Route 46 last week was identified Tuesday as a 21-year-old Hackensack resident. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said authorities were still searching for the driver who kept going after his or her vehicle struck Jossy Israel Laguna-Matamoros on eastbound Route 46 (Winant Avenue) near Ridgefield Avenue in Ridgefield Park shortly after 11 p.m. Friday, April 7. Laguna-Matamoros was then struck, pinned and dragged beneath a Tesla in the westbound lanes, responders said. Firefighters raised the vehicle t…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Underage Teen Sexually Assaulted By Westchester Man, 27, Repeatedly In River Edge: Prosecutor Underage Teen Sexually Assaulted By Westchester Man, 27, Repeatedly In River Edge: Prosecutor
Underage Teen Sexually Assaulted By Westchester Man, 27, Repeatedly In River Edge: Prosecutor A tipster led authorities to a warehouse manager from Westchester who they said traveled to Bergen County for sex with an underage teen he met online. Eric Palese, 27, of Tarrytown sexually assaulted the under-16-year-old child multiple times in River Edge, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said on Thursday, April 6. Based on the charges, it was at least a half-dozen times during the second and third weeks of March. Authorities began investigating the 6-foot, 270-pound Palese after the tip came in on Monday, the prosecutor said. “The caller reported that the suspect contacted the chil…

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by Jerry DeMarco