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Police & Fire
Shoplifting-Turned-Robbery: Home Depot Pair Charged By Mahwah PD Shoplifting-Turned-Robbery: Home Depot Pair Charged By Mahwah PD
Shoplifting-Turned-Robbery: Home Depot Pair Charged By Mahwah PD It might've seemed simple at the start. But that changed quickly. A repeat offender from Midland Park turned a five-finger discount into a robbery when he assaulted a security guard while fleeing the Home Depot on Route 17 in Mahwah, authorities said. Mark Savino, 41, was exiting the store with $1,500 worth of stolen merchandise when he pushed a guard who tried to stop him on Tuesday, Oct. 10, Mahwah Police Capt. Guido Bussinelli said. Savino got into a waiting vehicle that sped off, the captain said. Descriptions were quickly broadcast and Fairfield police soon had the pair in custo…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Man Arrested In Jewelry Store Burglary In Morris County: Police Man Arrested In Jewelry Store Burglary In Morris County: Police
Man Arrested In Jewelry Store Burglary In Morris County: Police A Mercer County man has been arrested in connection with a burglary at a jewelry store in Morris County, authorities said. Jerome B. Howard of Lawrenceville also is a suspect in an earlier break-in at a jewelry store in Chatham, Madison police said. His age was not released. At 3:43 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 5, Madison Police responded to an activated burglar alarm at Gerlach’s Jewelers on Main Street, police said. The officers, who were on patrol, responded within two minutes to the scene and found a rear door to the business forced open and a rear screen window pulled off the building. Upon a…

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
Sussex County Police Officer Stole $1.2K Item While On Duty: Prosecutor Sussex County Police Officer Stole $1.2K Item While On Duty: Prosecutor
Sussex County Police Officer Stole $1.2K Item While On Duty: Prosecutor A police officer in Sussex County has been charged in an on-duty theft, authorities said. Konstantinos Protogeropoulos, 26, a Hardyston police officer, stole a "certain movable property valued at $1,225," Acting Sussex County Prosecutor Annmarie Taggart said. Taggart did not say what the item was, but that he knowingly deprived that person thereof on Tuesday, Sept. 5. Protogeropoulos was charged with third-degree theft and second-degree official misconduct, Taggart said on Wednesday, Sept. 27.

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
GOTCHA! NJ Driver Busted A Second Time For Using Plate-Flipping Gizmo At GWB Tolls (VIDEO) GOTCHA! NJ Driver Busted A Second Time For Using Plate-Flipping Gizmo At GWB Tolls (VIDEO)
Gotcha! NJ Driver Busted A Second Time For Using Plate-Flipping Gizmo At GWB Tolls (Video) Port Authority police busted a New Jersey driver with a license plate flipper that they said he used to avoid the tolls at the George Washington Bridge – and it wasn’t the first time. The remote-controlled after-market electronic device is an ingenious invention (see video below). It flips the vehicle’s genuine license plate over to reveal a second plate when passing toll scanners. Authority police first caught Adam Jimenez, 22, using it in February, PANYNJ Spokesperson Lenis Valens said The Union County resident was charged with various offenses and later released, then was taken into c…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Former Employees Forged Over $65K In Checks From Somerset County Contracting Firm: Prosecutor Former Employees Forged Over $65K In Checks From Somerset County Contracting Firm: Prosecutor
Former Employees Forged Over $65K In Checks From Somerset County Contracting Firm: Prosecutor Two former workers at a contracting firm in Somerset County were arrested for allegedly forging checks from their employer and making more than $65,000 in unauthorized purchases. Carlos R. Escobar, 38, of Jefferson Avenue in North Plainfield, and Ciro A. Saenz-Puentes, 44, of Remson Avenue in New Brunswick, were each charged with theft by deception, forgery, and uttering a false document, Somerset County Prosecutor John P. McDonald said in a release on Monday, Sept. 25. Escobar and Saenz-Puentes became the center of an investigation when the owner of the contracting company they were former…

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by Valerie Musson
Police & Fire
Masked Offender From Bergenfield Caught With Meth, Burglar Tools In Pre-Dawn Stop: Dumont PD Masked Offender From Bergenfield Caught With Meth, Burglar Tools In Pre-Dawn Stop: Dumont PD
Masked Offender From Bergenfield Caught With Meth, Burglar Tools In Pre-Dawn Stop: Dumont PD A known offender was arrested again after a Dumont officer spotted him carrying bolt cutters while riding a bicycle down the main drag two hours before sunrise, authorities said. And, once again, a judge released him soon after. Andrew Lugo, 35, of Bergenfield, has been arrested in several towns – among them, Saddle River, Hackensack, Englewood, Teaneck and Little Ferry – the past few years, records show. Charges have included burglary, theft, receiving stolen property and drug possession. A year ago, Bergenfield police arrested him for a host of credit card thefts during burglaries. Lu…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
GOTCHA! Resident Carjacked Outside Hackensack HS, Suspect Captured In Middlesex County GOTCHA! Resident Carjacked Outside Hackensack HS, Suspect Captured In Middlesex County
Gotcha! Resident Carjacked Outside Hackensack HS, Suspect Captured In Middlesex County An Egyptian national who carjacked a motorist outside Hackensack High School resident was captured more than 30 miles away, authorities said. The 42-year-old victim from Hackensack told responding officers that he was assaulted and his 2012 Toyota Corolla taken around 9:45 a.m. on Labor Day, Sept. 4, said Hackensack Police Capt. Michael Antista, the officer in charge of the department. The victim refused treatment for minor injuries, the captain said. Meanwhile, a witness pursued the vehicle into Teaneck before losing it, he said. Detective Demetrius Carroll and Det. Sgt. Luis Dominguez r…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Cliffside Park Detective Nabs Man For Snatching $1,100 Worth Of Meat From Parked Delivery Truck Cliffside Park Detective Nabs Man For Snatching $1,100 Worth Of Meat From Parked Delivery Truck
Cliffside Park Detective Nabs Man For Snatching $1,100 Worth Of Meat From Parked Delivery Truck A Cliffside Park detective ID'd a man who with a partner took nearly $1,100 worth of meat from a delivery truck in broad daylight, authorities said. The truck was parked off the corner of Anderson and Washington avenues when a dark-colored SUV with both thieves pulled up shortly after 12:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 18, Deputy Police Chief Vincent Capano said. One served as the lookout while the other emptied the truck in multiple trips, the deputy chief said. Detective Jason Pinzone identified the driver as Edgardo J. Gil Li, a 34-year-old Peruvian national with a prior record who most recently l…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Prospect Park Home, Vehicle Burglaries Cracked With Arrest Of Habitual Paterson Offender Prospect Park Home, Vehicle Burglaries Cracked With Arrest Of Habitual Paterson Offender
Prospect Park Home, Vehicle Burglaries Cracked With Arrest Of Habitual Paterson Offender A habitual offender was charged with burglarizing homes and vehicles in Prospect Park and elsewhere. Francisco Sanchez, 32, of Paterson had been busted for burglary in Paterson in May and spent a week in the Bergen County Jail before a judge released him pending further court action. He was back behind bars a month later – again for burglary, records show. Sanchez spent three weeks in the Bergen County lockup this time before being released again -- once again, pending further court action -- on July 20. Paterson police arrested Sanchez yet again this past Tuesday, Aug. 29, and sent him b…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Hotel Guest Assaults Employees, Snatches Security Deposit, Caught On GS Parkway: Fort Lee PD Hotel Guest Assaults Employees, Snatches Security Deposit, Caught On GS Parkway: Fort Lee PD
Hotel Guest Assaults Employees, Snatches Security Deposit, Caught On GS Parkway: Fort Lee PD A social worker was nabbed on the Garden State Parkway in Paramus after he assaulted two employees at a Fort Lee hotel when they refused to return his security deposit, authorities said. Alexander Welch, 31, of Fairfield became irate after being charged his $100 security deposit for smoking inside a room at the Best Western Hotel on westbound Route 4 around 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 1, Deputy Police Chief Edward Young said. Welch assaulted a female employee who was at the register, then did the same to a male employee who came his co-worker’s aid, the deputy chief said. Welch snatched an envel…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
GOTCHA! Just-Released Repeat Offender Pinched For Porch Pirating In Franklin Lakes GOTCHA! Just-Released Repeat Offender Pinched For Porch Pirating In Franklin Lakes
Gotcha! Just-Released Repeat Offender Pinched For Porch Pirating In Franklin Lakes A repeat offender was caught snatching packages from a trio of mailboxes in a Franklin Lakes neighborhood, authorities said. Officers responding to a call of a trespasser at a Franklin Lakes Road residence grabbed Salvatore Cardinale, 47, of Hackensack on Mulberry Way shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 29, Capt. Mark McCombs said. Cardinale, who already had an outstanding warrant from the borough of Middlesex, had only just been released from the Bergen County Jail the day before after being arrested for shoplifting in Paramus over the weekend, records show. Franklin Lakes police charged…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Fugitive Former Paramus Basketballer Turned Bail Reform Poster Boy Captured In Rockland Fugitive Former Paramus Basketballer Turned Bail Reform Poster Boy Captured In Rockland
Fugitive Former Paramus Basketballer Turned Bail Reform Poster Boy Captured In Rockland The increasingly violent criminal career of a former Paramus Catholic High School basketball player continued when he tried to carjack a woman in Park Ridge, then led police on a pursuit, authorities said. Police in the Rockland County town of Stony Point later captured Jordan Dufont, 23, after a foot chase, Park Ridge Police Chief Joseph Madden said on Thursday, Aug. 17. Dufont had only just been released on Aug. 3 after spending five weeks in the Bergen County Jail following another pursuit and a combative arrest off Route 17 in Paramus. Police in Park Ridge got a call this time shortly…

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by Jerry DeMarco