Fair 17°
Police & Fire
THIS IS BAIL REFORM? Judge Releases Accused Big-Time Paterson Dealer Busted In $1M Drug Raid THIS IS BAIL REFORM? Judge Releases Accused Big-Time Paterson Dealer Busted In $1M Drug Raid
This IS Bail Reform? Judge Releases Accused Big-Time Paterson Dealer Busted In $1M Drug Raid One of the biggest arguments for bail reform in New Jersey was that poor defendants regularly languished in jail, waiting for their cases to be heard, while drug dealers routinely paid their way out. Examples of offenders who are repeatedly caught and immediately released have dominated the debate over bail reform. New Jersey got a different example, however, with the arrest of a Dominican national described by authorities as a big-time Paterson drug dealer. Roughly 3½ pounds of fentanyl powder and 1,300 fentanyl pills were among nearly $1 million worth of narcotics seized from Pedro Rodr…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Ex-Con Charged In Shooting Of NJ State Police Detective In Paterson Has Deadly History Ex-Con Charged In Shooting Of NJ State Police Detective In Paterson Has Deadly History
Ex-Con Charged In Shooting Of NJ State Police Detective In Paterson Has Deadly History One of two defendants publicly identified for the first time in the shooting of a New Jersey State Police detective in Paterson earlier this year once deliberately gunned down a 16-year-old boy, records show. Tajshmer Johnson and Queenasia McFarlane, both 30, were named in a state grand jury indictment returned Tuesday, July 25, that charges Jocquise Timmons, 28, with the NJSP shooting in early March. Authorities said Timmons stepped out from behind a parked vehicle and opened fire on two State Police detectives -- wounding one of them -- near the corner of East 26th Street and 9th Avenue.…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
NJ Correctional Officer Indicted In Beating Of Resident Who Died NJ Correctional Officer Indicted In Beating Of Resident Who Died
NJ Correctional Officer Indicted In Beating Of Resident Who Died A correctional police officer at New Jersey’s maximum-security facility for sex offenders was indicted for his role in the beating of a resident who died days later of a stroke. Giuseppe "Joey: Mandara, 54, of Brick Township “abandoned his equipment, including keys and radio, and thereafter used excessive or unlawful force” on Darrell Smith at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Middlesex County, the indictment says. A grand jury in Trenton returned the indictment charging Mandara with misconduct last week, according to a statement issued by state Attorney General Matthew J. Platki…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
PURSUIT: Stolen Car Collisions Injure Homeland Security Agent, NJSP Detectives, Teen Thief PURSUIT: Stolen Car Collisions Injure Homeland Security Agent, NJSP Detectives, Teen Thief
Pursuit: Stolen Car Collisions Injure Homeland Security Agent, Njsp Detectives, Teen Thief UPDATE: Two New Jersey State Police detectives were struck and a U.S. Homeland Security agent rammed head-on by a quartet of car thieves, one of them a 15-year-old who had his leg broken during a pursuit, authorities confirmed. Three adults and the injured juvenile were seized following a chain reaction of collisions in Newark involving a stolen SUV, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said on Friday, June 30. It began with the theft of the 2021 BMW X6 in Cedar Grove around 7:30 a.m. Thursday, June 22, the attorney general said. Members of the New Jersey State Police Auto Theft…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
STATE POLICE CHASE: Federal Agent, NJSP Detective Injured In Collisions With Fleeing Thieves STATE POLICE CHASE: Federal Agent, NJSP Detective Injured In Collisions With Fleeing Thieves
State Police Chase: Federal Agent, Njsp Detective Injured In Collisions With Fleeing Thieves UPDATE: Two New Jersey State Police detectives were struck and a U.S. Homeland Security agent rammed head-on by a quartet of car thieves, one of them a 15-year-old who had his leg broken during a pursuit, authorities confirmed. Three adults and the injured juvenile were seized following a chain reaction of collisions in Newark involving a stolen SUV, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said on Friday, June 30. It began with the theft of the 2021 BMW X6 in Cedar Grove around 7:30 a.m. Thursday, June 22, the attorney general said. Members of the New Jersey State Police Auto Theft…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Motorcyclist Killed In Crash Was Fleeing Off-Duty NJ Trooper At More Than 100 MPH, AG Says Motorcyclist Killed In Crash Was Fleeing Off-Duty NJ Trooper At More Than 100 MPH, AG Says
Motorcyclist Killed In Crash Was Fleeing Off-Duty NJ Trooper At More Than 100 MPH, AG Says A 24-year-old motorcyclist was being pursued by an off-duty State Police trooper in an unmarked car at more than 100 miles an hour when he was killed in a late-afternoon collision in Burlington County, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. A local police officer was following both vehicles when the crash occurred in Springfield Township shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 20, Platkin said early Wednesday evening. The pursuit was headed south on Route 206 when a 70-driver driver made a left turn onto the highway from westbound Jacksonville-Jobstown Road (County Road 670) and h…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Suspended NJ Police Chief Indicted As Sexual Predator, New Charges Added: State AG Suspended NJ Police Chief Indicted As Sexual Predator, New Charges Added: State AG
Suspended NJ Police Chief Indicted As Sexual Predator, New Charges Added: State AG A local New Jersey police chief who’d already been charged with sexually preying on women is facing new allegations, the state’s top cop announced on Tuesday. Following his suspension amid sexual assault allegations, Manville Police Chief Thomas Herbst wrongfully held onto his badge, then displayed it as if was still on active duty to a police officer who’d pulled him over late this past January, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. The charge was contained in an eight-count indictment returned by a state grand jury that focused mostly on what the attorney general called “sexually pred…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Arsonist Targeted Jewish Residents In Fiery Anti-Semitic Rampage Across Jersey Shore Town: AG Arsonist Targeted Jewish Residents In Fiery Anti-Semitic Rampage Across Jersey Shore Town: AG
Arsonist Targeted Jewish Residents In Fiery Anti-Semitic Rampage Across Jersey Shore Town: AG A 34-year-old Jersey Shore man accused of spray-painting swastikas on several structures and causing a fire that gutted a house earlier this week was being held in a medical facility, authorities said. Ron Carr, 34, of Manchester, scrawled Nazi symbolism on more than a dozen homes, residential fences and elsewhere, targeting Jewish residents in the early hours of Wednesday, June 7, according to Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer. Carr damaged more than a dozen homes, and used an accelerant to set a fire that destroyed a house in the township…

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
SLEAZEBAG: NJ Case Worker Admits Groping Clients, Sexting Wank Pics, Threatening To Take Kids SLEAZEBAG: NJ Case Worker Admits Groping Clients, Sexting Wank Pics, Threatening To Take Kids
Sleazebag: NJ Case Worker Admits Groping Clients, Sexting Wank Pics, Threatening To Take Kids It’s about as low as someone who works in child welfare services can go. A now-former case worker with the New Jersey Department of Children and Families admitted groping women he was investigating, sending unwanted masturbation pics and threatening to have children taken from those who didn’t go out with him, authorities said on Friday. Gilberto Ortiz Jr., a 53-year-old bilingual family services specialist, told a mom he was investigating that he’d “help her” if she had a relationship with him, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. Ortiz warned the woman during a home visi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Five From NJ Admit Pocketing $1.3M In Aircraft Equipment Scam Five From NJ Admit Pocketing $1.3M In Aircraft Equipment Scam
Five From NJ Admit Pocketing $1.3M In Aircraft Equipment Scam A crew of con artists from New Jersey admitted swindling more than $1.3 million from hundreds of businesses nationwide and abroad that thought they were buying specialized aviation equipment. The head of the operation, Antonio P. Signo, 36, of Somerset – aka "Tony Demetro" – had been the first to take a deal from prosecutors rather than face the potential consequences of a trial. The onetime fugitive pleaded guilty last August -- with no public notice from authorities – to a single count of theft by deception, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin revealed on Thursday, May 25. The…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
$1.65M Worth Of Heroin, Coke, Crystal Meth Seized, Target Busted In Pair Of Paterson Raids $1.65M Worth Of Heroin, Coke, Crystal Meth Seized, Target Busted In Pair Of Paterson Raids
$1.65M Worth Of Heroin, Coke, Crystal Meth Seized, Target Busted In Pair Of Paterson Raids State, county and local authorities smashed a major drug mill, seizing $1.65 million worth of heroin, cocaine and crystal meth in a pair of quick-strike raids at Paterson locations only blocks apart. Felix Rodriguez, 40, was running the drug mill from an apartment on East 26th Street when authorities came calling, a group of law enforcement officials led by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. Tactical officers with the State Police and Passaic County Sheriff’s SWAT team simultaneously hit that location and Rodriguez’s 28th Street apartment, the attorney general said. Altog…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Montclair State Junior Who Collected Child Porn Got Kids To Send Sex Vids, Authorities Charge Montclair State Junior Who Collected Child Porn Got Kids To Send Sex Vids, Authorities Charge
Montclair State Junior Who Collected Child Porn Got Kids To Send Sex Vids, Authorities Charge Investigators who arrested a student at Montclair State University for collecting child porn made a frightening discovery after raiding his dorm room, authorities said. The MSU junior from Burlington County had contacted underage children online using a bogus identity, then engaged them in sexually explicit chats – and even had some send him videos of them pleasuring themselves, they said. Keyon Luff, 21, of Edgewater Park, was arrested by state Division of Criminal Justice detectives assisted by Montclair State police during a raid of his on-campus dorm room last week, New Jersey Attorney …

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by Jerry DeMarco