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Superior Court in Paterson

Police & Fire
Paterson Pair Convicted In Ambush Killing Of Rival Gang Member From Newark Paterson Pair Convicted In Ambush Killing Of Rival Gang Member From Newark
Paterson Pair Convicted In Ambush Killing Of Rival Gang Member From Newark UPDATE: The mastermind behind the cold-blooded killing of a 21-year-old rival gang member from Newark during an ambush in Paterson was convicted of first-degree murder and one of his cronies of aggravated manslaughter on Friday. Jurors in Superior Court in Paterson needed only a day to reach guilty verdicts on Oct. 13 against Silk City residents Jaquan Thomas, 33, and Ismael Leon, 21, for gunning down Jose Figueroa. Authorities said the slaying was a “coordinated attack involving multiple shooters in multiple locations.” Thomas sent members of his gang to the area of Totowa and Redwood ave…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
UPDATE: Lyft Driver From Morris Found Guilty Of Fondling Underage Prospect Park Passenger UPDATE: Lyft Driver From Morris Found Guilty Of Fondling Underage Prospect Park Passenger
Update: Lyft Driver From Morris Found Guilty Of Fondling Underage Prospect Park Passenger A former U.S. military member from Morris County was convicted of sexually assaulting a Passaic County pre-teen while working as a Lyft driver. Julio Mejia, 43, of Wharton rejected a plea deal after investigators said the underage Prospect Park girl told them he had sex with her after she took a Lyft ride in August 2019 and then again after several weeks of texting. He took his chances with a jury in Superior Court in Paterson and was convicted of sexual assault, criminal sexual contact, enticing and child endangerment. Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Portelli scheduled sentencing for Feb. …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Paterson Firefighter Snatched Jewelry From Hospitalized Prisoner: Authorities Paterson Firefighter Snatched Jewelry From Hospitalized Prisoner: Authorities
Paterson Firefighter Snatched Jewelry From Hospitalized Prisoner: Authorities A Paterson firefighter was caught on surveillance video stealing a gold chain from a prisoner brought to St. Joseph’s University Medical Center, authorities said. Antonio Moore, 39, of Newark was released pending an initial appearance in Superior Court in Paterson after members of the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office Public Integrity Unit arrested him on Wednesday, June 21, they said. Clifton police had brought the victim in custody to the city hospital last Aug. 21, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said. “The arrestee’s personal property, including a gold chain and the arrest…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Legal
$2.25M Settlement Reached For Botched Hernia Surgery That Perforated Passaic County Man's Bowel $2.25M Settlement Reached For Botched Hernia Surgery That Perforated Passaic County Man's Bowel
$2.25M Settlement Reached For Botched Hernia Surgery That Perforated Passaic County Man's Bowel UPDATE: A Passaic County man whose bowel was perforated during hernia surgery, leading to severe and permanent complications, has reportedly reached a $2.25 million settlement of his medical malpractice suit. Vincent Dominianni, 54, of Totowa had the elective surgery in January 2019, the New Jersey Law Journal reports. He returned to the hospital the next day complaining of pain, constipation and a bloated abdomen, it says. The surgeon, Dr. Melissa Warta, ordered a CT scan and prescribed pain medications for what lawyers said she described as “normal post-operative findings" after an evalu…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Disgraced Ex-Paterson Officer Charged With Assault Of Second Defenseless Suspect Disgraced Ex-Paterson Officer Charged With Assault Of Second Defenseless Suspect
Disgraced Ex-Paterson Officer Charged With Assault Of Second Defenseless Suspect A former Paterson police officer already awaiting trial for beating one suspect over the head with a flashlight has been charged with doing it to another. Spencer Finch, 46, of Mahwah, broke a victim’s nose, knocked out two of his teeth and chipped another outside a Quick’s Food Store on Dec. 22, 2018, an indictment returned by a grand jury in Paterson alleges. In a subsequent use-of-force report, Finch said he was arresting the robbery suspect when he “became belligerent with police and shouted profanities,” Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said in announcing the indictment on W…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Wayne Police Turn Tables On 'Grandson Needs Bail Money' Scammers Who Victimized Elderly Couple Wayne Police Turn Tables On 'Grandson Needs Bail Money' Scammers Who Victimized Elderly Couple
Wayne Police Turn Tables On 'Grandson Needs Bail Money' Scammers Who Victimized Elderly Couple GOTCHA! An elderly couple had just handed over tens of thousands of dollars to a pair of “grandson-in-trouble” scammers and were about to surrender even more when Wayne police came to their rescue. The couple was already at the bank when their adult daughter reached out to township police –and just in time. Posing as a lawyer, one of the scammers had called and convinced the couple that a grandchild “had been involved in a car accident in New York City where a pregnant woman was involved and lost her baby,” Detective Capt. Dan Daly explained. The worried grandparents had already ponied up…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Fired Rookie Paterson Police Officer Indicted On Domestic Violence Charges Fired Rookie Paterson Police Officer Indicted On Domestic Violence Charges
Fired Rookie Paterson Police Officer Indicted On Domestic Violence Charges UPDATE: A Paterson rookie police officer who was fired after being arrested for domestic violence was indicted by a grand jury on aggravated assault and stalking charges. Joseph Tuminelli, 28, lasted all of seven months with the city police department after being sworn in to the job in July 2020. Members of his own department took Tuminelli into custody in February 2021. The case was then turned over to the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office. An indictment secured by an assistant prosecutor in Superior Court in Paterson accuses him of “multiple acts” of domestic violence, Passaic County Pr…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Murder Defendant In Paterson YMCA Stabbing Takes Deal, Pleads Guilty to Lesser Charge Murder Defendant In Paterson YMCA Stabbing Takes Deal, Pleads Guilty to Lesser Charge
Murder Defendant In Paterson YMCA Stabbing Takes Deal, Pleads Guilty to Lesser Charge A 34-year-old Paterson man admitted stabbing another city resident dead at the local YMCA. Jasmir Cleaves, 34, originally was charged with murder in the killing of Gabrae “Brae” Sams Jr., 29, in a fifth-floor hallway of the Y on Ward Street last Aug. 6. Police responding to the call fought to save Sams’s life. He was later pronounced dead at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center. Cleaves took a deal from prosecutors rather than face trial, pleading guilty to aggravated manslaughter in Superior Court in Paterson. Judge Marybel Mercado-Ramirez scheduled sentencing for Sept. 20. Whatever t…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Paterson Police Seized 3 Loaded Guns From Two Juveniles, One Adult Paterson Police Seized 3 Loaded Guns From Two Juveniles, One Adult
Paterson Police Seized 3 Loaded Guns From Two Juveniles, One Adult Paterson police seized three loaded guns – one of which had been stolen – in a trio of separate incidents just days apart. Two of those taken into custody were each 17 years old, city public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said. One of the juveniles bolted after seeing Detectives Yamil Pimienta, Muhammed Dombayci, Levis Qirjako, and John Rikowich approaching near the corner of Highland and Lyons streets, Speziale said. They chased the boy down and seized him behind a North York home near Sassafras Street, the director said. They then checked the route he took while fleeing through various …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Passaic Prosecutor Asked Employee To Process Risqué Photos Of Her And Husband, Lawsuit Claims Passaic Prosecutor Asked Employee To Process Risqué Photos Of Her And Husband, Lawsuit Claims
Passaic Prosecutor Asked Employee To Process Risqué Photos Of Her And Husband, Lawsuit Claims An employee claims Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes asked him to process inappropriate photos of her and her husband and then was retaliated against after he refused. Media specialist Henry Hernandez of Clifton contends his pay was docked, medical issues that put him at risk during COVID were ignored and he was isolated "both socially and professionally" following two refusals. Hernandez claims in a lawsuit filed in Superior Court in Paterson that he'd been considered an "exemplary employee" until Valdes asked him to process a disc of photos that contained images of the prosecuto…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Accused Killer's Mom, Brother Charged, GF To Testify In Disposal Of Paterson Woman's Body Accused Killer's Mom, Brother Charged, GF To Testify In Disposal Of Paterson Woman's Body
Accused Killer's Mom, Brother Charged, GF To Testify In Disposal Of Paterson Woman's Body UPDATE: The killing of a woman whose body was found battered, bloodied and stuffed into the trunk of a car parked on a Paterson, NJ street took some new turns, including an instant guilty plea from the primary witness and two more arrests. Passaic County prosecutors dropped murder and conspiracy charges against Joelle Martucci, 24, as part of deal that will keep her out of prison. In return, Martucci agreed to testify against her fiancé, Justin Fisher, who is now the lone defendant charged with murder in last month’s death and dumping of 38-year-old single mom Stephanie DeJesus of Paterson…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
SENTENCED: Drugged Driver In Gas Station Crash That Killed 3 Could Be Out In 22½ Years SENTENCED: Drugged Driver In Gas Station Crash That Killed 3 Could Be Out In 22½ Years
Sentenced: Drugged Driver In Gas Station Crash That Killed 3 Could Be Out In 22½ Years UPDATE: A drug-addicted Sussex County driver who killed a father, son and gas station attendant in a horrific crash on Route 23 in Wayne three years ago was sentenced to a plea-bargained 25½ years without parole in state prison. Jason Vanderee, 32, of Vernon Township, apologized to the survivors during his sentencing in Superior Court in Paterson on Thursday, March 3. His mother also begged for leniency. Superior Judge Marilyn C. Clark held fast to the terms of the plea deal, saying that she hoped it would “bring some degree of justice to the families who have suffered such grievous lo…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Paterson Man Who Won New Trial For Child Sex Assaults Pleads Guilty For Much Less Prison Time Paterson Man Who Won New Trial For Child Sex Assaults Pleads Guilty For Much Less Prison Time
Paterson Man Who Won New Trial For Child Sex Assaults Pleads Guilty For Much Less Prison Time A Paterson man who saw his conviction for sexually assaulting three children overturned after he was sentenced to 45 years in prison took a guilty plea rather than face trial again. Now he’s looking at the possibility of freedom after only a third of that time. On the flip side, it spares the victims the trauma of having to testify. Jurors in Superior Court in Paterson originally convicted Victor Enamorado of three counts of sexual assault in 2015. That conviction was among dozens that were subsequently nullified after the state Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that a particular legal the…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Ex-PBA Prez Accuses William Paterson University Of Reverse Discrimination During COVID Ex-PBA Prez Accuses William Paterson University Of Reverse Discrimination During COVID
Ex-pba Prez Accuses William Paterson University Of Reverse Discrimination During COVID A former president of William Paterson University’s PBA says he was deliberately passed over for promotions in favor of less-qualified candidates amid the COVID-19 pandemic. University officials were trying to get back at him for suggesting they eliminate two administrative positions instead of pursuing a plan to lay off officers as a way of saving money during the pandemic, Craig Simko said. Minority candidates who scored lower on a Civil Service test when a job opened three months later got promoted to sergeant over him, Simko, 50, of Hawthorne, claims in a lawsuit filed in Superior Court…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Police: Young Thugs —13, 14 — Rob Clifton Liquor Store With BB Gun Police: Young Thugs —13, 14 — Rob Clifton Liquor Store With BB Gun
Police: Young Thugs —13, 14 — Rob Clifton Liquor Store With BB Gun A Clifton liquor store was robbed by four young city teens, one of whom displayed what turned out to be a BB gun, said authorities who took them into custody. The haul? A vape. The quartet entered Dante's Liquor & Wine on Van Houten Avenue shortly before 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Detective Lt. Robert Bracken said. One of the boys asked the cashier for a vape, then pulled up his shirt to expose the weapon in his waistband, Bracken said. The youth grabbed the vape and they all bolted, he said. A detective was checking the area when he spotted the group sitting on a porch a few blocks away…

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by Jerry DeMarco