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Ecuadoran Fugitive In Hackensack Child Sex Case Returned After Being Taken Into Custody Ecuadoran Fugitive In Hackensack Child Sex Case Returned After Being Taken Into Custody
Ecuadoran Fugitive In Hackensack Child Sex Case Returned After Being Taken Into Custody A fugitive Ecuadoran national from Hackensack who was apprehended on Long Island was returned to New Jersey this week to face charges of raping a pre-teen. ICE placed a detainer on Jorge Luis Mora, 37, whom a local judge in Hackensack ordered held in the Bergen County Jail pending trial following his extradition Friday from New York. Mora became a fugitive after detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office charged him earlier this year with sexually assaulting the victim in Hackensack in 2013. He already had a criminal record, with arrests in 2017 for harassment and violating a co…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Weather
First Snow, Then Rain: New Forecasts Released For Sunday Storm First Snow, Then Rain: New Forecasts Released For Sunday Storm
First Snow, Then Rain: New Forecasts Released For Sunday Storm A newly-released forecast called for two rounds of precipitation Sunday, with winter weather advisories issued for parts of North Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania. The first was snow, and it was making its way across North Jersey and Southeastern Pennsylvania as of 8:15 a.m. Sunday, the National Weather Service said. Between two and four inches of snow and sleet were possible in North Jersey and The Poconos before noon, while rain was expected across Central and South Jersey.  The second round of precipitation was expected to feature more rain than snow in the early afternoon and …

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Bergen Sheriff: ICE Protestor From Yonkers Who Maced Officers And Ran Captured Next Day Bergen Sheriff: ICE Protestor From Yonkers Who Maced Officers And Ran Captured Next Day
Bergen Sheriff: ICE Protestor From Yonkers Who Maced Officers And Ran Captured Next Day A Yonkers woman who sprayed officers with MACE and then vanished into the crowd during an anti-ICE protest outside the Bergen County Jail was identified and taken into custody when she returned the next day, authorities said. Lizbeth Vazquez, 19, was already facing rioting charges in New York City, Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton said Monday. Vazquez “sprayed the officers with MACE and threatened bodily harm as an unruly group was asked to disperse” during a protest against ICE detainment of immigrants at the jail that erupted into a couple of brief skirmishes on Saturday, the sheriff…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Bergen Sheriff: Eight Of 9 ICE Protestors Arrested Are From NY, Officers Pepper-Sprayed, Bit Bergen Sheriff: Eight Of 9 ICE Protestors Arrested Are From NY, Officers Pepper-Sprayed, Bit
Bergen Sheriff: Eight Of 9 ICE Protestors Arrested Are From NY, Officers Pepper-Sprayed, Bit A troubled but resolute Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton on Sunday said that he agrees with anti-ICE protestors but emphasized that "inciting chaos for the sake of chaos will not be tolerated." "What occurred yesterday was not a peaceful protest. It was not a productive act of political expression," the sheriff said during a news conference Sunday outside the jail in Hackensack. "What we saw yesterday was not, in the words of my hero, John Lewis, 'good trouble'." Cureton corrected social media errors -- noting, for example, that "tear gas was not employed" and that pepper spray was di…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Sheriff's Officers, Anti-ICE Protestors Clash Outside Bergen Jail Sheriff's Officers, Anti-ICE Protestors Clash Outside Bergen Jail
Sheriff's Officers, Anti-ice Protestors Clash Outside Bergen Jail Escalating tensions erupted Saturday night when a few protestors pepper-sprayed and threw bricks at sheriff's officers outside the Bergen County Jail, witnesses said. EMS units were summoned to treat at two injured sheriff's officers, a ranking officer with direct knowledge of the incident said. Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton confirmed the report on Sunday. The sheriff said that he agrees with the anti-ICE protestors but emphasized that "inciting chaos for the sake of chaos will not be tolerated." SEE: Bergen Sheriff: Eight Of 9 ICE Protestors Arrested Are From NY, Officers Pepper-…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Bergen County Jail Protestors Struck By Runaway Sedan In Manhattan Bergen County Jail Protestors Struck By Runaway Sedan In Manhattan
Bergen County Jail Protestors Struck By Runaway Sedan In Manhattan Surveillance video shows a speeding sedan plowing into a group of demonstrators in Manhattan who were demanding the release of ICE detainees at the Bergen County Jail. The NYPD said 52-year-old Kathleen Casillo, of Queens, was charged with reckless endangerment following the incident in the Murray Hill section of Manhattan. Casillo had stopped near the corner of East 39th Street and Third Avenue when some protestors surrounded her car, hitting it, shortly after 4 p.m. responders said. She apparently hit the gas in a panic to get away and struck at least seven people, several who were in th…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Authorities: Fugitive Leader Of Crew That Burglarized Homes In NJ, Long Island, CT Captured Authorities: Fugitive Leader Of Crew That Burglarized Homes In NJ, Long Island, CT Captured
Authorities: Fugitive Leader Of Crew That Burglarized Homes In NJ, Long Island, CT Captured The accused leader of a burglary ring that stole more than $1 million in cash, jewelry, electronics and more from homes in North Jersey, Connecticut and on Long Island was captured at a Jersey City motel, authorities confirmed. Bryan Leandro Herrera Maldonado, 24, fought with his captors before being subdued, they said. Authorities in January arrested three other accused members of the elaborate Queens-based Chilean burglary crew, who they said targeted luxury homes from Long Island’s North Shore to Miami and California. They were identified as Boneek Alexander Quintero-Baeza, 33, Levy Fra…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Largest US Dark Web Sweep Ever: 179 Busted, Half-Ton Drugs, $6.5M Seized In Operation DisrupTor Largest US Dark Web Sweep Ever: 179 Busted, Half-Ton Drugs, $6.5M Seized In Operation DisrupTor
Largest US Dark Web Sweep Ever: 179 Busted, Half-Ton Drugs, $6.5M Seized In Operation DisrupTor Authorities seized more than $6.5 million in cash and virtual currency, as well as more than half a ton of drugs, in the largest dark web bust ever in the U.S., the Justice Department announced Tuesday. A total of 179 buyers and sellers were charged worldwide by law enforcement agencies in the United States and Europe as part of Operation DisrupTor, named for the heavily-encrypted private web browser (Tor) most often used to access the dark web, authorities said. More than 600 pounds of fentanyl, heroin, other opioids and cocaine were seized in the U.S. alone. Authorities charged 121 peopl…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Hackensack Man, 60, Charged With Raping Pre-Teen Hackensack Man, 60, Charged With Raping Pre-Teen
Hackensack Man, 60, Charged With Raping Pre-Teen An unemployed Hackensack man was charged with raping a pre-teen. Luis Gonzalez, 60, remained held Monday in the Bergen County Jail pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said members of his Special Victims Unit and Hackensack police arrested Gonzalez, of Holt Street, on Friday after city police “received information that [he] engaged in sexual penetration with a juvenile under the age of 13 in Hackensack.” He’s charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and child endangerment. Court records show t…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
New Brunswick Woman Kidnapped, Beaten: Guatemalan National Captured, Jailed in Bergen New Brunswick Woman Kidnapped, Beaten: Guatemalan National Captured, Jailed in Bergen
New Brunswick Woman Kidnapped, Beaten: Guatemalan National Captured, Jailed in Bergen A Guatemalan national abducted his ex-girlfriend in New Brunswick, beat and tried to choke her and then stole her cellphone before dumping her in Wallington, authorities said. A good Samaritan flagged down a passing Wallington police officer, who found the frantic woman at the 7-Eleven on Main Avenue speaking only Spanish, Capt. Shawn Kudlacik said. A Passaic police officer responded to translate for the 38-year-old victim, who told police that Miguel Anton Perez, 47, grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into his car in New Brunswick. Perez “punched her in the back and put his hands aro…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
NJ Detention Center May Close: Landlord Moves To End Lease With ICE Contractor NJ Detention Center May Close: Landlord Moves To End Lease With ICE Contractor
NJ Detention Center May Close: Landlord Moves To End Lease With ICE Contractor The federal immigrant detention center in Elizabeth may be closing as the building's owner is moving to end a lease with the company that has housed ICE detainees at the site for decades. The Elberton Development group said it hopes to end its contract with Evans Street tenant CoreCivic, a company that manages private prison and detention centers, as soon as possible. The detention center and others like it have come under scrutiny in recent years from many who view the treatment of the detainees as inhumane and urged Elberton to end the agreement. "As supporters of many important educatio…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Parsippany Men Captured In California Sentenced In Roommate's Beating Death Parsippany Men Captured In California Sentenced In Roommate's Beating Death
Parsippany Men Captured In California Sentenced In Roommate's Beating Death A Parsippany man who fled to California after killing his roommate during a drunken brawl last summer must spend more than four years in prison before he'll be eligible for parole. Rogelio Laureano-Gonzalez, 26, admitted last month that he struck Jaime Lopez-Basilio, 27, in the head, killing him, during a drunken argument at their Old Bloomfield Avenue home last September. Laureano-Gonzalez fled with another roommate, Cirilo Rojas-Paulino, 25, and were later captured in Kern County, CA, authorities said. Superior Court Judge Stephen J. Taylor sentenced Laureano-Gonzalez …

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by Cecilia Levine