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Clifton, NJ

PA Fugitive Nabbed After NJ Taxicab Stop PA Fugitive Nabbed After NJ Taxicab Stop
PA Fugitive Nabbed After NJ Taxicab Stop A taxicab passenger who was under the influence of PCP and not wearing a seatbelt turned out to be an ex-con fugitive from Pennsylvania, Haledon police said. Detective Jeffrey Welsh stopped the cab after the driver failed to signal a turn off West Broadway, Deputy Police Chief George Guzman, Jr. said. Angel Collado, 42, of Passaic, who was sitting in back, drew the detective's attention, the deputy chief said. A quick computer check found warrants not only out of Bucks County, PA, but also Clifton and Totowa, Guzman said. Collado -- who records show has a criminal history dating back to h…
Four Caught, PA Man Sought In Brutal Stabbing Death Outside NJ Bar Four Caught, PA Man Sought In Brutal Stabbing Death Outside NJ Bar
Four Caught, PA Man Sought In Brutal Stabbing Death Outside NJ Bar Authorities who’ve charged four men with the brutal murder of a man outside a Garfield bar last month turned to the public for help finding a fugitive gang member from Pennsylvania who sources said repeatedly stabbed the victim in the chest. Ricky “Angel” Vargas, 35, of East Stroudsburg, PA, and his four companions confronted Richard Franceschi, 31, of Hawthorne outside JoJo's Bar & Grill on Monroe Street before dawn this past Feb. 4, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Vargas had a knife and co-defendant Jayson William Rivera, 23, also of East Stroudsburg, had a handgun, the pr…
PA Native Makes Appearance In Star-Studded Video Wishing NJ Happy Birthday PA Native Makes Appearance In Star-Studded Video Wishing NJ Happy Birthday
PA Native Makes Appearance In Star-Studded Video Wishing NJ Happy Birthday New Jersey celebrated its 236 birthday on Monday, Dec. 18. What better gift than a video with cameos from celebs, all with New Jersey roots? Of course, the 1:04-minute clip opened with Cedar Grove's Tommy DeVito, who was joined by fellow NY Giant, Justin Pugh (who hails from Holland, PA). Next came Clifton native Rachel Zegler, who starred as Maria in Steven Spielberg's adaptation West Side Story in 2021. "I just wanted to say, you don't look a day over 235, and give a sincere thanks for all of the Taylor ham, egg and cheese on everything bagels I've consumed every Sunday since I was…
Delaware Man Stole $200K In Mid-Atlantic Jewelry Store Heists, Fled To Philly: Feds Delaware Man Stole $200K In Mid-Atlantic Jewelry Store Heists, Fled To Philly: Feds
Delaware Man Stole $200K In Mid-Atlantic Jewelry Store Heists, Fled To Philly: Feds A Delaware man is accused of stealing up to $200,000 in jewelry in an interstate crime spree that stretched the mid-Atlantic, federal authorities say.  Michael Larbi, 24, of Dover is charged in connection with a string of heists that took place between October 2020 and February 2021, said US Attorney Philip R. Sellinger in a release Friday, Nov. 4.  Federal investigators said the string of robberies began when Larbi walked into a jewelry store in Marlton, New Jersey on Oct. 28, 2020 and ran out with three rings valued at $77,420.  Authorities then believe Larbi…
PA Native Whose Motto Was 'Carpe Diem' Dies PA Native Whose Motto Was 'Carpe Diem' Dies
PA Native Whose Motto Was 'Carpe Diem' Dies Todd Parrett took every opportunity to seize the day that he could, right up until the day he died, his obituary says. The Passaic resident, born in Lock Haven, PA, died on Sunday, May 22 at 42 years old. He was remembered for his "exuberance for life," and was passionate about the great outdoors. A tribute posted to Facebook by Joni Brown noted how Parrett often offered words of comfort and a listening ear. "I, just like so many, am deeply saddened to hear he's gone and I just think Todd deserved to be honored and truly remembered for his sweetness and silliness, and his good soul and …
'Go Back To Your F*cking Country': NJ Woman Attacks Young Muslim Sisters, Authorities Charge 'Go Back To Your F*cking Country': NJ Woman Attacks Young Muslim Sisters, Authorities Charge
'Go Back To Your F*cking Country': NJ Woman Attacks Young Muslim Sisters, Authorities Charge A New Jersey woman getting her nails done smacked a young Muslim girl in the head and told her and her sister to “go back to your f*cking country,” authorities charged. She then cursed out the young teens’ mother, they said. Nancy Jones, 59, of Clifton, was charged with a trio of bias crimes after investigators identified her in connection with the April 30 attack at New Natural Nails on Lakeview Avenue, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes and Clifton Police Chief Thomas Rinaldi said in a joint announcement. Both U.S.-born girls – one 13, the other 15 -- were wearing hijabs at the…
ROAD RAGE: NYC Man Charged With Shooting NJ Driver Off Route 80 Captured By State Police, Feds ROAD RAGE: NYC Man Charged With Shooting NJ Driver Off Route 80 Captured By State Police, Feds
Road Rage: NYC Man Charged With Shooting NJ Driver Off Route 80 Captured By State Police, Feds GOTCHA! A broad-daylight road-rage shooting on Route 80 led to the capture of a Manhattan man by federal marshals and New Jersey State Police, authorities said. Lamont Griffin, 22, opened fire and struck the 39-year-old driver from Newark twice in the area of Route 20 off the eastbound highway around 3:30 p.m. March 2, they said. The wounded victim was taken in a private vehicle to the A+ Urgent Care treatment center in Clifton before being transferred to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and New Jersey State Police Colonel Patrick…
Man Admits Role In NJ/NY Network That Laundered $27M For International Drug Cartels Man Admits Role In NJ/NY Network That Laundered $27M For International Drug Cartels
Man Admits Role In NJ/NY Network That Laundered $27M For International Drug Cartels The takedown of a New Jersey and New York network that laundered more than $27 million for Central and South American drug cartels has produced another guilty plea, federal authorities announced. Gilberto Martinez, 33, formerly of Clifton, "cleaned" more than $1 million himself, both by buying and directing others to buy cashier's checks using drug money, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Morristown police helped the DEA and IRS crack the case, in which more than 1,000 cashier’s checks were bought, he said. The buyers typically were paid a fee of $150 to $200 for each check…
Feds Charge NJ Doc With Randomly Doling Out Large Doses Of Oxy, Xanax, More Feds Charge NJ Doc With Randomly Doling Out Large Doses Of Oxy, Xanax, More
Feds Charge NJ Doc With Randomly Doling Out Large Doses Of Oxy, Xanax, More A Clifton orthopedic surgeon was charged by federal authorities with prescribing high doses of addictive opioid painkillers to patients who abused, sold or otherwise didn't need them. Evangelos Megariotis, 68, prescribed Oxycodone, Xanax, cough syrup with codeine and stimulants “outside the usual course of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Megariotis, who owned and operated Clifton Orthopedic Associates, already has been banned by the state from ever again practicing medicine or prescribing drugs in New Jersey. State au…
Trio Charged With Murdering College-Bound NJ Honors Student, 18 Trio Charged With Murdering College-Bound NJ Honors Student, 18
Trio Charged With Murdering College-Bound NJ Honors Student, 18 Three men were each charged with murder in a street shooting that killed an innocent college-bound honor student from Paterson as he carried in his grandmother’s groceries. Jaquin Williams and Jahed Jones, both 19 of Paterson, and Kahaz D. Heron, 18, of Clifton remained held in the Passaic County Jail following an intense and furious investigation into the slaying of 18-year-old Robert Cuadra. Cuadra was struck by a bullet that was among no fewer than 16 rounds that authorities said were fired on Godwin Avenue around 6:30 p.m. Jan. 19. Responding officers found the mortally wounded teen o…
SWAT STANDOFF: Stabbing Suspect Sets Fire, Tosses Furniture Out Window, Seized After Struggle SWAT STANDOFF: Stabbing Suspect Sets Fire, Tosses Furniture Out Window, Seized After Struggle
SWAT Standoff: Stabbing Suspect Sets Fire, Tosses Furniture Out Window, Seized After Struggle A suspect in a stabbing set fire to his clothes, then began tossing furniture at police cars out the window of his second-floor Clifton apartment Thursday before a Passaic County Sheriff's SWAT team stormed in and seized him, authorities said. Police tried negotiating with the combative 32-year-old tenant after they determined the fire was extinguished in the Lexington Avenue apartment above a city business, Detective Lt. Robert Bracken said. But he only "became more angry and began to toss chairs and other hard objects from the second-floor window, damaging patrol cars that were parke…
Gunman Who Killed Wife, Good Samaritan At NJ Church Wants New Trial Gunman Who Killed Wife, Good Samaritan At NJ Church Wants New Trial
Gunman Who Killed Wife, Good Samaritan At NJ Church Wants New Trial A convict who's 10 years into serving two life sentences for shooting and killing his wife and a congregant at a Clifton church wants New Jersey's highest court to overturn his conviction. Joseph "Sanish" Pallipurath, 40, argues in an appeal to the state Supreme Court that his attorney should have mounted an insanity defense during his trial in Superior Court in Paterson in 2011. Reshma James, 24, had been trying to flee an abusive arranged marriage in India that continued after Pallipurath brought her back with him to California, prosecutors said at the time. James obtained a r…
Police: Young Thugs -- 13, 14 -- Rob NJ Liquor Store With BB Gun Police: Young Thugs -- 13, 14 -- Rob NJ Liquor Store With BB Gun
Police: Young Thugs -- 13, 14 -- Rob NJ 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…
Services Scheduled For NJ Man Shot, Killed By Detective Services Scheduled For NJ Man Shot, Killed By Detective
Services Scheduled For NJ Man Shot, Killed By Detective Services are scheduled this coming Saturday for a Paterson man who was shot and killed last week in a confrontation with city police detectives. Witnesses insist that Thelonious “RaRa” McKnight, 25, was gunned down in cold blood last Wednesday night after detectives chased him down an alley in a mixed-use neighborhood of multi-family homes and businesses near the Passaic River New Jersey's top law enforcer, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck, said that a 9mm handgun was found near McKnight's body. Investigators had made an arrest there hours earlier and were looking fo…
Seven Youths Nabbed In Series Of NJ Car Thefts, Multi-County Pursuit, Crash Seven Youths Nabbed In Series Of NJ Car Thefts, Multi-County Pursuit, Crash
Seven Youths Nabbed In Series Of NJ Car Thefts, Multi-County Pursuit, Crash A Clifton police officer dove into a moving car after the teenager who stole it bailed out during one in a series of incidents involving out-of-town car thieves -- one of whom is only 14. Six of them were captured following a pursuit and crash involving another stolen vehicle and a Clifton police car later that day, Lt. Robert Bracken said. Officers interrupted the theft of a 2017 Mazda on Chittendon Road around 3 a.m. Monday, Bracken said. The thief hopped out of the car while it was still moving, forcing an officer to dive in to keep it from damaging nearby property, he said. The teen a…
Post-Christmas Fire Ravages One NJ Home, Damages Others Post-Christmas Fire Ravages One NJ Home, Damages Others
Post-Christmas Fire Ravages One NJ Home, Damages Others A Sunday fire ripped through one Passaic home and extended to others on either side. The heavily-involved blaze on Harrison Street near Myrtle Avenue began as two alarms at around 9:15 a.m. Heavy fire in the rear of the building eventually began consuming the rest of the 2½-family house -- eventually blowing through the roof -- while spreading to two others. Flames blew through the roof of the Harrison Street home in Passaic.Damien Danis for DAILY VOICE The blaze appeared knocked down a couple of times before eventually being declared under control around 11 a.m. A firefighter sustain…
20 Years Later, Detectives Still Pursue Christmastime Killing Of NJ Grandma 20 Years Later, Detectives Still Pursue Christmastime Killing Of NJ Grandma
20 Years Later, Detectives Still Pursue Christmastime Killing Of NJ Grandma Before the explosion of social media and cold-case TV shows and streams, a beloved grandmother was stabbed dead in her Clifton home. Known for her generous volunteer work, Gertrude Bizarro, 72, was the matriarch of her family and the de facto grandmother of her Dutch Hill neighborhood, a row of two-story homes near the Passaic border. She was "all-around great woman loved by many," recalled Clifton Police Detective Lt. Robert Bracken, who knew her. Twenty years ago this Saturday, Bizarro's husband took their youngest daughter to a hair appointment in anticipation of a Christmas gathering i…
FOUND! Missing NJ Student, 19, Safe And Sound, Taken To Hospital For Evaluation FOUND! Missing NJ Student, 19, Safe And Sound, Taken To Hospital For Evaluation
Found! Missing NJ Student, 19, Safe And Sound, Taken To Hospital For Evaluation UPDATE: Morgan Panzer, a 19-year-old Bergen Community College freshman from Nutley whose parents reported her missing on Wednesday, was found Friday evening in Clifton, a family member confirmed. "They found her in the Wendy's by the Clifton Commons," he told Daily Voice around 5:30 p.m. "She's OK. She heading to Clara Maas Medical Center (in Belleville).  "A huge shout out to the Nutley and Clifton police departments." It was a police officer's wife who spotted her, in fact. Morgan hadn't strayed far. Her father, Richard Panzer, had confirmed that Morgan was spotted at least twice on T…
FOUND! Missing NJ Student, 19, Safe And Sound FOUND! Missing NJ Student, 19, Safe And Sound
Found! Missing NJ Student, 19, Safe And Sound FOUND!! Morgan Panzer, a 19-year-old Bergen Community College freshman from Nutley whose parents reported her missing on Wednesday, was found Friday evening in Clifton, a family member confirmed. "They found her in the Wendy's by the Clifton Commons," he told Daily Voice around 5:30 p.m. "She's OK. She heading to Clara Maas Medical Center (in Belleville). "A huge shout out to the Nutley and Clifton police departments." It was a police officer's wife who spotted her, in fact. Morgan hadn't strayed far. Her father, Richard Panzer, had confirmed that Morgan was spotted at least twice o…
UPDATE: Missing NJ Student, 19, Found UPDATE: Missing NJ Student, 19, Found
Update: Missing NJ Student, 19, Found UPDATE: Morgan Panzer, a 19-year-old Bergen Community College freshman from Nutley whose parents reported her missing on Wednesday, was found Friday evening in Clifton, a family member confirmed. "They found her in the Wendy's by the Clifton Commons," he told Daily Voice around 5:30 p.m. "She's OK. She heading to Clara Maas Medical Center (in Belleville). "A huge shout out to the Nutley and Clifton police departments." It was a police officer's wife who spotted her, he said. Morgan hadn't strayed far. Her father, Richard Panzer, had confirmed that Morgan was spotted at least twice on Th…
Feds: NJ Duo Admits Laundering $4 Million For International Drug Cartels Feds: NJ Duo Admits Laundering $4 Million For International Drug Cartels
Feds: NJ Duo Admits Laundering $4 Million For International Drug Cartels Two Passaic County men admitted in federal court that they laundered nearly $4 million in drug cash for international cartels operating in New Jersey and New York, authorities announced. Erickson Checo-Almonte, 31 of Passaic, and Jordano Abreu-Diaz, 24 of Clifton, were among six defendants charged in the operation. Morristown police helped the DEA and IRS crack the case, in which those involved converted cash from drug sales in the two states to more than 1,000 cashier’s checks, Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Rachael Honig said. The checks were then sent to brokers “acting on behalf o…
Prosecutor: Alleged Kidnap Victim Of Instagram Influencer Took $100,000 Payoff To Change Story Prosecutor: Alleged Kidnap Victim Of Instagram Influencer Took $100,000 Payoff To Change Story
Prosecutor: Alleged Kidnap Victim Of Instagram Influencer Took $100,000 Payoff To Change Story The twisting tale of a Wayne man allegedly kidnapped by Instagram influencer “Jay Mazini” took another turn when Bergen County authorities charged him with taking a $100,000 bribe to back off his story. Amjad Mashal, 29, was arrested outside his business in Clifton, where detectives also found drugs, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Friday. The trouble began when “Mazini” – whose real name is Jebara Igbarra -- picked up Mashal at the 7-Eleven on Palisade Avenue in Fort Lee on March 15, authorities said at the time. Igbarra, of Edgewater, had cultivated a reputation for distribu…
Wife Of Instagram Celeb Jailed In Plot To Kidnap, Terrorize NJ Man Who Trashed Him Online Wife Of Instagram Celeb Jailed In Plot To Kidnap, Terrorize NJ Man Who Trashed Him Online
Wife Of Instagram Celeb Jailed In Plot To Kidnap, Terrorize NJ Man Who Trashed Him Online The wife of Bergen County-based Instagram influencer "Jay Mazini” was in on a plot to kidnap, threaten and terrorize a Fort Lee man who’d posted negative comments about him on social media, authorities said Friday. Joumana Danoun, 21, of Paterson also then tried to get the victim to drop the charges, they said. Danoun joined her husband in the Bergen County Jail following her arrest Thursday. "Mazini" of Edgewater, whose real name is Jebara J. Igbara, 26, has been held in the county lockup since authorities arrested him on kidnapping charges in March. An FBI detainer prevents a local judg…
Getaway Driver In 7-County North Jersey Holdup Spree Heads To Federal Prison Getaway Driver In 7-County North Jersey Holdup Spree Heads To Federal Prison
Getaway Driver In 7-County North Jersey Holdup Spree Heads To Federal Prison The wheelman in nearly two dozen gas station and convenience store armed robberies in North Jersey was sent to federal prison for at least nine years. Meshach Whagar, 31, of Newark must serve just about all of the 110-month sentence handed down in U.S. District Court in Newark on Wednesday because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Whager admitted late last year that he drove the getaway car during the 20 predawn holdups in seven counties -- Bergen, Passaic, Hudson, Essex, Middlesex, Morris and Union -- in November and December of 2017 (see list of locations below). The gunman…
NJ Police Officer Charged With Sexually Abusing Child Over Two Years NJ Police Officer Charged With Sexually Abusing Child Over Two Years
NJ Police Officer Charged With Sexually Abusing Child Over Two Years A Clifton police officer was charged with sexually abusing a child, authorities confirmed Friday. Frank Castro-Ramirez, 39, has a hearing scheduled for this coming Tuesday before a judge in Paterson who’ll determine whether he should be held pending trial, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes said. Assistant Passaic County Prosecutor Alyssa DiSturco of her Major Crimes Division’s Special Victims Unit will seek detention, Valdes said. Clifton police notified unit detectives of the allegations last week, the prosecutor said. The investigators then interviewed several witnesses and the v…