Alleged ID thief caught

LYNDHURST – Dumont resident Donald A. Moat, left, who lives at 89 Shadyside Ave. was arrested on charges of harassment, impersonation, and stalking on Tuesday, March 3.
The arrest came about as a result of an investigation conducted by members of the Lyndhurst Police Department, under the direction of Chief James O’Connor, and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Computer Crimes Task Force, under the direction of Chief Joseph Macellaro.
The arrest stemmed from an investigation in which the following occurred:
Moat repeatedly used the victim’s personal information to create online Web accounts purporting to be the victim. He then communicated with individuals he met online while impersonating the victim and had them contact the real victim and provided her real contact information.
Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Prosecutor Molinelli said that the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Additionally, Molinelli would like to thank Lyndhurst Police Department since they provided manpower in the form of a Computer Crimes Task Force member, Officer Michael Lemanowicz, and who worked on this investigation.

Arrests made on Alexander Avenue

Kearny residents Stuart Bradley, top, and John Bradley, bottom.

KEARNY - When Kearny Officer Vanessa Sevillano responded to at call to Liquid Cargo on 470 Schuyler Ave. about a possible theft on Tuesday, April 15 at 3:26 p.m., she was informed that Ace Auto Salvage, located at 34 Stover Ave., contacted the Schuyler Avenue business because the tank fittings bought earlier in the day may belong to them.
The two men who brought in the fittings, known to Ace as John and Stuart Bradley, were suspected of allegedly stealing the items from their garage. The pair was seen driving a black Geo Tracker.
The items, valued at over $4,000, were confirmed as being stolen from Ace.
Det. Lt. Greg Reed and Det. Ray Lopez followed up investigation. Both John and Stuart Bradley were positively identified through a photo array.
The detectives, along with the Kearny Vice Unit and directed patrol officers went to the home of suspects, who live at 27 Alexander Ave. in Kearny. A black Geo Tracker was parked on the street near Alexander Avenue. Police officials said there was money allegedly from the sale still inside the vehicle.
The officers approached the home and could see through a partially open door that John Bradley was slouched over with a syringe stuck in his left arm, reports said.
The officers entered the residence and secured the syringe, and John J. Bradley, 38, of 27 Alexander Ave. was arrested and charged with burglary, theft, conspiracy to commit theft, possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and the use of a controlled dangerous substance, according to reports. Police said he has at least 44 prior arrests.
Stuart Bradley, 29, also of 27 Alexander Ave. was arrested and charged with burglary, theft, and conspiracy. Police said the younger Bradley has at least 28 prior arrests.
Many residents have called and wondered why anyone with that many priors could still be walking the streets.
See the April 30 issue of The Observer for some answers from law enforcement officials.

Bank robber on the loose

NORTH ARLINGTON – The manager of Commerce Bank at 454 Ridge Rd. in North Arlington reported via the telephone that his bank was just robbed on April 16 at 12:15 p.m., according to police reports.
A lone black man entered the bank and approached a teller at the counter. The suspect handed the bank teller a manila envelope that had the following written on it “I have a gun, loose bills on top.” The teller proceeded to place an undetermined amount of cash in the envelope and the man fled out of the bank on foot. An extensive search of the area was unable to locate the actor.
No weapon was ever shown or observed by anyone, police said.
The suspect is described as a black man, wearing metal rimmed glasses; 5 foot-3 inches tall; weighing about 170 pounds; between 20 and 25 years of age; medium build, wearing dark jeans; and an over-sized pinkish/plaid shirt and a red Cincinnati Reds baseball cap.
The above photos are of the alleged robber from the Commerce Bank surveillance tapes.
Any one with any information on this person, contact the North Arlington Police Detectives at 201-955-5680.

Cupo coughs it up

BELLEVILLE - BELLEVILLE - Never underestimate the tenacity of veterans no matter what their age or condition, or the power of the press to secure change - $2100 of change, that is.
DAV Chapter 22 Commander Joe Fornarotto phoned to say that just two days after their front-page story in Wednesday's edition of The Observer they received some money in the mail.
The story featured their plight with Nunzio Cupo, former commander of the Belleville-Nutley organization. Cupo plead guilty last year to stealing at least $160,000 from the new building kitty. As of press time, Cupo not paid the remaining $85,000 owed the brothers and sisters in arms.
Hopefully, the rest of the back-owed money will be sent post-haste and continue on time.
A Kearny reader, who phoned to say she was aghast that Cupo never received any time for his actions, requested the address of New Jersey Superior Court Judge John C. Kennedy and Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Arthur Margeotes in order to give the pair a piece of her mind about the injustice of it all.
Way to go, Joe and the rest of the Mill Street crew!

Thirty bewildering bullet holes

KEARNY - The owner of Apex Apparel Services Inc., located at 46 Sellers St. in Kearny, came into work at 7 a.m. on April 3 to find his building had been damaged by bullets.

When Kearny police arrived, the front of the building was found to have over 30 bullet holes in it.

Evidence recovered from the scene is being processed, and there are several video systems that police officials are examining for evidence.
Detectives at Kearny police headquarters on Laurel Avenue are requesting that anyone who heard gun shots or any similar noise between the hours of 8 p.m. on Wednesday April 2 and 7 a.m. on Thursday, April 3, to contact the bureau at 201-998-4632.

Gold items favorite for thieves

KEARNY - Residents are advised that due to the high gold prices home burglaries may be on the rise. The following homes were burglarized on Monday, April 7:

• 111 Belgrove Dr. - Apartment 31
• 520 Devon St.
• 511 Kearny - Apartment 13 and 14

Anyone who lives in apartment buildings should be very cautious as to who they buzz into their buildings, police officials said.
If anyone has any information please contact Kearny detectives at 201-998-4632.

Death Penalty and Deterrence

From the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in Washington, D.C. (By Mike Males, PhD):

Legal executions restarted in earnest in 1984 after state courts and the United States Supreme Court cleared legal obstacles raised by 1970s anti-death penalty rulings. States implemented the death penalty with widely varying intensity.

From 1984 through 2006:
· 13 states (Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia) each conducted one or more executions per year, a total of 942, 90 percent of the executions in the United States.
· 20 states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, Wyoming) conducted a total of 109 executions.
· 17 states (Alaska, District of Colombia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin) had no executions.

Claims have been made, refuted, resurrected, and re-refuted that use of the death penalty deters murder. Complex mathematical analyses of multiple factors contributing to murder rates have reported opposite results, with some concluding a deterrent effect from the death penalty exists, others no deterrent effect, others a violence-promoting effect.
The Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice conducted an analysis of the effect of the 1,051 legal executions on the 446,457 homicides in the 50 states and Washington D.C. during the 1984-2006 period. We found that, clearing away the complexities, the reason for the widely differing findings on the deterrent effect of the death penalty is fairly simple.
Homicide data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (2007), legal execution data and city homicide trends from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (2007), and state population figures from the Bureau of the Census (2007) are used to analyze murder rates in the 13 “big death” states” with 942 executions, the 20 “little death states” with 109 executions, and the 18 “no death” states and DC with no executions.
From 1983-84 to 2005-06, the homicide rate declined by 34 percent in the “big death” states with the most executions, by 24 percent in the “little death” states with few executions, and by 36 percent in the “no death” states with no executions.
Again, the “big death” and the “no death” states show the biggest declines in homicide, while the “little death” state shows the least decline. The major cities in each category show larger declines in the no-death penalty states.

A straightforward “death penalty versus no death penalty” chi-square analysis that pits the no-death states against all of those that conducted executions finds a statistically significant effect that not executing anyone best deters homicide. An “intensity of execution” analysis that pits the big-death states against the little-death and no-death states (on the grounds that rarely applying the death penalty does not permit fair evaluation of its effects) finds that states that conduct lots of executions have fewer homicides, though the result is less significant.
One can conclude, with mathematical assurance, that a state policy of executing lots of people, and a state policy of executing no one, both significantly deter homicide. Although many complications can be added to the analysis, the basic commonality that underlies these contradictory results is simple: the states in the middle, the ones that rarely used the death penalty, had much lower reductions in homicide than both the states that used the death penalty frequently and the states that never used it at all.
This peculiar result suggests the death penalty is irrelevant to homicide. Executions are highly publicized, often over long periods of time as sentences are imposed, appeals argued and decided, dates set, dates postponed, controversies covered, sentences finally carried out. If executions deterred murder, we would expect the states that executed at least some people to show bigger drops in homicide than states that executed no one. Conversely, if executions promoted more homicide (the “state-sanctioned violence” argument), we would expect that states that conducted lots of executions would experience more murders than those that executed very few.
Neither of the expected patterns emerges. In addition, the no-death-penalty states show slightly more favorable results, with bigger declines and murder and more strongly significant results when pitted against the death-penalty states. These results are far from the level of significance necessary to argue that not executing anyone deters murder, but they strongly argue the death penalty and homicide rates are unrelated.
While big-death-penalty states tend to be concentrated in the South, where murder rates are highest, the states’ levels of homicide show no relationship to trends. The three categories of states each contain cities with traditionally high murder rates (Houston, Dallas, Miami, and Atlanta in the big-death states; Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Baltimore in the “little death” states; New York, Detroit, Washington, and Newark in the no-death states), and trends in these cities likewise show no murder deterrent of the death penalty.
As a murder deterrent, the death penalty appears largely irrelevant.
For more information see the Web site, http://www.cjcj.org/.

New ATF field office in Newark

NEWARK – The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) opened the doors of its new field division on Friday, April 4 — the 25th in the country.
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) joined with Reps. Steven R. Rothman (D-NJ-09) and Donald M. Payne (D-NJ-10) as well as ATF Acting Director Michael J. Sullivan and U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Christopher J. Christie to open the new field office in Newark. The office will better focus the ATF’s resources in the region to fight against violent crime, prevent terrorism and protect the nation, according to a recent press release.
The Newark ATF division encompasses all of New Jersey and will enhance bureau's ability to combat violent criminal gangs and organizations, share information and intelligence with its law enforcement partners while working through such ATF-led initiatives as the Violent Crime Impact Team.
“ATF’s first priority is safeguarding New Jersey from firearms — and gang-related violence,” ATF Acting Director Sullivan said. “By strategically realigning ATF field offices and working with our law enforcement partners; the U.S. attorney and county prosecutors, legislators, and the community, ATF will better be able to achieve its goals in the region. With New Jersey’s commitment to trace every gun used in the commission of a crime via the New Jersey State Police and ATF, we will make our communities safer.”
The benefits to the region include enhanced working relationships with state and local partners, as well as other federal agencies currently working in the region. Partnerships with regulated industry associations will continue, as there are approximately 300 federal firearms licensees and more than 100 explosives licensees and permittees that fall under the purview of the new field division.
Matthew W. Horace will serve as the special agent in charge of the Newark Field Division. Horace previously served as the acting in the same capacity for the Denver Field Division before coming to Newark. Previous positions include the assistant special agent in charge of the Seattle Field Division and several high-level positions at ATF headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The Newark management team will be made up of an assistant special agent in charge, a division operations officer, a director of industry operations position and support staff.
The New Jersey Field Division comprises nearly 40 special agents and industry operations investigators. Other resources include certified fire investigators and certified explosives specialists. The arrangement of the field division and satellite offices will allow for staffing growth opportunities within the division as funding is made available.
The new field division consists of existing criminal enforcement offices and an industry operations office in West Paterson, previously assigned to the New York Field Division, and criminal enforcement offices in Camden, Trenton and Atlantic City that have been realigned from the Philadelphia Field Division.
The Newark Field Division is temporarily located at 1 Garret Mountain Plaza, West Paterson, until a permanent space is located in Newark.
Division office personnel can be reached at 973-413-1179.

Kearny resident runs over man

ENGLEWWOOD - Kearny resident Joseph Lopez, 39, has been charged and arrested with one count of vehicular homicide and driving while intoxicated in connection with a fatal motor vehicle accident that occurred on Wednesday, March 27 at 12:25 p.m. in Englewood, according to a press release sent by Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli.
The charges came about as a result of an investigation conducted by Chief Joseph Macellaro and the members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Fatal Accident Investigation Unit in collaboration with Chief David Bowman and the Englewood Police Department.
Lopez, who is employed by a company which cleans out portable toilets, was operating a 2007 Ford F350 Truck traveling in a construction site located adjacent to West Sheffield Road in Englewood, according to the report.
After cleaning out the second portable toilet, Lopez entered his Ford truck and traveled around the portable bathroom. He then backed up, in a northerly direction and passed a parked flatbed that was being unloaded.
As Lopez was traveling in reverse, he ran over a construction worker at the site - Hackensack resident Peter Toulson, 59.
Shortly after striking Toulson, Lopez stopped his vehicle after hearing several construction workers yelling after him indicating that there was a man laying injured on the ground in the path where the vehicle had traveled. Lopez then exited the truck and walked over. Toulson was pronounced dead as a result of severe head trauma sustained during the accident by Doctor Schiebman after the responding paramedics took the vicrim tothe Englewood Hospital Emergency Room.
During the course of the accident investigation, police detected an odor of marijuana on Lopez. He was charged and arrested with driving while intoxicated, and a blood sample was drawn for toxicology testing. Authorities await the results of the toxicology tests.
Bail was set at $35,000.00 with no 10 percent option by Englewood Municipal Court Judge James Dow, Jr., J.M.C.
The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Prosecutor Molinelli would like to thank the Englewood Police Department for their cooperation during the incident.

Tanski goes up the river

William Tanski, 52, was finally sentenced to three years in state prison on March 7 on two charges: official misconduct and theft with failure to make required disposition, according to law enforcement officials.
The former superintendent of Harrison Department of Public Works was convicted of stealing nearly $100,000 in coins from the town’s parking meters. He worked for the town for 31 years.
Town officials noticed a substantial decrease in parking meter revenue and Mayor Raymond McDonough asked him to resign in the summer of 2005 after he admitted his guilt. Tanski deposited the money into his personal bank account and was used at Atlantic City casinos, according to reports at the time.
The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office first investigated Tanski in 2006, after Harrison police notified them after their own investigation.
Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said Tanski was remanded to the Hudson County Correction Center in South Kearny. Tanski will be taken to the Central Reception and Assignment Facility in Trenton, DeFazio said.
There, Department of Corrections officials will classify him according to the crimes he has been convicted of. Once a spot opens up in the appropriate state prison, such as a minimum-security prison, he will be sent there, other officials said.
“Based on the nature of the offense and his age, that (Tanski going to a minimum security facility) would be a reasonable assumption. It is in the hands of the D.O.C.,” DeFazio said.
Tanski could wind up in a workplace like Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, or one of the state prison-run AgriIndustries food production plants (formerly known as “the farms.”).
“Some prisons have a different number of classifications so (he could be sent) to a number of locations in the state – clearly it’s not in New Jersey State Prison in Trenton,” DeFazio said.
The AgriIndustries facilities are not like a regular farm.
“These are not country clubs. There are no golf, swimming pools or tennis courts in any of these places. But where he goes is strictly in the hands of the Department of Corrections,” he said.

Jersey man caught in Michigan child predator sting

MICHIGAN - One man from New Jersey and 26 men from Michigan were charged and arrested as a result of a six-month long Internet child predator sting by Van Buren police and Wayne County sheriffs, according to news reports. All 27 men came from a variety of distances and by different modes of transportation to a decoy home for what they thought would be a sexual encounter with an underage girl or boy.
They were met by Van Buren law enforcement officials instead.
Even more alleged predators are expected to be nabbed with help through volunteer video surveillance provided by Perverted-Justice Foundation, a non-profit foundation for aggressive confronting “of pedophiles, predators and all the issues that surround them.” See their Web site at http://www.pjfi.org/.

Fatal Stabbing

HARRISON - Manuel Queiruga Romero, 51, was stabbed to death on Sunday night, Feb. 24, at 11 p.m. in his basement apartment on 218A North 2nd Street in Harrison, according Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio.
Jorge Quintanilla, 65, was initially arrested by Harrison police, DeFazio said.
He said Quintanilla allegedly stabbed the 51-year-old in the throat "multiple times." He also said the two men were known to each other.
DeFazio said a neighbor was called by Quintanilla and she then called 9-1-1.
"Harrison patrolmen responded in a timely way, and apprehended the suspect as he left the scene of the crime," DeFazio said. "The investigation is continuing but we don't believe anyone else was involved."
See the March 5 edition of The Observer for more on the murder.

Lyndhurst police catch suspectsin attempted burglary

On Friday, Feb. 8 at 1:05 p.m. a resident from the 700 block of Page Avenue called police stating that someone had just attempted to force entry into his home. The resident reported that he saw an unknown man ringing his front doorbell and trying the door handle. This person returned to vehicle parked across the street. The vehicle made a u-turn and pulled up in front of the victim’s home.

Two men exited the vehicle and approached a side door to the home. The homeowner reported hearing and seeing someone trying to kick-in the side door. The homeowner yelled and ran out the front door and chased the two alleged suspects west on Page Avenue, eventually losing sight of them, police officials said.

The victim telephoned police with the license plate number and description of the suspects. The plate number was put out over the air and monitored by Officer Vincent Auteri who had been on Stuyvesant Avenue near Fern Avenue in his personal vehicle. Auteri contacted police headquarters and followed the suspect vehicle onto Rt. 21 north and eventually Rt. 3 west, according to police reports.

Detective Michael Failace caught-up to Auteri in his police unit and signaled for the suspect vehicle to pull over. The vehicle pulled into an Exxon service station on Rt. 3 in Clifton where the driver and passenger suddenly jumped out of the car.

Both were then taken into custody. While they were being placed in custody, one or both of the rear seat occupants then jumped into the drivers seat and fled the scene, police reports said.
The suspect vehicle was described as a black two-door Honda Civic, with dark black tinted windows all around.

Later in the evening, Lyndhurst detectives went to Newark, searched around and eventually located the suspect vehicle and towed it back to Lyndhurst police headquarters where it was processed for fingerprints, reports said.

Both suspects were charged with attempted burglary. Further investigation yielded the identity of a third suspect and an active warrant for his arrest has been issued. The investigation is ongoing and Lyndhurst police expect to identify the fourth suspect and charge him as well.

Kearny resident Daniella Deoliveira, 20, was arrested and charged for attempted burglary. Newark resident Victor Perez, 20, was charged and arrested for attempted burglary and possession of a weapon (knife). Bail was set for both of them at $ 10,000 and they were released on their own recognizance.

The third suspect’s identity being with held at this time. An active warrant was issued for attempted burglary, as well as charges for eluding police.

Attempted Robbery in Lyndhurst

Lyndhurst dispatchers received a call for an alleged attempted robbery on Monday, Feb. 4 at 2:32 p.m.
Patrol units were sent to J&J Liquors at 39 Ridge Road because of an activated panic alarm. While in route to the scene, the owner of the store called Lyndhurst headquarters at 367 Valley Brook Ave. on and told dispatchers that a man attempted to rob the store with a gun and already fled the scene.
When the police arrival, the woman owner of the store said a man approached the counter and began to fumble around with a plastic bag. When she asked if she could help him, he pulled the weapon partially out of a bag to show it to her, saying, “I’m holding you up”.
The owner then activated the silent panic alarm. Upon seeing her do this, the alleged suspect fled the store on foot, west on Sixth Avenue, according to police reports.
No one was hurt, no money was lost and there was none in the store at the time, besides the owner.
A witness who was on Sixth Ave at the time did see the alleged suspect running down the street but did not think anything of it, and did not call police headquarters.
The alleged suspect is described as being an older white male, 50 to 60 years old, approximately 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighing 250 pounds. He was wearing brown sunglasses with dark lenses, a black-hooded sweatshirt with light gray or white sleeves.
A surveillance video recorded the event. Lyndhurst police are in the process of the video downloaded. Above is a captured photo of the alleged robber. The case is still under investigation. Anyone with information regarding the attempted robbery called Det. Capt. John Valente at 201-939-2900, ext. 271.