Drizzle Fog/Mist 45°
Police & Fire
Guatemalan National Held By Feds Charged With Raping Pre-Teen In Englewood Guatemalan National Held By Feds Charged With Raping Pre-Teen In Englewood
Guatemalan National Held By Feds Charged With Raping Pre-Teen In Englewood A 21-year-old Guatemalan national seized by federal authorities has been charged with raping a pre-teen in Englewood last summer. Melvin Zacarias-Esquivel, who's been living in an apartment over a Colombian restaurant on West Palisade Avenue, remained in federal custody at the Elizabeth detention center on Friday, April 26, records show. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Friday that members of his Special Victims Unit charged Melvin Zacarias-Esquivel with aggravated sexual assault and child endangerment for forcibly having intercourse with the victim. They then served him with a c…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
‘Crypto Con Man’: Imprisoned Instagrifter Gets 7 Federal Years For $8M Fraud Scheme ‘Crypto Con Man’: Imprisoned Instagrifter Gets 7 Federal Years For $8M Fraud Scheme
‘Crypto Con Man’: Imprisoned Instagrifter Gets 7 Federal Years For $8M Fraud Scheme UPDATE: Imprisoned Instagram influencer “Jay Mazini” apparently thought that rolling on his partners in crime could mitigate the damage of a conviction for scamming investors out of at least $8 million. Three years into a mandatory four-year New Jersey state prison sentence for kidnapping an online critic, the 28-year-old Instagrifter from Bergen County agreed to rat out his friends in exchange for leniency in a federal fraud case in Brooklyn. Trouble is: He didn’t deliver much, authorities said. Mazini, whose real name is Jebara Igbara, ended up sentenced to seven years in federal prison …

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Driver Who Waved Handgun In Haledon Road Rage Is From Town: Police Driver Who Waved Handgun In Haledon Road Rage Is From Town: Police
Driver Who Waved Handgun In Haledon Road Rage Is From Town: Police A driver who threatened another motorist with a gun in Haledon turned out to be a local resident, authorities said. Jonathon Sisco, 24, was identified by borough detectives following "the brandishing of a firearm and threats towards a male victim" at the intersection of Mangold Street and Belmont Avenue (photo) this past Monday, Police Chief Angelo J. Daniele said on Thursday, April 25.The were assisted by the responding officers, Sgt. George Kelly and Officer Rubel Jimenez, the chief said.Sisco was arrested on Wednesday on charges of aggravated assault, making terroristic threats and i…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
National Guardsman Who Led 2-Day FBI Search In NJ Admits Pepper-Spraying Police At Capitol Riot National Guardsman Who Led 2-Day FBI Search In NJ Admits Pepper-Spraying Police At Capitol Riot
National Guardsman Who Led 2-Day FBI Search In NJ Admits Pepper-Spraying Police At Capitol Riot A military police officer who led federal officials in a two-day search across a  New Jersey neighborhood has pleaded guilty for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Gregory Yetman, 47, of Helmetta, pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with physical contact before U.S. District Chief Judge James E. Boasberg. Yetman, an enlisted military police officer with the U. S. Army National Guard, traveled to Washington, D.C., on Jan 6. 2021, and attended a rally for then-President Trump at the Ellipse, court documents show. After the rally, Yetman walked to…

SHARE

by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
NJ Killer With Manifesto, Step-By-Step Murder Plan Indicted By Grand Jury: Somerset Prosecutor NJ Killer With Manifesto, Step-By-Step Murder Plan Indicted By Grand Jury: Somerset Prosecutor
NJ Killer With Manifesto, Step-By-Step Murder Plan Indicted By Grand Jury: Somerset Prosecutor A Somerset County grand jury has indicted a 27-year-old man for the killing of a young woman in January. On Thursday, April 25, David C. Shroitman was indicted for the Jan. 30 murder of 27-year-old Mary Rose Fealey in Somerville, Somerset County Prosecutor John McDonald announced. Maryrose Fealey Maryrose Fealey Facebook Fealey, a Somerville resident, was found by Somerville police responding to a 911 call, outside a residential complex on North Bridge Street  She had been returning home from a local business, the passenger door of her car wide open with her belongings spread …

SHARE

by Sam Barron & Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Former NJ Middle School Teacher Sexually Assaulted Student: Prosecutor Former NJ Middle School Teacher Sexually Assaulted Student: Prosecutor
Former NJ Middle School Teacher Sexually Assaulted Student: Prosecutor A 32-year-old former teacher from North Bergen has been charged with sexually assaulting a student at Carteret Middle School, authorities said. Jeffrey Munguia was also charged on Wednesday, April 24 with endangering the welfare of a child, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Carterest Police Chief Dennis McFadden.  The investigation revealed that Munguia was the victim’s teacher at Carteret Middle School when the incident occurred in 2022, they said. He was arrested without incident on Wednesday. The investigation is active and continuing. An…

SHARE

by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
Hit-And-Run Driver Who Seriously Injured Route 4 Motorcyclist ID'd As Rochelle Park Man, 70 Hit-And-Run Driver Who Seriously Injured Route 4 Motorcyclist ID'd As Rochelle Park Man, 70
Hit-And-Run Driver Who Seriously Injured Route 4 Motorcyclist ID'd As Rochelle Park Man, 70 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A 70-year-old Rochelle Park man was the driver who sped off after hitting and severely injuring a motorcyclist on Route 4 earlier this month, Paramus Police Chief Robert Guidetti announced following the motorist's arrest on Thursday. The 2004 Honda was struck by a 2020 Ford Fusion exiting Arcadia Way on the eastbound highway shortly after 1:30 p.m. April 16, the chief said. The sedan's driver then fled the scene, he said. The 57-year-old victim from Wood-Ridge was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he remains with extensive injuries, Guidetti said. Meanwhile, Par…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Pre-Teen Sexually Assaulted In Fairview, Cliffside Over Few Years, Authorities Charge Pre-Teen Sexually Assaulted In Fairview, Cliffside Over Few Years, Authorities Charge
Pre-Teen Sexually Assaulted In Fairview, Cliffside Over Few Years, Authorities Charge A 37-year-old man sexually assaulted a pre-teenage girl both in Fairview and Cliffside Park over the past few years, authorities charged. Arturo Velazco, a Dominican national living on 3rd Street off Anderson Avenue in Fairview, sexually assaulted the youngster multiple times between November 2021 and November 2022, authorities charged. She was under 13 at the time and still was when she was sexually assaulted again between June and November last year, they said. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Velazco was charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and child endanger…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Boy, 15, Robbed At Gunpoint Outside Ridgewood Stop & Shop Boy, 15, Robbed At Gunpoint Outside Ridgewood Stop & Shop
Boy, 15, Robbed At Gunpoint Outside Ridgewood Stop & Shop A 15-year-old Ridgewood boy was robbed at gunpoint outside the village Shop & Stop after arriving for what he thought was a sale that he'd made online, authorities said. The boy told police he brought $300 worth of clothing to the parking lot of the Franklin Avenue supermarket after cutting an online deal shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday, April 24, Sgt. John A. Ward said. Instead, the teen said, he was accosted by four men who appeared to be 18 to 20 years old, one of them armed with a handgun. The robbers fled with the clothing and the boy, who wasn't injured, called police, Ward said. …

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Stew Leonard's Announces Opening Of New Food & Wine Store In North Jersey Stew Leonard's Announces Opening Of New Food & Wine Store In North Jersey
Stew Leonard's Announces Opening Of New Food & Wine Store In North Jersey Stew Leonard's has announced the opening date for its food and wine store in Passaic County. The Stew Leonard's Farm Fresh Food and Wine store will be opening on Friday, May 17 in Clifton's Styertowne Shopping Center at 467 Allwood Road.  The 56,000 square foot grocery and wine store is the second of its kind in New Jersey and will feature more than a dozen local vendors from dozens of Garden State farms. The new store will move from its current location at The Promenade Shops at Clifton. The store will feature animatronic shows and a 14-foot tall lighthouse. "This is the most fun my…

SHARE

by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
NJ Couple Convicted Of Turning Immigrants Into Slaves NJ Couple Convicted Of Turning Immigrants Into Slaves
NJ Couple Convicted Of Turning Immigrants Into Slaves UPDATE: A South Jersey couple was convicted of forcing a pair of undocumented immigrants into slavery after luring them to America. Bolaji Bolarinwa, 50, and Isiaka Bolarinwa, 67, of Moorestown were discovered when one of the victims told her college professor, who alerted the FBI, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger said. Originally from Nigeria, the couple were living in New Jersey as U.S. citizens when they recruited two victims to follow them, Sellinger said. They "engaged in an egregious bait-and-switch, luring the victims with false promises of a life and an education …

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
NJ Feds: Repeat Child Porn Collector Satisfied 'Deviant Desires' With Chats, More NJ Feds: Repeat Child Porn Collector Satisfied 'Deviant Desires' With Chats, More
NJ Feds: Repeat Child Porn Collector Satisfied 'Deviant Desires' With Chats, More A convicted NJ child porn collector had only just been released from federal prison when investigators said he tried buying kids’ shoes on Facebook Marketplace.  And that wasn’t all they said that Andrew Chu, 33, of Edison was up to. Authorities who examined Chu’s laptop and cellphone reported finding more than 100 pornographic images of naked underage girls. They also found live chats that Chu had with naked underage minors while masturbating, a complaint filed in federal court in Newark by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations says. One of them was only 11 years old, agents sa…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco