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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…

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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…

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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. …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Stew Leonard's Announces Opening Of New Food & Wine Store In Clifton Stew Leonard's Announces Opening Of New Food & Wine Store In Clifton
Stew Leonard's Announces Opening Of New Food & Wine Store In Clifton 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…

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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 …

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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…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Local NJ Police Sergeant Took Child Porn Images From Investigation For Himself: AG Local NJ Police Sergeant Took Child Porn Images From Investigation For Himself: AG
Local NJ Police Sergeant Took Child Porn Images From Investigation For Himself: AG A local South Jersey police sergeant cherry-picked child porn images for himself from a case that his department was investigating, a grand jury indictment charges. Suspended Vineland Police Officer Christopher Ortiz, 39, of Estell Manor "requested from a subordinate and obtained via email" at least 17 images from a child pornography investigation for unauthorized use, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said. All told, investigators found that Ortiz "possessed, viewed, or had under his control at least 100 items depicting the sexual exploitation or abuse of children," the attorney …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
'Chameleon': Wife-Killer Facing Charges In 33-Year-Old NJ Murder Case Featured On Dateline NBC 'Chameleon': Wife-Killer Facing Charges In 33-Year-Old NJ Murder Case Featured On Dateline NBC
'Chameleon': Wife-Killer Facing Charges In 33-Year-Old NJ Murder Case Featured On Dateline NBC A convicted killer facing new charges in connection with his second wife's death in Mercer County will be featured in a two-hour broadcast titled "Chameleon" on Dateline NBC on Friday, April 26. John David Smith III has served 20 years in an Ohio prison for the murder of his first wife. Now, he faces murder charges in New Jersey for killing his second wife, Fran Gladden-Smith, 33 years ago in West Windsor. At 9 p.m. Friday, Dateline NBC said it will reveal a "gripping investigation exposing (the) man suspected of multiple murders." Victims' relatives and detectives who put Smith behin…

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
Wood-Ridge Man Convicted Again Of Murdering, Torching East Rutherford Grandmother Wood-Ridge Man Convicted Again Of Murdering, Torching East Rutherford Grandmother
Wood-Ridge Man Convicted Again Of Murdering, Torching East Rutherford Grandmother 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: Questionable DNA evidence found under the fingernails of a 70-year-old Bergen County woman bludgeoned and burned in her home may have gotten her killer a new trial, but it didn't change the outcome. For a second time, a jury in Hackensack convicted Daniel Rochat on Wednesday of all charges in the brutal September 2012 slaying of real estate agent Barbara Vernieri in her East Rutherford home. Rochat, 48, of Wood-Ridge was originally convicted in June 2017 of beating Vernieri, then pouring gasoline on her and around her home before setting it on fire to cover up the crime scene. Pros…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Violent Mahwah Crash Sends Rockland Bicyclist To Hospital (UPDATE) Violent Mahwah Crash Sends Rockland Bicyclist To Hospital (UPDATE)
Violent Mahwah Crash Sends Rockland Bicyclist To Hospital (Update) A Rockland County bicyclist was hospitalized after an SUV struck him on a Mahwah road a mile or so from the state line. The 40-something victim was "lucid and responsive at the scene" following the crash on Island Road at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, Mahwah Police Chief Timothy O'Hara said. He was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center with multiple injuries, the chief said. The Honda HR-V struck him off a curved stretch of Island Road, just off Airmount Road, where there are no bike lanes.  The 30-something female driver from Bergen County remained at the scene and cooperated…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
WATCH THIS: Enraged Driver From NJ Mounts Mid-Manhattan Sidewalk Aiming For Pedestrian WATCH THIS: Enraged Driver From NJ Mounts Mid-Manhattan Sidewalk Aiming For Pedestrian
Watch This: Enraged Driver From NJ Mounts Mid-Manhattan Sidewalk Aiming For Pedestrian An enraged New Jersey driver was recorded trying to run down a shirtless man in broad daylight on a midtown Manhattan sidewalk. The wild road rage pursuit continued up West 39th Street near Seventh Avenue before the driver left his Ford Taurus with three wheels on the sidewalk and confronted his target, footage shared by What Is New York on Instagram shows. "Call the cops! Calls the cops!" the man shouts. The pedestrian -- whose pants are down around his thighs, exposing red boxer shorts -- responds, then tries to duck into a building. A man at the door shoves him back onto the street. T…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Whole Foods Worker Goes Missing After Shift At North Jersey Store: Police Whole Foods Worker Goes Missing After Shift At North Jersey Store: Police
Whole Foods Worker Goes Missing After Shift At North Jersey Store: Police A 60-year-old Orange man has been missing since he worked a shift at Whole Foods Market on Sunday, April 21. Rousier Romain did not return home after he left his shift abruptly at the Whole Foods in Vauxhall, Township of Union police said. Romaine left Whole Foods at 3:40 p.m. and was last seen on foot in the parking lot near the fence along the edge of Route 78, adjacent to the property, police said. Romain’s vehicle was found parked in the lot and his cell phone is currently turned off, police said. Romain suffers from several medical conditions which require medication, police said..&nbs…

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by Sam Barron