SHOUT OUTS: It was 2:41 a.m. March 29 when Waldwick police got a 911 call of a 57-year-old man possibly having a stroke.

Sgt. Robert Woessner and Officers John Greco and Dillon Sherman responded to the Hudson Avenue residence within two minutes and found Keith Dietel in cardiac arrest.

They began CPR, then administered several shocks with a defibrillator — and Dietl came around.

He was taken to The Valley Hospital and eventually returned home to continue his recovery, thanks to Woessner, Greco and Sherman.

Dietl joined the trio at last night’s mayor and council meeting, where they were honored for their life-saving achievement.

PHOTO (l. to r.): Keith Dietel, Sgt. Rob Woessner, Officer Dillon Sherman, Officer John Greco (Courtesy WALDWICK PD)

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A 19-year-old Bergenfield woman was arrested on charges of assaulting another woman in the victim’s home.

Officers responding to the Carlisle Street home at 2:23 p.m. yesterday found the victim with “visible signs of injury” after being assaulted by Tatyana Escobar, whom she knows, Capt. Cathy Madalone said.

They summoned the Bergenfield Volunteer Ambulance Corps, but she refused aid at the scene, the captain said.

The officers also interviewed Escobar, who “gave [them] the same account of the incident and was placed under arrest,” she said.

Escobar was being held on $35,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail, charged with burglary and assault.

MUGSHOTS: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY SHERIFF / BERGENFIELD PD (inset)

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Fort Lee police arrested a Paterson man on money laundering charges and seized $46,396 cash bundled into rubber-banded bricks that they said was headed south to by untaxed cigarettes following a traffic stop.

Detective T.J. Cullen stopped a rented mini-van Friday night for following too closely on southbound Route 95, Capt. Stanley Zon said this morning.

After giving Cullen an altered rental agreement for another vehicle, Fahed Alsaidi opened the glove box to get the registration, revealing a bundle of banded cash, Zon said.

Alsaidi also had “a hand-written ledger book with large monetary amounts listed on it” and a black plastic bag on the floor with “a large, rectangle-shaped object in it,” he said.

It turned out to be eight bricks of currency, the captain said.

Alsaidi was taken into custody and the van impounded.

After obtaining a search warrant, detectives found “more ledgers with large monetary amounts, as well as handwritten orders for approximately 250 cartons of cigarettes,” Zon said.

Alsaidi was taken to the Bergen County Jail, then was released after posting $15,000 soon after.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY SHERIFF

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Lodi narcotics officers arrested a couple who had nearly five dozen Percosets and marijuana for sale following a traffic stop last night.

Sarah Loeffler of Garfield and Cesar Rojas of Lodi, both 30, were being held on $15,000 bail each in the Bergen County Jail.

They are charged with various drug and paraphernalia possession charges.

MUGSHOTS: Courtesy LODI PD

CVP EXCLUSIVE: An Irvington man could face 60 or more years in prison if convicted of the shooting death a Fairview card game operator during a holdup last spring because of other weapons crimes, a prosecutor said yesterday.

Evens Dumas, 21 (above, left), is currently serving a state prison sentence for a weapons conviction and faces trial in another gun case, creating a “three strikes” situation that triggers a harsher sentence, Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Danielle Grootenboer told a judge during arraignments yesterday in Hackensack.

Arraigned with Dumas were co-defendants Blonson Florestal, 20 (above, middle), Keyshawn Malone, 22 (right), both also of Irvington.

Defense attorneys entered “not guilty” pleas for all three. A fourth defendant, 26-year-old Jose Rivas of West New York, wasn’t in court due to an undisclosed conflict.

All four are charged with three counts of murder in a sweeping grand jury indictment returned in Hackensack last month that includes 10 first-degree and 11 second-degree charges.

Rivas, an MS-13 gang member and ex-con from West New York, got wind of the game and contacted the three others — all reputed members of the Bloods gang subset Sex Money Murder, authorities said at the time.

Rivas, Dumas and Malone left Florestal in the car as they pistol-whipped a man standing outside Lopez’s Walker Street apartment smoking a cigarette and shoved him inside, they said.

After putting nearly a dozen people on the floor, they took $1,800 in cash, jewelry and other valuables.

Dumas, meanwhile, took Lopez, 50, into the kitchen and shot him in the stomach, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said at the time. Lopez later died in surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center.

Several Fairview officers and Bergen County prosecutor’s detectives worked the case, canvassing the neighborhood and assembling valuable information. Arrests were made soon after.

Besides three murder counts each, the indictment on which the defendants were arraigned yesterday charges the quartet with:

• conspiring to commit armed burglary and conspiring to commit armed robbery;
• entering the residence and committing the robbery with a deadly weapon;
• assaulting Lopez and six other men during the theft;
• hindering arrest by concealing or destroying evidence, including guns and property stolen from the victims.

STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A Bogota woman was arrested and her daughter was being sought by authorities in connection with a telephone phishing scam.

Sylvia Sturm, 59, was being held on $75,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail this morning after detectives arrested her at her home yesterday. Meanwhile, authorities continued to search for 24-year-old Jennifer Cruz.

Both are charged with theft by deception and misconduct by a corporate official.

The pair orchestrated a scheme in which victims were conned into thinking they were directly investing in the portfolio of a binary options trading company called Spot FN, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said this afternoon.

The money was instead steered into Cruz’s account and then withdrawn and used by Sturm for personal expenses, he said.

The month-long investigation was conducted by Molinelli’s White Collar Crimes Unit in tandem with Bogota and Teaneck police following a report by Bank of America officials, the prosecutor said.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR

SHOUT OUTS: A standing-room only audience applauded the promotions of nine Ridgefield police officers at the American Legion Hall, filling vacancies opened by retirements.

The officers and their new ranks:

Lt. Jose Brito

Lt. Kenneth Sheridan

Lt. Jason Wejnert

Lt. Robert Meurer

Sgt. Bruno Carbone

Sgt. Leonard Yim

Sgt. Andrew O’Brien Jr.

Sgt. Edward Schaefer

Sgt. Paul Svorec

Attending were Police Chief Thomas J. Gallagher, Police Commissioner Javier Acosta, Mayor Anthony Suarez and the Borough Council, along with family, friends, residents and business owners.

PHOTO (l. to r.): Sgt. Paul Svorec, Sgt. Edward Schaefer, Sgt. Andrew O’Brien Jr., Sgt. Leonard Yim, Sgt. Bruno Carbone, Police Chief Thomas J. Gallagher, Lt. Jose Brito, Lt. Kenneth Sheridan, Lt. Jason Wejnert, Lt. Robert Meurer

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Leonia police grabbed a Hackensack man and a Maywood juvenile who they said threw a 2½-pound rock off an overpass onto Route 95 last night.

Nothing apparently was hit, but the hefty chunk of stone was in the middle of the northbound fast lane on the local side, so officers quickly retrieved it, Detective Sgt. Chris Garris told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

“It posed a genuine danger,” he said.

A passerby and a resident both called police to report two people throwing something off the Jones Road overpass around 6:30 p.m.

Responding officers found Cornelius Washington, 18, and a 17-year-old Maywood boy “walking around with a clipboard as if they were soliciting,” Garris said, “which they weren’t.”

Both admitted heaving the rock onto the highway, he said.

was charged with endangering and released on a court summons.

The juvenile was released to his parents after being issued a delinquency complaint to be heard in the Family Division of Superior Court in Hackensack.

IMAGES: Courtesy LEONIA PD

HOW YOU CAN HELP: With a little over two weeks left in the voting, the Catherine E. Doyle School in Wood-Ridge is inching its way toward a shot at winning its first-ever playground through a recycling-based contest sponsored by Colgate.

As of this morning, Doyle was the only Bergen County school in the Top 50 on a leaderboard of more than 800.

The school that earns the most credits wins the playground — made entirely of recycled oral care materials.

The contest, which began March 22, ends at 6 p.m. June 13.

Voting is simple — you can even vote more than once (one per day).

GO TO: http://www.terracycle.com/en-US/colgateshopriteplayground

ALSO: Please share with friends, family colleagues, others

SHOUT OUT: Allendale police are launching a “Chills for Pills” program, in which anyone dropping off unwanted medications during next week’s “Coffee With a Cop” session gets a gift card to Dairy Queen, thanks to a generous donation by a resident.

The department’s second “Coffee With a Cop” is set from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, June 6, at Allendale Eats! (101 West Allendale Ave. / (201) 825-0110)

Officers will meet with citizens to discuss community issues, build relationships — and drink coffee.

Part of a massive effort by local police nationwide, Coffee With A Cop provides a unique opportunity for citizens to ask questions, learn more about the department’s work and build relationships in “an informal, neutral space,” Police Chief George Scherb said.

“We hope that residents will feel comfortable to ask questions, bring concerns, or simply get to know our officers,” Scherb said. “There is no agenda and there will be no speeches, just casual conversations about our community with those who serve it.”

The majority of contacts law enforcement has with the public happen during emergencies or emotional situations, the chief noted. Those aren’t always the best times for building relationships.

Some citizens may also feel that officers are too busy to be approached on the street.

Coffee With A Cop allows a relationship to develop one cup at a time. The national initiative is supported by the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

All community members are invited. The coffee is free.

INFO: Allendale PD Officer Vincent Rizzo (vrizzo@allendalepd.org).

CLIFFVIEW PILOT photos: Maria D.L. Angeles

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A local man wanted by authorities was carrying a knife when he was shot and killed after assaulting two officers who followed him into the Lyndhurst Library this afternoon, law enforcement authorities told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

No one else was injured.

“All of the officers are OK,”  Police Chief James O’Connor told CLIFFVIEW PILOT less than a half-hour after the shooting, which occurred on the library’s third floor around 1:30 p.m.

Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli later confirmed a CLIFFVIEW PILOT report that the suspect — identified as 36-year-old Kevin Allen — was pronounced dead after being taken to an area hospital.

The two officers were also taken to Hackensack University Medical Center be treated for shock.

Allen’s criminal record includes an arrest for criminal sexual contact eight years ago and a previous drug conviction out of Passaic County.

He spent nearly two weeks in the Bergen County Jail on a disorderly persons conviction and failing to pay fines before fleeing a work release program in early April, records show. A judge then issued a contempt of court warrant for his arrest.

Officers this afternoon spotted Allen walking into the library next to the police station on Valley Brook Avenue and followed him inside, O’Connor said.

Molinelli’s detectives interviewed witnesses, including a child, and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification collected evidence.

The area surrounding the 300 block of Valley Brook Avenue was closed to all pedestrian and vehicular traffic. 

CLIFFVIEW PILOT photos: Maria D.L. Angeles

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Ridgefield police charged a 23-year-old borough man with swiping a diamond engagement ring, an iPad and $5,000 in cash during a residential burglary earlier this month.

Timothy Park, who has a history of drug-related arrests in Elmwood Park and Palisades Park, among other municipalities, was being held on $25,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail following his arrest yesterday. Ridgefield police charged him with burglary and theft.

The victim told police on May 19 that someone had cut a kitchen window screen, climbed in and made off with the iPad, the $8,000 ring and the cash, Lt. Robert Meurer said.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy RIDGEFIELD PD

ONLY ON CVP: A charter bus en route to pick up students attending Ridgewood High School’s senior prom tonight got stuck going up a steep hill near a set of railroad tracks, blocking all commuter trains and temporarily stranding several youngsters.

It began at 5:45 p.m., when the driver of the New York State bus failed to negotiate a steep and winding hill leading from the HoHoKus train station to Glenwood Avenue in Ridgewood.

Ridgewood and NJ Transit police halted all trains to and from Hoboken until the bus could be towed.

The scene was cleared at about 6:35 p.m.

STORY / PHOTO: Boyd A. Loving

ONLY ON CVP: A man and his daughter refused medical treatment after their car crashed into a Westwood home tonight.

Witnesses told CLIFFVIEW PILOT that the daughter was driving and apparently mistook the accelerator for the brake, sending the car into the Westwood Avenue home between Park Place and Kinderkamack Road around 8:45 p.m.

Westwood firefighters stabilized a badly damaged front porch so the vehicle could be removed.

No one was home at the time.

STORY / PHOTOS: Boyd A. Loving

SHOUT OUTS: Three New Milford police sergeants were promoted to lieutenant this week.

They are (left to right with Police Chief Frank Ramaci):

Detective Lt. Brian Long, a 20-year borough veteran who also worked for the NYPD;
Lt. John Moroney, a 27-year veteran of the department, who has worked on patrol and in the detective bureau;
Lt. Brian Clancy, who has 14 years of department experience after coming over from the NYPD.

PHOTO: Courtesy NEW MILFORD PD

TRIBUTE: It’s more than two months since Bergen County Sheriff’s Lt. Brian Beutel collapsed and died during a charity basketball tournament for the Tomorrows Children’s Fund, but his spirit lives on in the hearts of those who’ve organized a fundraiser for the popular officer’s family.

PBA Local 134 will host the Benefit Dinner for Beutel’s widow and five daughters — ages 11 to 19 — on Wed., July 22 (7-11 p.m.) at the Venetian in Garfield (546 River Dr.).

There will be a 4-hour open bar, tricky tray and DJ at the buffet dinner.

Lt. Brian Beutel

TICKETS ($100) / INFO:

Nick Di Iorio (201) 390-3040 (adiorio@bcsd.us)
Jordan Kalender (201) 481-9966 (Jkalender@bcsd.us)
Ed Alicea (201) 873-9663 (ealicea@bcsd.us)

GIFT CERTIFICATES / CHECKS payable to:

PBA Local #134
(Memo: “Beutel Fundraiser”)
P.O. Box 4087
South Hackensack, NJ 07606

For all other items, please contact one of the following, who will arrange for them to be picked up: Alicea (201) 873-9663 / Sgt. Nichelle Crews-Ponder (973) 412-6915 / Joe Znutas (973) 479-9314

SEE FLYER, BELOW

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TRIBUTES to his character, integrity, love for his family, friends and colleagues and enthusiasm for life mounted today for Bergen County Sheriff’s Lt. Brian Beutel, 47, who collapsed and died during a charity basketball tournament at FDU in Hackensack for the Tomorrows Children’s Fund — which called him “a true angel.” READ MORE….

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A DAUGHTER WRITES: My father was the most hardworking man I have ever met. His work ethic and diligence inspired me to be the young woman that I am today. READ MORE….

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Lt. Brian Beutel (Courtesy: BERGEN COUNTY SHERIFF)

A 15-year former New Jersey Corrections officer, Beutel (#1359) joined the BCSO in 2002 and was promoted to lieutenant two years ago.

Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino’s office sponsored one of 16 teams from various North Jersey police departments who were participating in the Battle of the Blue at the Rothman Center to benefit the Tomorrows Children’s Fund (TCF), which helps children with cancer and serious blood disorders.

Participants initially thought Beutel was perhaps dehydrated when he collapsed.

Carol Tyler and her daughter, Christina, of the Ho-Ho-Kus Volunteer Ambulance Corps rushed to him with a defibrillator, along with others who did all they could to help.

Beutel apparently had gone into cardiac arrest and died on the way to Hackensack University Medical Center.

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A BROTHER IN BLUE WRITES: Brother Brian Beutel was one of a kind, we started together in 2002. Many things I can say about him, but the thing I remember the most was the love he had for his job. He was always there, came in early and stayed late just to talk with everyone. READ MORE….

PUBLIC SAFETY: Cliffside Park has put a 2014 Braun Chief XL Ford E450 emergency medical vehicle into service, replacing an older ambulance that logged more than 150,000 miles.

“There comes a point when deploying new equipment is more effective than maintaining older equipment,” Mayor Thomas Calabrese said. “It is essential that EMS that our emergency responders have the equipment necessary to effectively serve our residents in times of need.”

Councilwoman Dana Martinotti, the borough EMS liaison, echoed the mayor’s sentiments while noting that the ambulance squad responds to an average of 300 calls a month.

Rreplace older vehicles with state of the art ambulances “is generally more cost effective than trying to repair an aging vehicle which continuously keeps breaking down and being put out of service,” she said.

ANOTHER CVP SCOOP: The mother of the late R&B singer Gerald Lavert’s son was taken to the Bergen County Jail today after turning herself in to Leonia police on charges of knocking down a popular school crossing guard with her SUV and then taking off.

No fewer than five witnesses told police that Bridgette Pursley struck Charlie Lee Wednesday afternoon at Fort Lee Road and Broad Avenue, one of the busiest and most dangerous school crossings in North Jersey, and then left the scene, authorities said.

Lee stepped in front of Pursley’s silver Lexus RX 350 while trying to safely cross a group of schoolchildren just after 3:30 p.m., Detective Sgt. Chris Garris told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this afternoon.

Pursley slowed down, exchanged some words with Lee and kept going, knocking him down, the sergeant said.

Lee, 52, was treated at a local hospital for minor elbow injuries, he said.

A short time after the incident, Pursley called police, who Garris said directed her to return to the scene.

“She said she was busy and refused to come back,” he told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Police tried calling her back, but Pursley didn’t answer, said Garris, who went with Detective Michael Jennings to her Closter home on Friday and, not finding her there, left a message.

Then they texted her.

Around 11 o’clock this morning, Pursley came to police headquarters “saying she wanted to give a statement,” Garris said.

“At that point we notified her that a judge had issued a warrant for her arrest,” he said.

“No one has to tell anyone around here how dangerous that intersection is and can be,” Garris told CLIFFVIEW PILOT, citing the death of a 60-year-old pedestrian who was dragged nearly 70 feet from the corner by a school bus last summer. “We take this very seriously.”

As for Lee, he said: “Interview the parents and they’ll tell you how much they love the man. He protects their children.”

Pursley, 49, who had bit parts in a pair of low-budget films, briefly operated Dog On It Doggie Daycare next to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee.

She remained held on $2,500 bail in the county jail this afternoon, charged with leaving the scene of a crash with serious bodily injury and hindering her arrest.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy LEONIA POLICE DEPARTMENT

ONLY ON CVP: An unemployed homeless woman from Westwood with a disabled son and a history of credit card and checkbook thefts avoided prison after promising a judge in Hackensack that she would try to repay $18,556.62 to three of her victims at $25 a week until she gets a job.

“I was a bookkeeper,” Tammy Longinetti, 48, told Superior Court Judge James J. Guida on Friday. “But if I can’t do that, I’ll do anything in an office — or even a restaurant. I’m also homeless, so I have to deal with that — starting over.”

Guida expressed sympathy for the “extreme hardship” to Longinetti’s disabled son of being “bounced from place to place” while his mother remained in the Bergen County Jail the past four months.

However, he told her “you have to do better than” $25 combined per month.

To satisfy him, the judge said, she’d have to pay $25 monthly to each of the victims as well as toward her fines in exchange for time served and five years of probation. Then he ordered her released.

Defense attorney Milagros Camacho told CLIFFVIEW PILOT that her client’s situation spiraled after her ex-husband failed to pay child support and she lost her apartment. He still owes her $40,000, Camacho said.

By pleading guilty to two counts of theft and one of receiving stolen property, Longinetti — aka Tammy Finocchiaro — resolved two probation violations and three pending indictments.

The largest theft involved $15,336.32 that she admitted taking from a Wood-Ridge woman she knew.

Another victim was in the hospital when Longinetti gained access to his Northvale home through an acquaintance, stole his checkbook and wrote about $1,400 in fraudulent checks over a 10-day span last summer for groceries and clothing in Northvale, Norwood, Palisades Park, Park Ridge, Rochelle Park and Secaucus, according to one of three indictments returned against her since last December.

The amounts ranged from $53 to $240, it says.

Longinetti — whose criminal record includes nearly a dozen recent arrests — also used a credit card stolen from a Closter man at the Stop & Shop in Emerson, the Kmart in Closter and a CVS in Old Tappan, authorities alleged.

The probation violations stemmed from two prior guilty pleas. One involved a burglary and the other forgery, both in 2013. Longinetti also had two other arrests that were downgraded to the municipal level — one for theft and the other for assault, records show.

STORY / PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia

UPDATE: A South Hackensack police officer whose SUV was rammed head-on by a fleeing suspect this morning remained in the trauma unit at Hackensack University Medical Center this afternoon with injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening, a family member told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

“X-rays done. [CT] scan and blood work done,” the relative said. “Pressure in chest and pain in neck and shoulder, probably from airbag being deployed.”

Another officer was treated for minor injuries at HUMC after a second police vehicle was struck before the head-on crash at Franklin Avenue and Van Buren Street in Little Ferry just after 9:30 a.m., Police Capt. Robert Kaiser said.

The suspect, who was immediately taken into custody, refused medical treatment, he said.

The officers were working a “Click It or Ticket” detail when the driver took off, Kaiser told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

CLIFFVIEW PILOT PHOTO: Joanne Mayer Rose

The Mazda 3 sedan driven by the fleeing suspect bore a logo for NYKB Kitchen and Bath Remodeling on West 25th Street in Manhattan.

Responders included Little Ferry and Moonachie police, Little Ferry firefighters and EMS and Moonachie Fire and Rescue.

CLIFFVIEW PILOT photos

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