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Driver, 87, killed by train in Emerson after driving onto tracks

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UPDATE: Authorities were trying to identify a motorist in his late 80s who was killed by an NJ Transit train after driving along the tracks in Emerson around 5:30 this morning.

The driver apparently came in off First Avenue in Westwood and was headed south when his car was struck by the #1602 train on the Pascack Valley Line near the Stop & Shop, about a half-mile north of the Emerson train station, NJ Transit’s Jennifer Nelson told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

The vehicle then caught fire, she said.

The Hoboken-bound train, which left Spring Valley 20 minutes earlier, had 110 customers aboard who were later transferred to buses at the supermarket, Nelson said.

Service on the line was restored at 9:30 a.m.

The crash site is barely 300 yards from where a 26-year-old Washington Township man walking on the tracks was struck and killed in July 2013 (SEE: Westwood man, 26, killed by train less than 90 minutes after companion’s arrest).

PHOTO: John Holter

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Foul play ruled out in death of Westwood woman, 64

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NEWSBREAK: Authorities ruled out foul play in the death of a 64-year-old woman found in her bed this afternoon, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

The Bergen County Medical Examiner, prosecutor’s detectives, investigators from the Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification and Westwood police responded to Mill Street following the discovery earlier today.

CHECK BACK FOR MORE DETAILS

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Teaneck security guard held on $400,000 in alleged 5-year sex assaults of Lyndhurst girl

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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A 39-year-old security guard from Teaneck was charged with having “inappropriate sexual conduct” with a Lyndhurst girl over the course of five years, beginning when she was 11.

Joshua M. Kilonzo was being held on $400,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail, charged with sexual assault by contact, aggravated sexual contact, criminal sexual contact and two counts of child endangerment.

Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said members of his Special Victims Unit arrested Kilonzo at the prosecutor’s Paramus office earlier today.

Authorities had been notified by the Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCP&P) of the accusations against Kilonzo, who is married, he said.

He was scheduled to be arraigned this coming Tuesday in Lyndhurst Municipal Court.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy BCPO

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Hackensack marijuana, pot-edibles delivery dealer busted, Bergen authorities say

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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A Hackensack man was providing drive-up delivery of pot and marijuana-laced edibles throughout Bergen County when detectives busted him, authorities said.

Investigators seized a pot of pound and “edible cakes” containing marijuana and hash oil when they arrested Germaine “Smooth” Zayas, 31, yesterday after executing a search warrant at his Madison Avenue apartment, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said this afternoon.

The strike team included members of Molinelli’s Narcotic Task Force, the Hackensack Police Department and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department K-9 Unit, he said.

They also seized more than $7,500 in cash and drug paraphernalia following the two-month investigation, the prosecutor said.

Zayas remained held on $150,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail, charged with possession to distribute marijuana and hash oil. He is due for a first appearance in Central Municipal Court in Hackensack on Monday.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy BCPO

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Englewood man charged with selling crack, having stun gun

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An Englewood man hid 40 bags of crack on his body and had a stun gun and a scale for measuring drugs for sale when investigators armed with a warrant searched his house, authorities said.

Bobby Wheeler, 29, was being held on $75,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail, charged with possession of the gun and the crack, which Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said was being sold in Englewood, following Wednesday’s arrest at his Coriander Way home.

Police from Cresskill, Dumont and Tenafly also participated in the arrest, the prosecutor said.

BMUGSHOT: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR

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Lodi police revive OD victim with Narcan

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SHOUT OUT: Lodi police rescued a 24-year-old drug overdose victim with Narcan.

Officer Javier Hernandez administered three doses before the victim came around at a Norwood Avenue home on Wednesday, Detective Sgt. Justin Bertone said.

Having turned blue, his eyelids half shut, the victim “began mumbling words” as his skin color changed, Bertone said.

An EMS crew took him to Hackensack University Medical Center.

After the third deployment the victim began to have eye movement, skin pigmentation became normal and was mumbling words. Emergency medical personnel arrived and transported the victim to HUMC.

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Authorities investigate SUV torched in Overpeck Park

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PHOTOS: Jack Dunn, Regional Fire Photos

PHOTOS: Jack Dunn, Regional Fire Photos

PHOTOS: Someone torched an abandoned SUV in Overpeck Park in Leonia overnight.

A Leonia police officer spotted the smoke and flames coming from an area of brush in the park’s south side around 12:20 a.m. and discovered the unoccupied Nissan Murano with no one around.

Firefighters kept the blaze from spreading through the brush.

The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office was investigating. The county Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification collected evidence.

PHOTOS: Jack Dunn, Regional Fire Photos

PHOTOS: Jack Dunn, Regional Fire Photos

 

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Joan’s Joy Child Safety Fun Fest set for September

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SHOUT OUT: The first-ever Joan’s Joy Child Safety Fun Fest in memory of Joan D’Alessandro is set for Sept. 20 at a sculpture and garden dedicated to her at the Hillsdale train station.

“No one can replace your hands in the circle of doing good,” said Rosemarie D’Alessandro, who made helping other parents and abused children her life’s mission after her 7-year-old daughter was killed by a neighbor while selling cookies door-to-door in April 1973.joan22222

Scheduled from noon to 4 p.m., the free family event aims to promote child safety education amid live music by The Tenafly School of Rock House Band, a tour of the White Butterfly Sculpture & Garden,and a tricky tray raffle and silent auction.

More than two dozen tables will offer child safety presentations and fun activities.

Features include Internet safety information, child ID cards, a Hillsdale police presentation on abduction awareness, information on a National Runaway Safe line and situational awareness.

The fun tables will include face painting, baked goods, free snacks and silk flower arranging.

RAIN DATE: Sept. 27

The Joan’s Joy Foundation is seeking sponsors, donations and volunteers.

GO TO: www.JoansJoy.org

OR email: rosebd@email.com

The 5,670-pound monument to Joan joins the flagpole and sign in front of the train station and has a carving of a white butterfly and a plaque with her photo. The white butterfly was chosen because it symbolizes Joan’s “joyful and free spirit, giving hope to many,” D’Alessandro said.

rosemarie2222It was inspired by one that then-grieving mother said she found at the site where Joan’s body was found.

Joseph McGowan, a former high school science teacher, was convicted of raping and murdering Joan on April 19, 1973 (Holy Thursday), before dumping her body in Harriman State Park, where it was found on Easter.

The youngster had come to McGowan’s home, three doors down, looking to sell her last two boxes of cookies.

Her murder prompted the passage of Joan’s Law, signed by Gov. Christie Whitman in 1997 and by President Clinton in 1998. It mandates life in prison for the killing of children under 14 during a sex crime.

D’Alessandro established Joan’s Joy to help youngsters and raise awareness of child safety issues.

TO CONTRIBUTE: The Joan Angela D’Alessandro Foundation, 45 Florence St., Hillsdale, (201) 664-9140 OR:Rosebd@email.com

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Elmwood Park police seize 70 bags of heroin, arrest two in Route 46 stop

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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Elmwood Park police seized 70 bags of heroin while arresting a couple after a traffic stop on Route 46.

Suzanne Ottomanelli, 35, of Saddle Brook and Nicholas Austeri, 28, of Lodi were released on court summonses after Friday 9:30 p.m. stop.

They were charged with possession of the heroin, as well as with prescription drugs and a hypodermic syringe.

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Saddle Brook police rescue heroin user, 54, at local hotel

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SHOUT OUT: Saddle Brook police made their first-ever Narcan save this weekend, of a 54-year-old Paterson man who’d overdosed on heroin in a local hotel.

Summoned by a friend, officers found the victim unconscious and barely breathing with a syringe sticking out of his leg Saturday afternoon, Police Chief Robert Kugler told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Officers Adam Georgaros and Darrin Williams administered a dosage of Narcan and the man came around, the chief said.

Saddle Brook Ambulance and paramedics responded and took him to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he was reported in stable condition.

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Insanity defense looming for Ho-Ho-Kus man in mother’s murder

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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A Ho-Ho-Kus man charged with stabbing and beating his mother to death in her home last fall will most likely plead insanity or incompetence, a prosecutor said this morning.

An attorney for Nicholas Piotti, 25, is having him evaluated” with an eye to a defense of either mental incompetence or insanity,” Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Danielle Grootenboer told a judge in Hackensack.

Grootenboer said she won’t offer a possible plea deal until she knows the outcome of the psychiatric evaluation.

Defense attorney John Weichsel — joined by Brian Neary as co-counsel — told Superior Court Judge Margaret M. Foti that he’s hired two psychiatrists who have to review the evidence.

Weichsel entered a not guilty plea on Piotti’s behalf.

As during a prior court hearing last year, several of Piotti’s relatives conferred with the defense lawyers and watched the proceedings closely.

Authorities have charged him with murder and weapons offenses in the brutal Sept. 1 killing of Karen Spector Piotti at the family home.

Police found her inside the family home around 3:30 that morning. The River Edge native was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Officers from Allendale, the Bergen County Police Department, Ridgewood, Saddle River and Upper Saddle River responded along with Ho-Ho-Kus police to what initially was suspected to be a home invasion.

That quickly changed when authorities seized Piotti, a former lacrosse player at Ridgewood High School, Marist College and St. John’s University and Dean’s List student at Marist.

Piotti was rushed to the intensive care unit at Bergen Regional Medical Center after having sources said was an apparent anxiety attack while being questioned by prosecutor’s investigators at their office in Paramus hours after he was taken into custody.

He was kept secured to his hospital bed under guard for two weeks for psychiatric reasons before being transferred to the Bergen County Jail, where he was being held on $2 million bail.

Nicholas Piotti (STORY / PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia)

Among the attendees: Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli, far left (STORY / PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia)

 

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Medical emergency leaves SUV stuck over driveway of Leonia home

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PHOTOS: An SUV landed in a precarious spot, hanging over the driveway of a Fort Lee Road home in Leonia, after the driver had a medical episode this afternoon, police said.

A tow company used a crane to remove the vehicle.

PHOTOS: Courtesy LEONIA PD

PHOTOS: Courtesy LEONIA PD

 

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New Milford police charge local man with DUI, reckless driving, leaving scene

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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: New Milford police arrested a 24-year-old borough man who they said was driving under the influence when he took off after his car hit several guard rails and a vehicle headed in the opposite direction.

Smoke was coming from the Honda Civic when officers stopped it at 1:30 p.m. yesterday on River Road, a few blocks from the scene, Detective Kevin Van Saders told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Justin Persaud was released on summonses charging him with DUI in a school zone, reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident.

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Elmwood Park police help Hasbrouck Heights colleagues in Route 17 gas station robbery arrest

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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Elmwood Park police helped their Hasbrouck Heights colleagues arrest a man who they said tried to rob a Route 17 gas station attendant last night.

Pablo M. Perez, 37, of Newark pulled into the Shell station on the northbound highway in a black Chevy SUV just after 6:30 p.m. and assaulted the attendant, shouting, “Give me the money!” Detective Lt. Michael Colaneri Jr. told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this morning.

The attendant struggled with him, and Perez got back into the SUV and took off, Colaneri said.

Hasbrouck Heights police issued an alert after interviewing the attendant and viewing station surveillance video.

Elmwood Park police came up with Perez, who was stopped by East Orange police a short time later on an unrelated offense, Colaneri said.

Hasbrouck Heights detectives picked him up from East Orange, took him to headquarters for processing and then brought Perez to the Bergen County Jail, where he was being held on $100,000 bail, charged with robbery and attempted theft.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy HASBROUCK HEIGHTS PD

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Ramsey police charge Brooklyn men in credit card fraud

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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Two Brooklyn men arrested after trying to pass a bogus credit card had 14 others, as well as an automated rear license plate cover, Ramsey police said.

Both fled the Walgreens on North Franklin Turnpike in a white BMW with New York license plates after the card was declined around 5 p.m. yesterday, Police Chief Bryan Gurney said.

Hearing an alert issued by his Ramsey colleagues, Mahwah Police Officer John Rodriguez stopped the BMW on northbound Route 17 near the Sheraton Crossroads.

Both men provided bogus Pennsylvania driver’s licenses, Gurney said.

After bringing them to Ramsey police headquarters, Rodriguez found 14 credit cards in the back of his vehicle, the chief said.

Aaron Findly, 21 (above, left), and Reynaldo Eloy, 22  (above, right), were charged with various offenses, including having bogus credit cards and driver’s licenses.

Findly was being held on $100,000 bail and Eloy $75,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail.

Meanwhile, detectives were trying to determine whether either or both were involved in recent local instances of credit card fraud.

MUGSHOTS: Courtesy RAMSEY PD

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Tow trucks collide on Route 208 in Wyckoff, drivers hospitalized

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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A 38-year-old driver from Sussex County was extricated by firefighters after his tow truck — carrying a vintage 1950s-era Cadillac — struck the rear of another truck on southbound Route 208 in Wyckoff this morning.

PHOTO: All Points Towing

Damian J. Addis was driving the flatbed truck owned by Austin Towing in Ramsey when is it the other truck, owned by JML Towing of Wayne and driven by 29-year-old Anthony L. Ortiz, as it slowed for traffic just after 10 a.m., Police Chief Benjamin C. Fox.

The front truck also was carrying a vehicle but wasn’t in any way related to the one that hit it, the chief said.

Both trucks and the vehicles being towed were dmaaged in the collision, Fox said.

Addis, of Highland Lakes, was trapped and had to be free by members of the Wyckoff Volunteer Fire Department, who had to cut the truck doors open, he said.

The Wyckoff Volunteer Ambulance Corps took Addis to St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Paterson with severe injuries to his legs, head and hand, the chief said.

Ortiz was also transported to the hospital with injuries to his back and legs, he said.

Route 208 south between Russell Avenue and Cedar Hill Avenue was closed for about two hours during the investigation.

An investigation was continuing.

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Cliffside Park detectives nab man in motorcycle, van thefts

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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Aiming to crack a series of vehicle thefts, Cliffside Park detectives arranged to see a motorcycle that stolen from town — and arrested a suspect.

Albert Salcedo, 35, was riding the stolen bike before Paterson police took him into custody, Detective Sgt. Michael Giampietro told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

The motorcycle was one of three stolen from early April through June, Giampietro said.

“Coincidently on the same nights two of the motorcycles were stolen we also had two vans stolen, which were recovered abandoned in Little Falls and Paterson just days [later],” he said.

Detectives who learned that one of the cycles was being sold online made an appointment, then watched Salcedo before he was arrested, Giampietro said.

Borough detectives then linked him to the other thefts as well, he said.

They arrested him at his home earlier today.

Salcedo was being held on $50,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY SHERIFF

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Father in Englewood chop-shop operation arrested, son still a fugitive

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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: An Englewood man wanted in the investigation of a local chop shop operation was arrested after showing up for a meeting with his probation officer on another matter.

His son, meanwhile, remained a fugitive this afternoon, authorities said.

Bergen County Sheriff’s officers at the county probation officer took Robert “Greg” Callahan into custody Monday after arrest warrants turned up, Englewood Detective Capt. Timothy Torell told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Callahan. 53. was being held on $210,000 bail in the county jail.

Meanwhile, authorities continued to look for his fugitive son, 31-year-old Gregory Lewis.

“To date, we have gotten several calls to our CrimeStoppers line regarding his whereabouts,” Torell said. “We are working with other agencies in locating Lewis and arresting him.”

* * * * * *

A cash reward is available and all calls will remain confidential at Crimestoppers: (844) 466-6789

* * * * * *

Officer Michael Christiansen was on patrol on July 3 when he got a LoJack ping that a stolen vehicle was in the area, Torell told CLIFFVIEW PILOT at the time.

He and Officer John Peterson tracked the signal to the rear yard of a Howland Avenue home, where they found it coming from a 2010 Yamaha motorcycle reported stolen out of Secaucus.

They also found a 2007 Honda motorcycle reported stolen out of Paterson last August, a 2006 F-350 Ford pickup truck reported stolen out of Linden on July 1 and a 2010 Ford 350 van reported stolen in March out of Elizabeth, along with various chop-shop tools scattered around, Torell said.

Detectives Zellvon Lucas and Ana Bedoya learned that Callahan and Lewis (both above) bolted just before the officers arrived and have deliberately ducked authorities since, the captain said.

The premises was sealed and guarded, then searched on the Fourth of July after detectives obtained a warrant, he said. The Bergen County Sheriff’s Office’s Crime Scene Unit collected evidence.

In addition to the vehicles, detectives located a $1,500 snowblower that had been stolen in Clifton during the height of a January storm, Torell said.

They also determined that vehicle identification numbers had been altered and obscured and license plates swapped so they stolen vehicles could be operated on the street without detection, he said.

Special agents from the NICB (National Insurance Crime Bureau) were called in to help find the rightful owners, the captain said.

Callahn and Lewis, who he said have operated out of Teaneck and Englewood, are both charged with five counts each of receiving stolen property and two each of altering and obscuring VIN numbers, as well as possession of burglary tools and maintaining a premises for illegal activity.

“This is a very active and ongoing investigation that stretches throughout the State of New Jersey and beyond,” Torell said. “There are numerous motorcycle and auto theft cases that are being looked at now very carefully as a result of some great police work and the use of vehicle anti-theft products.

“Motorcycle thefts occur all the time and it’s not unusual for thieves to simply pull up to parked full-size cycles and literally just toss them into vans and pick-ups exactly like the ones we seized in our investigation,” he added.

“Luckily, the owner of the one in our case was outfitted with LoJack,” the captain said.

PHOTOS: Courtesy ENGLEWOOD PD

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Englewood police hunt gunman who robbed Jackson Hole Diner owner

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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Englewood detectives were reviewing surveillance video from the gunpoint robbery of an owner of the Jackson Hole Diner outside the popular eatery before dawn this morning.

“We believe it was an inside job, based on a variety of factors,” Detective Capt. Timothy Torell told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this afternoon. “He apparently knew when the diner closes, that money was being brought from there and that it was a significant amount.”

The victim had just left after closing when the gunman ambushed him, demanding money, and took off with an undisclosed amount of cash around 12:45 a.m., Torell said.

He described the robber as Latino, in his 20s and about 5-foot-7, wearing all black.

Anyone with information that could help catch the robber is eligible for a cash reward by calling Crimestoppers: (844) 466-6789.

All calls remain confidential.

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Saddle Brook police say heroin-using postal carrier had 1,000 undelivered pieces of mail in car

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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A postal carrier with a criminal history had more than 1,000 pieces of undelivered mail dating back three months in the trunk of his car after Saddle Brook police found him with used bags of heroin, a syringe and a glass pipe, authorities said.

Sgt. Jeff Panagia and Officer Adam Georgaros took 37-year-old Dominic Damiani into custody after finding him with the drug paraphernalia in the parking of the KFC on Market Street, Police Chief Robert Kugler told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Damiani has an arrest history in Bergen County dating back to 2002, including charges of drug possession and violating probation — as well as violating the terms of an intensive supervision program.

This time, Kugler said, Detective Capt. Vincent Laurentino and Detective Lt. Thomas Johnson, working with investigators from the U.S. Postal Inspector General’s Office, discovered the undelivered mail in Damiani’s car trunk.

He was charged with theft by failing to dispose of received property.

The Postal Service delivered the mail.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy SADDLE BROOK PD

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