TOP PHOTOS (from left): Fred Daibes, Ramona Mercado-Vasquez, Adonis Sepulveda (PHOTOS / STORY: Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia)

Two defendants in a home invasion robbery and beating of developer Fred Daibes at his Edgewater high-rise plan to plead guilty Thursday in exchange for reduced prison terms, Daily Voice has learned.

A prosecutor today also disclosed the existence of a fifth participant that he’s pressing the others to identify.

Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor David Calviello told Superior Court Judge Edward A. Jerejian in Hackensack that any or all of the four can receive favorable plea bargain terms if they give him up.

Jorge Valencia (STORY / PHOTOS: Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia)

Ramona Mercado-Vasquez, defense attorney Ron Bar-Nadav acknowledged the alleged co-conspirator’s existence but said his client, Ramona Mercado-Vasquez, wouldn’t dare identify him because “he will kill them and he will kill their whole families first.”

“I’ll take 10 [years],” Mercado-Vasquez shouted in court today, but the judge told her she could expect 40-50 years if convicted of kidnapping, aggravated assault, armed robbery and weapons offenses.

She immediately began weeping, then cried hysterically and threw herself on Bar-Nadav before Bergen County Sheriff’s officers escorted her out.

Accused ringleader Jorge Valencia of Edgewater will accept a plea that carries a prison term of 14-18 years, Calviello told Jerejian. It all depends on how much he cooperates with investigators, Calviello said.

Co-defendant Anthony Suarez, said to be a peripheral participant, will agree to 12 years behind bars in exchange for his plea, he added.

Both are expected to testify if Mercado-Vasquez or co-defendant Adonis Sepulveda go to trial. The couple, who have a son together, have each refused 18-year terms, Calviello said.

Ramona Mercado-Vasquez (STORY / PHOTOS: Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia)

Calviello described Sepulveda as central in both the conspiracy and vicious Nov. 26, 2013 beating of both Daibes and the doorman at the St. Moritiz off Gorge Road, who was called to the apartment on a ruse and forced to open the door.

Daibes was tied up with a bag over his head so he couldn’t see what was happening, prosecutors said. His ribs were broken and $2 million in cash, gold and jewelry was taken during what became a nearly three-hour ordeal.

All of the stolen merchandise was found in the apartment at the St. Moritz building where Vasquez lived with Sepulveda, Calviello said earlier this year.

Authorities began searching for Valencia almost immediately after arresting Mercado Vasquez and Sepulveda the day after the robbery. They later arrested Suarez, of the Bronx, on Dec. 11, 2013.

After learning of Valencia’s whereabouts, detectives from Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli’s office alerted the Boston Police Fugitive Unit and U.S. Marshal’s Office, who took him into custody in Massachusetts on Jan. 9 of last year.

A defense attorney last year claimed that Valencia fled to the Boston area after being threatened by Daibes’s family. Valencia was willing to work with police but didn’t trust that he’d be protected, she said.

Valencia and Suarez return to court at 9 a.m. Thursday, while Sepulveda and Mercado-Vasquez have one last chance reach plea agreements by 1:30 p.m. or go to trial.

All four defendants remained held on $1 million bail each in the Bergen County Jail. Federal authorities also have slapped a detainer on Valencia.

TOP: Defense attorney Ron Bar-Nadav with Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor David Calviello
ABOVE: Jorge Valencia, Adonis Sepulveda and Ramona Mercado-Vasquez with their attorneys in court 
STORY / PHOTOS: Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia

PUBLIC SAFETY: A campaign to get parents to use drop-off and pickup zones Wallington schools is succeeding — in large part due to communication among drivers, neighborhood residents and authorities, Police Chief Carmello Imbruglia said.

“We’re still writing tickets sometimes for the worst violators,” Imbruglia said yesterday. “But the problems have definitely lessened.”

“The schools are older now,” he said. “No one could have had the foresight when they were built to foresee the cars and the congestion and the effect on residential neighborhoods.”

PHOTOS: Courtesy WALLINGTON PD

Over the years, more parents began pulling into residents’ driveways, backing into crosswalks or stopping in the middle of the street.

Shortly after Imbruglia became chief in May 2014, his officers stepped up enforcement, issuing summonses. One, in particular, was writing 30 or so tickets blocked-driveway tickets a month.

Before long, more than five dozen upset parents flooded a council meeting to complain.

Imbruglia convened a public session at the borough civic center to discuss the situation.

“Parents want a place to drop their kids and leave without having to park. Residents want to be able to get to and from their homes without people parking in their driveways,” he said. “Dropoff zones worked in other towns, so it seemed a good idea.”

What makes it work in Wallington, Imbruglia said, is the buy-in from neighbors.

Police have their backs, too: Zones were lined red on the street, with blue signs in front, and persistent and egregious offenders have received summonses.

“It seems a lot the parents AND the neighbors are happy,” the chief said. “They all feel safer, too. Our officers are always at and around the schools and always vigilant.”

Not taking chances, Imbruglia also wrote to parents. READ MORE….

PHOTOS: Courtesy WALLINGTON PD

Daily Voice photo: Shawn Hagal

UPDATE: A canvas bag found on a New Jersey Transit bus in Ridgefield today contained batteries, said authorities who called it “a deliberate hoax.”

Now transit investigators are trying to determine who left it behind.

“We’ll see what cameras on the bus or in the area show,” one said.

The No. 127 bus driver “was beginning his route, checking the bus, when he found the package and called police” around 5 p.m.,  NJ Transit’s Penny Bassett-Hackett told Daily Voice.

The Bergen County Sheriff’s bomb squad and NJ Transit detectives rushed to the area outside Sphinx Transportation Co. on Hendricks Causeway.

Firefighters also responded, along with local police, who closed the causeway to traffic and cordoned off the area.

The bomb squad removed the package around 6:15 p.m. and examined it at the scene, Anthony Cureton of the sheriff’s office said.

Maywood detectives arrested a Saddle Brook man who they said tried to rob his former employer as the victim left his store.

Detectives Jason Liaban and Matthew Parodi quickly developed information that led to yesterday’s arrest of Sammy H. Fayez, 28, Police Chief David Pegg said.

They also recovered what turned out to be an imitation semiautomatic pistol, the chief told Daily Voice.

The West Pleasant Avenue business owner told police that he’d just left the business around 9:45 p.m. Aug. 12 when a robber in a black hoodie and a mask pointed a gun in his face.

The victim said he threw cans of whipped cream that he was carrying at the robber, who took off.

Fayez, who recently had been fired, was being held on $52,500 bail in the Bergen County Jail, charged with aggravated assault with a weapon, pointing a firearm, making terroristic threats and other weapons-related offenses.

Pegg thanked Saddle Brook police, who assisted in the arrest.

IMAGES: Courtesy MAYWOOD PD

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: All four defendants in the home invasion robbery of Edgewater developer Fred Daibes at his luxury high-rise apartment pleaded guilty yesterday, agreeing to prison terms ranging from 12 to 18 years.

Fred Daibes (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia)

A fifth suspect was referred to several times during the admissions of guilt by Alexander Suarez, 21, of the Bronx and Jorge Valencia, 48, Ramona Mercado-Vasquez, 27, and Adonis Sepulveda, 32, all of Edgewater, that person’s identity remained a mystery.

Superior Court Judge Frances A. McGrogan accepted all four pleas in a marathon court session that lasted nearly five hours. Sentencing was set for Nov. 13, with Daibes expected to provide powerful testimony.

Several factors make the case unique, Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor David Calviello said.

For one, the victim is a millionaire. For another, somewhere between $3-4 million in cash, gold, diamonds and guns were stolen from Daibes’s St. Moritz residence overnight Nov. 26, 2013 after he and his doorman were brutally beaten.

Valencia, the ringleader, also was a close confidante whom Daibes trusted and was in his apartment frequently.

He “was taken under Fred Daibes’ wing when he came here from Colombia with nothing, given a good job and an apartment in the St. Mortiz for himself and his family,” Calviello told the judge.

Suarez agreed to a 12-year sentence that requires him to serve 10 years and two months before he’ll be eligible for parole. He admitted serving as the lookout and helping plan the robbery and kidnapping of Daibes’s concierge — which the four decided would be necessary so they could disable the security system.

Jorge Valencia (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia)

All of the stolen property was found in Mercado-Vasquez’s apartment and returned to Daibes, who is set to undergo a third surgery this week for injuries sustained when the robbers beat him.

Valencia, who initially fled to Boston, agreed to a sentence of between 14 years, minimum, and 18 years, depending on his degree of cooperation in any future investigations or trials. He must serve 85% of whatever sentence he gets.

Mercado-Vasquez will serve at least 11 years and two months before parole before being deported to her native Dominican Republic.

Mercado-Vasquez and Sepulveda are not legally married but refer to each other as spouses. He was born in the DR and is a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Suarez, Valencia and Mercado-Vasquez all agreed to cooperate in future prosecutions or trials, be it providing information or testifying.

Sepulveda, who is Suarez’s brother, is said to have recruited the mysterious fifth suspect. He agreed to 18 years in prison, of which he’ll have to serve 15 years and three months before being eligible for parole.

Valencia apologized in court.

“I ask for forgiveness of the victims,” he said. ”I am not putting myself in any defensive position or any position to be an advantage to me by doing this. My purpose is just to say the truth and what happened.”

He said there wasn’t supposed to be violence after Daibes was bound and blindfolded, but Suarez brought a gun and Sepulveda and the fifth man used it. They used another gun belonging to Daibes that they took from a closet, Valencia said.

After forcing Daibes to call the doorman, they bound and blindfolded him, as well.

Valencia said things got out of hand and the other two beat Daibes severely, pulling his arm behind his back so forcefully that his shoulder bone was broken.

Alexander Suarez, Adonis Sepulveda with defense attorney Alan Liebowitz (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia)

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A New Milford patrolman became the latest Bergen County law enforcer to nab another crew of thieves from the Bronx trying to cash forged checks.

Officer Derek Mattessich was checking on an illegally parked vehicle in front of the Bank of America on Ray Woods Lane just before 11:30 a.m. yesterday when he noticed a woman get out of the passenger side and enter the bank.

He got closer and smelled burnt marijuana, then noticed the rear-seat passenger — identified as 22-year-old Quentin Mulligan — trying to hide something, Detective Kevin Van Saders.

Backups arrived and helped take Mulligan and the driver, Bradley Gaines, 24, into custody.

They were carrying three debit cards issued to unknown names, as well as a bogus Chase bank check.

The woman never returned to the car. She was being sought.

Gaines and Miller were charged with possession of a forged check and ordered held on $20,000 bail.

Gaines posted his bail and was released.

Miller, who was also wanted on a warrant out of the Bronx, was being held in the Bergen County Jail.

MUGSHOTS: Courtesy NEW MILFORD PD

Ridgefield Park police were seeking the public’s help finding four teenagers who a 14-year-old boy said attacked him on the street because of his sexual preference.

“Detectives are treating this incident as a bias offense due to comments made during the assault,” Capt. Daniel Hippe said this morning.

The boy told police he was walking alone between 3-3:30 p.m. on Tuesday when the gang of four beat him and ran.

He sustained minor injuries and no weapons were used of threatened, he said.

Hippe said the boy put their ages at 14 or 15.

Two were believed to be Hispanic, on e with a medium complexion and the other darker, the boy told police.

One of them also was wearing a red t-shirt with while, medium-sized polka dots, while the other had on a blue polo shirt with a white design on the front, he said.

The other two had darker complexions, but he said he was unable to determine their race or ethnicity.

Anyone with information that could help the investigation is asked to call Ridgefield Park PD: (201) 641-6400 .

A Rutherford man was sentenced today to five years in prison for killing a 28-year-old Carlstadt mother of four on an East Rutherford sidewalk while driving drunk two years ago.

“My family had to wait two years to hear him apologize,” Humberto Munoz said after Victor Kwak, 24, said he was sorry for killing Sandra Munoz-Molina the night of Aug. 22, 2013.

It was too little, too late, Munoz told Superior Court Judge Edward A. Jerejian in Hackensack.

“I don’t picture him getting down on his knees at the crime scene, apologizing to my sister,” Munoz said.

“She wasn’t just a sister to me, she was a mother of four kids,” he said. “They now have to see other kids happy, and they don’t have a mother.”

Turning to Kwak, Munoz said: “If you would have spent $20 that night to go from the bar to your house, this would not have happened. If you have time to go to the gym, you could have spent 20 minutes to come apologize to my family.”

Kwak — who authorities said had a blood-alcohol level of .198 after the crash — hung his head through most of the sentencing, not meeting anyone’s eyes, until the victim’s loved ones spoke.

Munoz-Molina’s four little boys sat quietly in the second row of the gallery, at times huddling together. The youngest, only five, sat on his father’s lap and stayed close to him.

Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Martin Delaney grimaced after Kwak claimed he “made a mistake.”

“This is not a mistake you can make and apologize and then everything is okay,” he said. “Look at the misery in this courtroom, misery caused by that criminal — and beyond criminal, an idiotic, stupid decision to get behind the wheel of that car.”

Kwak pleaded guilty in April, admitting that he’d had several mixed drinks in the hours leading up to 7:40 p.m. crash.

Authorities said his Lexus GS430 went up on the sidewalk on Railroad Avenue, where it knocked down a tree, a street light and a wooden utility pole, then rammed into Munoz-Molina, who was headed home from her beauty parlor job.

The black box on the Lexus clocked him at 57 miles an hour in a 25 mph zone, Delaney previously told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Munoz-Molina was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center with serious head injuries. She died two days later.

Kwak must serve four years and two months before he can apply for parole.

“There is no situation more important than this to deter,” the judge told him.

“You killed someone,” Jerejian said. “So I am giving maximum weight to the need to deter, not only to you specifically but as a general deterrent — because you cannot drink and drive.”

STORY / PHOTO: Mary K. Miraglia

SHOUT OUT: Moonachie police used Narcan to revive an overdosing drug user in the local Walmart.

The 21-year-old victim came around after Sgt. Jeffrey Napolitano and Officer Andrew Finch administered the drug at the Teterboro Landing store just after 10:30 p.m. Sept. 9, Detective Sgt. Anthony Fugnitti said.

The Hasbrouck Heights Fire Department took her to Hackensack University Medical Center, he said.

Despite his tenth felony conviction, an original member of the James Bond Gang burglary crew from Teaneck sentenced yesterday for plotting from jail to have an associate killed could be out of prison in 2½ years.

“I apologize to my victims for the trauma they experienced, and I apologize to my own family for what I’m going through — again,” said William Collins, gesturing to relatives sitting behind him in the Hackensack courtroom. “It’s hard.”

Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor David Calviello (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia)

Collins told Superior Court Judge Margaret M. Foti that his imprisonment will be a hardship on his three school-age children, the oldest 15.

He then smiled wryly — and even chuckled at times — as Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor David Calviello recited a lengthy, detailed account of the ex-con’s exploits.

This time, Collins used teenagers in a burglary, then rode with them to sell stolen jewelry to a New York City fence, Calviello said.

“We had a GPS in the vehicle and pulled them over crossing the [George Washington B]ridge,” Calivello said. “When they were searched, everybody had money but Collins. The kids had $1,000 each and the driver had $1,800.

“He tried to use that as a defense. But Mr. Collins knows these fences, and he refers customers to them for a cut. So maybe he didn’t get paid that day, but he was going to get paid sometime.”

Collins later plotted from the Bergen County Jail to have the wife of co-defendant Jeffrey Whittaker terrorized and associate Steven Wilson killed to prevent him from testifying, the prosecutor said.

William Collins (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia)

Calviello also cited Collins’ Bond Gang background.

Defense attorney Raymond Beam Jr. said little in response, except to “object to virtually everything Mr. Calviello said.”

Foti gave Collins eight years on a conviction for receiving stolen property and four years for witness tampering — the second of which would run at the same time as the longer sentence.

They leave him eligible for parole in as little as four years and three months.

Subtracting 21 months for time that he’s already spent in the jail, he could be free in 30.

Elmwood Park police raided a ramshackle home and arrested four people, three of whom they said were involved in selling cocaine there, following a two-month investigation that included several undercover buys.

Animal control officers were summoned to take custody of a pit bull found in the home, raising the possibility of cruelty charges, Police Chief Michael Foligno told Daily Voice this afternoon.

A strike force of detectives and officers hit the Boulevard home near Linden Avenue around 9:30 p.m. Friday, Foligno said.

They seized an ounce of cocaine, $738, several baggies commonly used to package drugs, cutting agents, scales, glass pipes, a large quantity of illegal fireworks and illegal identification documents for immigration purposes, he said.

They arrested the homeowner, 51-year-old Manuel Vasquez (above, left ), along with residents Paige Appel, 25 ( middle ), and Lisa Sloginski 52, and Obal Avenue resident Dario Gimenez, 43 (right ), the chief said. READ MORE….

MUGSHOTS: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY SHERIFF

A Fort Lee man who authorities said was drunk last summer when his speeding Honda Civic slammed into a Ridgefield building, killing one of his passengers, isn’t likely to ever recover, attorneys for both sides said today.

Tamer Ammar remains “physically and mentally incapacitated” from injuries sustained in the July 24, 2014 crash at the intersection formerly called the “Ridgefield traffic circle” on Routes 1-9, defense attorney Robert Biaggotti told a judge in Hackensack.

His friend Miles Reme was killed and another, James Racanelli, severely injured. All three were Fort Lee High School athletes and 20 years old.

Racanelli has recovered but “there is no doubt Mr. Ammar was severely injured in the crash,” Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Martin Delaney told Superior Court Judge Frances A. McGrogan.

Many doubted that Ammar would survive injuries that included bleeding of the brain following the pre-dawn July 24 crash near the Ridgefield circle.

Authorities said he was speeding when he lost control of his father’s 2014 Civic as it headed north on Broad Avenue toward the circle. After barreling through bus-stop signs and into oncoming traffic over a stretch of nearly a quarter-mile, the car slammed into the side of an accounting business. READ MORE….

TOP: Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Martin Delaney, defense attorney Robert Biaggotti (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia)

Jim Tedesco (Daily Voice photo)

Bergen County Executive James J. Tedesco III is scheduled to undergo back surgery tomorrow to treat the effects of a bone infection.

Doctors at Hackensack University Medical Center will remove a piece of bone and fuse two vertebrae, Tedesco told Daily Voice from home early this evening.

Tedesco said doctors told him to expect to spend two to four days of recovery at HUMC.

“I’ve been better,” he said of his condition, caused by discitis and osteomyelitis. “It’s painful.”

Despite two months of pain, Tedesco has kept up a full schedule. READ MORE….

SHOUT OUTS: It was only after he was killed in an accident that Cliffside Park Police Officer Stephen Petruzzello’s parents learned that he’d saved a woman in a domestic violence incident.

“She escaped with a broken nose. Stephen never told us he did that,” said Ronald Petruzzello, his arm around his wife, Linda, at the borough’s first annual remembrance for people like their son — who rush toward danger and not away from it.

Mayor Thomas Calabrese read a proclamation in Memorial Park outside the municipal building designating the fourth Tuesday of every September “First Responders Day.”

“We’re integrating the whole community in making them aware of the dangers that they face, the sacrifices they make, and that we should be thankful,” Councilwoman Donna Spoto said.”I hope we are going to build on this each and every year,” Calabrese added.

A bell tolled at 11 a.m., and the crowd of students, police officers, firefighters, EMTs and citizens shared a moment of silence.

The Petruzzellos brought their son’s Mustang. It has become a familiar symbol around the state — with his police photo, his #133 police badge and an American flag shrink-wrapped onto it. The car even made the trip to Washington, D.C., as part of the Police Unity Tour. READ MORE….

STORY / PHOTO: Daily Voice Reporter Melissa Heule

Three West New York men were robbing a Fair Lawn resident when police alerted by a neighbor interrupted the home invasion and arrested them, authorities said.

The resident flagged down Officer Nicholas Snyder on Whitehall Street att 1:49 p.m. yesterday to a suspicious 1996 Ford Explorer parked nearby “for an extended period of time,” Sgt. Brian Metzler said this morning.

Snyder found the vehicle had been moved to the driveway of a Whitehall Street street driveway and interviewed the passengers, identified as Dariel Aybar, 25 (above, left), and Rafael Hidalgo, 23 (above, right).

They said the driver, 25-year-old Travis Villalobos (above, middle), was inside visiting his uncle.

Snyder asked to speak to the uncle when Villalobos answered the door, Metzler said. He closed it, then spoke with the 52-year-old victim, who went to the door, he said. READ MORE….

Lyndhurst police followed a blood trail to nearly 20 vehicles who they said were burglarized by a borough man with a recorded history of disorderly conduct who they said cut himself breaking into a local home.

A Summit Avenue resident called police at 3:20 a.m. Monday after finding Mario Moriano, 43, in his car, Capt. John Valente told Daily Voice.

He called out to a bloodied Moriano, who told him he’d been beaten and then quickly walked away, he said.

Responding officers found Moriano near the corner of New York Avenue with a severe cut on one of his fingers and took him into custody, Valente said.

They later walked the neighborhood — along Summit, New York and Pennsylvania avenues and Mountain Way — and found several blood-stained vehicles, he said. READ MORE….

MUGSHOT: Courtesy LYNDHURST PD

A Harrington Park computer technician was sentenced to three years in prison today by a judge in Hackensack who said the children being raped by grown men in videos that he shared online are “obviously real people.”

Anthony Zito, 34, will be eligible for parole in nine months after admitting to masturbating while watching the videos three to four times a week.

“This case disturbed me deeply,” Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Brian Sinclair told Daily Voice.

Sinclair told Superior Court Judge Edward A. Jerejian that Zito had more than 500 images of children engaging in sex acts and developed a new method of sharing files using video streaming “that we had never seen before.”

“We are better than we were because of this case,” he said.

Zito was working at a New York law firm while he was viewing the images at home, defense attorney Emile Lisboa said. READ MORE….

STORY / PHOTO: Daily Voice Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia

Authorities were trying to find the shutoff value after a water main burst early this afternoon, flooding the intersection of Route 46 and Bergen Turnpike in Little Ferry.

“It looks like they covered the shutoff when they repaved Route 46,” Little Ferry Police Chief Ralph Verdi told Daily Voice just before 1:30 p.m. “They’re out there looking for it.” READ MORE….

Saddle Brook police were investigating shots fired at a parked vehicle overnight.

The occupants had just gotten out of the car on South Boulevard when they heard the shots and called 911 at 12:30 a.m., Police Chief Robert Kugler told Daily Voice.

Officers founds bullet holes in the vehicle, which was impounded and turned over to the Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification for examination and processing, the chief said. READ MORE….

NEWSBREAK: Palisades Park police last night arrested the man who authorities said committed a pair of recent sexual assaults of women near local bus stops.

Manual J. Tamay, 33, of West Ruby Avenue, was being held on $300,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail, charged with sexual assault and attempted sexual assault.

COURTESY: Bergen County Prosecutor

Manay, who is single and unemployed, was the subject of a massive manhunt that included the release of a sketch two weeks ago.

Officers spotted and grabbed him last night near the intersection of East Homestead Avenue and 3rd Street, a block from where one of the attacks occurred, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said this afternoon.

“He was unable to provide identification and he accompanied the officers to the Palisades Park Police Department for further investigation,” the prosecutor said. READ MORE….