ONLY ON CVP: Authorities tonight found an Emerson man in Ridgewood whose family feared he’d been kidnapped following a phone scam.

The 28-year-old man apparently had gone out to secure money following the call, a law enforcement source told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Family members became worried, however, and called police.

An alert was issued and police pulled over his red Fort Econoline van soon after near the Rite Aid on East Ridgewood Avenue.

Emerson officers then escorted him back to town.

“We’re trying to get to the bottom of what happened,” an Emerson sergeant told CLIFFVIEW PILOT tonight. “It seems to be a misunderstanding. We’re still investigating.”

PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Correspondent Boyd A. Loving

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A Bogota schoolteacher was listed in stable condition at Hackensack University Medical Center after being hit by a car moments after another pedestrian was struck this morning in a different crash a block away.

Lorrie Nichols, 51, who teaches fourth grade at the Lillian M. Steen Elementary School, was struck while crossing River Road in front of the school around 8 a.m.

Emergency responders were tending to the pedestrian struck on Main Street at Orchard Terrace when Nicols, of Ridgefield Park, was hit.

Both drivers remained at the scenes.

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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli found “no criminality” in connection with the hiring of two new Ridgewood patrol officers by Police Chief John Ward, authorities said tonight.

Ward had been accused of manipulating civil service rules in the hiring of the son of a current police officer and the son of a retired police captain.

Ward insisted that no rules were broken and that both met all civil service qualifications.

CLIFFVIEW PILOT broke the news that Ward asked Molinelli to investigate his actions in conditionally hiring the two in violation of a village limit on the number of department officers.

The discovery prevented the two recruits — both of whom are related to current or former village employees — from entering the Bergen County Police Academy the night before training was to begin.

“People need to have confidence in government leaders,” the chief told CLIFFVIEW PILOT after making the request.

Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld announced during a public council meeting tonight that Molinelli, in turn, found no wrongdoing.

The council funded the hires a year ago this month and the recruits had already gotten their uniforms and haircuts, among other measures, when the process came to a sudden halt. READ MORE….

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Fumes from a basement home heating oil spill forced five residents from a Washington Township home tonight after they were overcome by fumes.

All were evaluated by EMS workers at the Washington Avenue home and refused further treatment, responders told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

The residents were spending the night at a brother-in-law’s home in the township until the cleanup from the delivery spill to the 31.6-gallon tank was complete, they said.

Responders just after 11:30 p.m. included the Bergen County Hazardous Materials Unit and EMS squads from the township, Westwood and Hillsdale.

ONLY ON CVP: No serious injuries were reported in a two-car crash in Hackensack this morning.

The BMW and Toyota involved in the collision on Temple Avenue and Hackesnack Avenue outside the Target just before 8:30 a.m. were both removed by flatbed tow truck.

Hackensack firefighters, police and EMS workers were quickly on the scene.

PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Correspondent Elana Ducran

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A dentist from Edgewater charged with improperly touching a patient pleaded guilty yesterday to ducking $68,000 in federal income taxes.

Bedros Yavru-Sakuk, 63, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Newark to a single count of subscribing to a false tax return for the 2011 calendar year.

“Mr. Yavru-Sakuk’s filing of false tax returns was a theft from the American public. It is a felony offense that carries severe consequences,” said Jonathan D. Larsen, the acting Special Agent in Charge of IRS-Criminal Investigation, Newark Field Office. “We protect the integrity of the tax system by ensuring everyone pays the right amount of tax.”

The investigation was conducted by members of Larsen’s staff and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Robertson.

Federal authorities said Yavru-Sakuk diverted $308,303 of income HY Quality Dental Care dental practice in Rego Park, Queens, to make payments on a personal credit card, either by writing checks from his business bank account directly to the credit card company or arranging for patients of his to pay his personal credit card directly.

He was scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 29.

Yavru-Sakuk was charged last year in Queens with sexually abusing a 19-year-old female patient between September 2012 and April 2013, records show.

Specifically, the complaint says he inappropriately touched the patient without her consent.

Borough prosecutors said the alleged victim used a small camera to videotape Yavru-Sakuk during a follow-up isit.

SHOUT OUT: Police were looking for a Mercedes sedan stolen from the driveway of a Washington Township home bearing New Jersey State Police emblems on the windshield and rear window.

A spare key had been left in the center console of the four-door, silver 2006 Mercedes E500 taken from a Ridgewood Road home near the Garden State Parkway sometime between midnight and noon on Monday, authorities said.

The vehicle, similar to the one pictured above, has tinted windows.

Anyone with information that can help the investigation is asked to call the WTPD: (201) 664-1140

ONLY ON CVP: A motorist escaped serious injury when his SUV veered off the road and into a Ridgewood cemetery, damaging several headstones.

A tow truck removed the Suburu Forester from Valleau Cemetery on East Glen Avenue following the 11:26 a.m. crash.

Village police were investigating.

STORY/PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Correspondent Boyd A. Loving

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: The message “this building will blow up at noon” scrawled on a bathroom wall led to the evacuation and search — with negative results — of Lincoln Technical Institute in Mahwah this morning.

School administators called police at 9:46 a.m. after a student alerted them to the message, apparently written in ink, above a sink in a men’s bathroom, Police Chief James Batelli said this afternoon.

The Bergen County Police Bomb Squad and K-9 unit swept the building, which was then reopened for administrators and faculty. Classes were cancelled until tomorrow.

CVP EXCLUSIVE: An Emerson man conned into thinking he’d be arrested by the IRS sent more than $10,000 to phone scammers yesterday before police called by his worried family found him in Ridgewood.

Using cash he withdrew from his bank, the 28-year-old victim bought Green Dot Money Pak cards from several stores and sent their numbers to the scammers over the course of eight hours, Emerson Police Officer Joseph Alasio told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this afternoon.

Family members repeatedly unable to reach him finally called police.

“The scammer kept him on the phone the whole time,” Alasio said. “They told him he’d be charged with a crime if he hung up.”

The thief, who spoke with an Asian accent, had just enough personal information about the victim to “give them some amount of credibility with him,” the officer said.

A search ended when Emerson and Ridgewood police stopped the victim’s van on East Ridgewood Avenue after he’d been to a nearby Rite Aid (see photos).

“It’s a shame what these thieves do to people,” Alasio said. “It’s becoming way too commonplace.”

The thieves continue to do serious damage because many of the victims aren’t aware that the IRS will NEVER call anyone for money. The government also doesn’t email anyone for Social Security numbers, birth dates, bank account numbers, passwords or other personal identification.

“The first IRS contact with taxpayers on a tax issue is likely to occur via mail,” the Internal Revenue Service says.

Local police departments say they’ve been inundated with reports from local victims of tax fraud and IRS scam calls.

Two weeks ago, a Leonia resident lost several thousand dollars in the same type of scam. Earlier this year, two New Milford victims each lost more than $5,000.

The way it works:

“The victim receives a call and they are told they owe back taxes, fees or fines to the IRS. and if they do not make an immediate payment using a Green Dot MoneyPak card, they will be arrested or deported,” Leonia Police Chief Thomas Rowe said.

“Once the scam artist is provided with the Green Dot MoneyPak serial number, [he or she is] able to transfer the funds onto a prepaid debit card. Once the transfer is completed, the victim has lost [his or her] money.

* * * * * *

If you think you owe the IRS money, call and ask the agency directly (800-829-1040). If you get a scam call, notify your local police department immediately. They don’t mind. That’s what they do.

* * * * * *

The con artists sound convincing, too.

“They may know a lot about you, and they usually alter the caller ID to make it look like the IRS is calling,” the IRS said. “They use fake names and bogus IRS identification badge numbers. If you don’t answer, they often leave an ‘urgent’ callback request.

“If someone unexpectedly calls claiming to be from the IRS and threatens police arrest, deportation or license revocation if you don’t pay immediately, that is a sign that it really isn’t the IRS calling.”

Some are told their driver’s licenses and credit cards have been suspended or frozen.

They’re then told they can settle the problem by paying a certain amount and are directed to buy Green Dot money packs in various amounts — after which they give the caller the serial numbers of each card.

Some of the scammers have used fake IRS badge numbers or use common names / surnames to identify themselves. They may even know the last four digits of a victim’s Social Security number, which can be retrieved from various bills or through online account hacking.

They can make the IRS toll-free number appear on caller ID and may follow up with an email.

FIVE THINGS THE IRS DOESN’T DO:

• Call you about taxes you owe without first mailing you an official notice;
• Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe;
• Require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card;
• Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone;
• Threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.

Remember, too: The IRS doesn’t use email, text messages or any social media to discuss your personal tax issue.

INSET PHOTO, TOP: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Correspondent Boyd A. Loving, who contributed to this story

PHOTO: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Correspondent Boyd A. Loving

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A Leonia construction worker with a history of sex crimes stuck his fingers into a 16-year-old girl’s vagina and put her hand on his penis in his van after offering her a ride this summer, a grand jury indictment returned in Hackensack today charges.

Wilfredo Arias, 49, remained free on $250,000 bail, posted two weeks after his July 3 arrest.

Authorities at the time said the girl called 911 after she managed to break free while Arias was molesting her in his vehicle.

The five-count indictment handed up today in Hackensack elaborates.

Arias, it says, committed sexual assault by “placing his fingers in [the girl's] vaginal labia through physical force or coercion,” with “no severe personal injury.

It says he also “[placed] her hand on his penis,” also through “physical force or coercion,” and that he pressed his groin against hers, “rubbing or grinding.”

Included with the one assault and three sexual contact charges are a count of child endangerment.

Arias previously avoided prison time and Megan’s Law registration when New Jersey’s highest court overturned his 2002 conviction on sex assault charges, in a case that set a standard for how jurors are selected, CLIFFVIEW PILOT exclusively reported two months ago.

A judge in Hackensack sentenced Arias to six years in state prison after jurors convicted him of of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old Little Ferry girl.

But the state Supreme Court overturned the conviction in early 2005, sending it back to Hackensack for retrial, because Arias wasn’t allowed to participate in interviews of potential jurors.

He then took a plea instead.

Arias benefitted from another downgraded plea deal three years ago — again keeping him from Megan’s Law registration — after being charged with sexually assaulting a 7-year old Cliffside Park girl.

After completing his sentence on April 8, Arias was arrested on the Fourth of July after the Leonia teen said he molested her when she accepted a ride in his van.

Making it all possible: a procedural error. READ MORE….

MUGSHOT: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A couple was picked up in Massachusetts after Upper Saddle River police obtained a search warrant and found a loaded gun, $4,500 worth of stolen clothes with attached security tags and drug paraphernalia, authorities said.

Officers originally stopped driver Erin Driscoll, 24, of Massachusetts and her passenger, 37-year-old ex-con Carlos Jessamy of the Bronx, around 9 p.m. last Thursday for traffic violations on northbound Route 17, Police Chief Patrick Rotella said today.

Driscoll refused to allow a search, so the vehicle was impounded, Rotella said.

Jessamy, meanwhile was arrested on charges of providing false information and later released pending further action.

Police then obtained the search warrant and found the swag and a loaded .45-caliber handgun, the chief said.

Police in Pittsfield, MA, where Driscoll lives, took the pair into custody yesterday on arrest warrants out of Upper Saddle River. Both are charged with illegal possession of the weapon and of stolen property.

Jessamy also was charged with being a felon in possession of a weapon.

His bail was set at $50,000 and Driscoll’s at $25,000, pending extradition to New Jersey.

IMAGES: Courtesy UPPER SADDLE RIVER POLICE 

YOU SAW IT HERE FIRST: A pair of Democratic council candidates from Bergenfield claim that a surveillance video of a man crawling on all fours to remove a campaign sign from a resident’s lawn is the work of their opponents.

The man gives up and walks away, apparently when the homeowner came out, on the video posted on YouTube:

Democrat Council President Chris Tully and Arvin Amatorio say they know the perpetatrator, who they said is 50 years old with a distinct walk and “glaring” bald spot.”

The homeowner has filed a trespassing and attempted theft complaint with police, they said.

Tully and Amatorio called on their Republican opponents, Councilwoman Kathy Sahlberg and former Councilwoman Pat Walsh-Nardini, to condemn such attempt to “suppress” their message.

SHOUT OUT: Under a pall of cold, sometimes heavy rain, veterans, family members and elected officials gathered at the Bergen County Veterans Memorial Monument in Hackensack this afternoon to memorialize the 241 American military personnel killed by jihadists in Beirut 30 years ago today.

Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino (STORY/PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia)

Calling the ceremony a solemn occasion, Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino recalled that 1,800 Marines were stationed in Lebanon when two truck bombs targeted barracks of Americans and French who were part of a multi-national peace-keeping force.

The death toll of 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers, and 58 French paratroopers included “the largest loss to the Marine Corps since Iwo Jima,” Saudino said.

Marine and law enforcement color guards presented flags and remained outside a hastily-erected tent for most or all of the ceremony outside the county courthouse.

“Here lie men who loved America because their ancestors helped generations ago in her founding — officers and men, black and white, rich men and poor together, Protestants and Catholics, Jews and Christians,” Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser said. “There are no quotas, how many are admitted or allowed. It is the highest and purest democracy.”

“The only thing left for us to do for these heros is to commemorate them, to learn a lesson from them, and pray for them,” Father Abuma Aziz added.

“Thank God the United States is leading the war against terrorism and extremism,” Aziz said. “They are working hard to establish peace all over the world. We should pray to the Lord to establish peace.”

Michael B. Ryan was master of ceremonies for the event, sponsored by the International Christian Union — a non-profit group that promotes “Christian solidarity to advance the causes of democracy, human rights, and religious freedom,” particularly in the Middle East. It was co-sponsored by the Legislative District 39 County Republican Committee.

Attendees included Demarest Mayor Raymond Cywinski, county Parks Director Ronald Kistler; Commissioner Richard Dahl (representing County Executive Kathleen Donovan); Andrew Lighthouse (representing Congressman Scott Garrett), and Corporals Bill Harris and Michael Schairrapone, representing various veterans’ organizations.

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

TRIBUTE: Firefighters near and far today are mourning the death of former Tenafly Fire Chief Harvey Eisner, a former crime-scene photographer in the Bronx and national fire service figure.

Harvey Jay Eisner, 59,who suffered an apparent heart attack last night while recovering from an unrelated ailment, was a Tenafly firefighter for 35 years and its chief for 12 years before retiring in 2010.

He was a driving force in making the East Bergen Mutual Aid Association one of the leading groups of its kind in the state.

Eisner graced the national stage, as well.

He was an editor-in-chief of Firehouse Magazine and produced an iconic book, “WTC: In Their Own Words,” which assembled the stories of 95 firefighters who were at Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2001.

Eisner spent 10 years researching and writing the book and got it released in time for the tenth 9/11 anniversary.

To no one’s surprise, he dedicated a portion of the profits to the FDNY Foundation and the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

He talks about “WTC: In Their Own Words” here:

Eisner was fascinated with firehouses as a kid. He began working nearly 40 years ago as a photographer and videographer, getting his work published nationally and helping secure evidence for investigations.

His work was also used in hundreds of books — and adorn the walls of several New York City firehouses.

Eisner covered some of the most significant incidents of our time — among them, the World Trade Center attack, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Dec. 3, 1999 Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse fire in Massachusetts that killed six firefighters, the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and the July 1, 1988 roof collapse at Hackensack Ford that killed five firefighters and injured dozens of others.

He also personally mentored hundreds of firefighters and fire officers, trained tens of thousands more and provided “leadership skills, knowledge of strategy and tactics” and composure to every call, former Englewood Fire Chief Robert Moran said.

Eisner was a firefighter in the Stillwater, OK, Fire Department for three years while attending Oklahoma State University.

He was an honorary assistant chief of the FDNY and program director for the Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World and Firehouse Central conferences.

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SHOUT OUT: Bergen County Sheriff’s Officer Todd Accomando of Saddle Brook awoke this morning to the sound of banging in his backyard and discovered a five-point buck stuck on a neighbor’s fence.

The buck apparently tried to jump the fence and got caught, suffering a compound fracture, Saddle Brook Police Chief Robert Kugler told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

The deer was freed with the help of DPW Supt. Mike Calderone but was unable to walk.

“He tried to get away, but it couldn’t,” Kugler said. “The leg had multiple fractures. He was in an awful and painful position.”

Accomando (in hooded sweatshirt, above), who is running for council in Saddle Brook, brought the buck water and petted him while he and his neighbors awaited  Bergen County Animal Control. They sedated the buck and took him away.

YOU SAW IT HERE FIRST: No one was injured when a runaway garbage truck barreled backwards down a hill in Oakland, hitting a utility pole and a pickup truck, before crossing Route 202 and slamming into a tree in a private driveway.

Workers were collecting trash when the loaded Suburban Carting truck rolled backward down Minnehaha Boulevard across Ramapo Valley Road just after 10:30 a.m.

The impact forced the 2010 Ford F-250, with two male passengers from Bloomingdale, off the road, the driver told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. Neither was injured.

The garbage truck, meanwhile, came to rest against a tree in the driveway of a single-family home.

Route 202 remained closed in both directions into the afternoon as a heavy-duty wrecker removed the garbage truck. The pickup was towed on a flatbed.

A Bergen County Hazardous Materials Unit was at the scene to attend to a diesel fuel spill from the garbage truck.

Workers from Rockland Electric were also restoring power that was knocked out to some area homes and businesses.

Also responding were Oakland and Bergen County police and Oakland and Mahwah firefighters.

Oakland Police Lt. Christian Eldridge said the garbage truck driver told officers that he engaged the air brake before getting out. Next thing he knew, it was rolling down the hill.

An investigation was continuing, Eldridge said.

STORY/PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Correspondent Boyd A. Loving

STORY/PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Correspondent Boyd A. Loving

UPDATE: A van driver who a Wyckoff teen thought was trying to lure her into a van three weeks ago knows the girl and had no harmful intent, Police Chief Benjamin Fox said today.

Fox had warned at the time not to jump to any conclusions after the the 16-year-old girl told police she was walking at the corner of Clinton Avenue and Lawlins Road on Oct. 3 when the driver of a newer model white van “called to her and asked her to walk around and approach the vehicle on the driver side of the van.”

“The girl became concerned with the man’s actions and she yelled to a friend who was also walking nearby,” the chief said at the time. “She then ran away….There were no other words exchanged.”

She described the driver, who drove off on Clinton Avenue, as a light-skinned Hispanic male with an accent.

Residents and business owners remained vigilant following the report.

Meanwhile, Detective Sgt. Joseph Soto and Detective Sgt. Michael Musto checked surveillance tapes of nearby businesses and found a white van in a parking lot a short time earlier, the chief said.

Reviewing surveillance video from the business, they identified the man after he used a store rewards card for a purchase, Fox said.

The man told police he knew her “and was trying to get her attention to speak with her,” he said.

“Because he was driving an unfamiliar vehicle, the girl did not recognize the vehicle or the [man],” Fox said.

“Although this incident has now been cleared and determined to be unfounded, awareness of strangers and concerns about possible luring attempts should continue to be discussed between parents and their children,” the chief said.

Wyckoff police were trying to determine whether a predator was on the loose after a teenager claimed that a man tried to lure her into his van and a resident in another part of town said she saw the vehicle speed off from in front of her house.

Police Chief Benjamin Fox warned that nothing had firmly been established this morning. At the same time, he said, the situation provided a good opportunity for parents to have a “stranger danger” talk with their youngsters.

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Bergen County computer crimes investigators arrested a Palisades Park cook on a tip from the FBI that he’d been collecting child pornography.

Christoper Carvajal, 21, was released without bail following his arrest at work in Secaucus on Wednesday on child endangerment charges, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said today.

The FBI provided prosecutor’s investigators “all pertinent information for further investigation,” after which they found him collecing “images of pre-pubescent children engaged in sexual acts,” Molinelli said.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy BCPO

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Detectives who pulled over a known Elmwood Park drug dealer in Lodi found him carrying $2,500 worth of crack and $1,800 in cash, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said this afternoon.

Jasin Penn, 44, was being held on $50,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail, charged with possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine.

Investigators from the prosecutor’s Narcotic Task Force “had reason to believe [that] Penn was making daily crack/cocaine sales to local users in and around southern Bergen County for the majority of his adult life,” Molinelli said.

Stopping him just before 5 p.m. yesterday, they found the crack and cash, the prosecutor said.

Penn last year was charged with violating the provisions of the state’s Intensive Supervision Program after being arrested on heroin distribution charges, records show.

An arraignment was scheduled for Monday.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy BCPO