YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Mahwah police arrested a Rockland County man moments after they said he broke into a popular local butcher shop, rifled through the cash register and fled with a bleeding hand.

Officer Stacy Conley responded to a 911 call from a resident who heard broken glass just after 10:30 p.m. and found the front glass door of Janek’s Meat Market on Ramapo Valley Road broken out, Police Chief James Batelli said early this afternoon.

He then spotted 25-year-old Colm King Jr. of Blauvelt walking out a backdoor leading to apartments above the business, Batelli said.

King wasn’t only evasive with answer to Conley’s questions, the chief said: His left hand was bleeding.

King at first resisted, Batelli said, but Conley took him into custody with assistance from Officer Mazen Kandis.

Lt. Philip Tangel found the broken glass, open cash register draws and boxes of cigarettes strewn around — as well as a large garden tool that apparently was used to smash the front door, the chief said.

“In his haste he took old lottery tickets and slips with no value, along with some cash,” Batelli said.

King’s 2009 Hyundai, which was parked at the scene with its door open, was impounded at the scene.

King, whose criminal record includes drug and hypodermic needle arrests, was awaiting a bail hearing in Mahwah before being transferred to the Bergen County Jail, the cheif said.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy MAHWAH PD

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A judge in Hackensack today set a June 2 trial date for a Lodi fire marshal on charges of abusing his elderly mother.

With the deadline for a plea deal expired, Presiding Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi scheduled 58-year-old Paul Wanco for trial.

Wanco is accused of deliberately leaving his mother lying on the floor in her own urine and feces for nearly 15 hours.

Florence Wanco, 90, died last month, a little over a year after the March 5, 2013 incident.

Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Jessica Gomperts (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)

An indictment returned by a grand jury in Hackensack charges Wanco with elder abuse and aggravated assault “for attempted serious bodily injury with indifference to the value of human life.”

A previous defense attorney argued that prosecutors failed to prove that he was legally responsible for the care of his mother, whose home he lived in with his family.

He also contended that there was no evidence that Wanco was responsible for his mother’s fall and or that he had “formed the intent” to harm her. Wanco’s niece, Jennifer, was taking care of her, he said.

The attorney who accompanied Wanco today, Marlo Hittman, asked about motions in the case. Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Jessica Gomperts said these have already been “extensive.”

Gomperts has said that Wanco’s own statement to responding police officers who called emergency services to take his mother to the hospital proved that he was aware of her circumstances “and came home and went to sleep anyway.” She said he also told his niece that he would take care of his mother when he returned home.

When Florence Wanco arrived at the hospital she was dehydrated, had significant bruises and bed sores, and burns, caused byeither the fecal matter she was lying in or from the plywood floor, Gomperts said reports show. She also had four broken ribs, the assistant prosecutor said.

During a previous hearing, Superior Court Judge Edward Jerejian said: “The police told the grand jury conditions in the apartment were deplorable. There were fecal stains, urine, sores, the victim was lying on the floor, on her side in discomfort, and was left for an extended period of time.

“He is the son, he lives in the house, the niece had just turned 18. To say she was completely responsible for the woman’s care – this is for a jury to decide.”

Jennifer Wanco, who was indicted along with her uncle last summer, entered Pre-Trial Intervention, a move that Bergen County prosecutors didn’t oppose. If she follows its requirements, she will be cleared of the charges.

They refused to sign off on the same arrangement for Paul Wanco.

FILE PHOTO (ABOVE): Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter

RELATED:

Judge refuses to dismiss elderly abuse charges against Lodi fire marshal

Mother, 90, in elder abuse case against Lodi fire marshal dies

Lodi fire marshal accused of abusing elderly mom still cannot get pre-trial intervention, judge rules

Bergen prosecutor opposes pre-trial intervention for Lodi fire marshal in elder abuse case

Lodi fire marshal, niece, charged in elderly abuse still have crack at clearing charges

Lodi fire marshal charged with elderly abuse

BEYOND BERGEN: A Jersey City man shot two men dead, cut off their heads and hands, and buried the remains in South Jersey, a state grand jury indictment alleges.

Yusuf Ibrahim, 29, shot Egyptian nationals Hany Tawadros, 25, and 27-year-old Amgad Konds once each in the chest with a .38-caliber handgun inside Konds’ white Mercedes C280 after abducting them in the early morning hours of Feb. 5, 2013, the indictment handed up in Trenton says.

He then got behind the wheel and drove the bodies to Buena Vista, NJ, where he took their money and jewelry, cut off their heads and hands using a small drywall saw and scissors and knocked out their teeth with a tire iron, it says.

Ibrahim buried the remains on a relative’s unoccupied property, the indictment alleges. After staying overnight at the house there, it says, drove the car to Philadelphia, set it afire and abandoned it.

“These were vicious, cold-blooded murders in which Ibrahim allegedly executed his victims, decapitated them and bashed out their teeth with a tire iron in an attempt to avoid detection,” Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman said this afternoon.

“This indictment is another step in securing justice for the victims, whose young lives were ended in such a brutal fashion,” Hoffman added.

Acting on a tip, detectives from the State Police Troop A Criminal Investigation Office went to the Atlantic County house and obtained permission to search the wooded area behind it.

A cadaver dog found an area of disturbed dirt near the end of a trail extending from the backyard.

They got a search warrant and the next day dug up both bodies.

The cadaver dog found the heads and hands buried about 40 yards away. Nearby were the drywall saw, scissors and tire iron.

New Jersey State Police and the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Ibrahim in on Feb. 10, 2013 in Bayonne. Bail was set at more than $3.5 million.

Last month, Ibrahim was indicted in connection with a separate armed robbery that occurred the night of Sept. 19, 2012 in Jersey City. Authorities said he shot a man in the foot with a handgun and pistol-whipped him while taking the victim’s money and cellphone.

Ibrahim also is charged with a December 2011 carjacking and armed robbery, also in Jersey City.

The Division of Criminal Justice obtained a 16-count indictment in the recent case charging Ibrahim with two counts each of murder, (1st degree), felony murder (1st degree), kidnapping (1st degree), robbery (1st degree), and desecrating human remains (2nd degree), in addition to various other crimes related to the murders and mutilation of the bodies.

The indictment stems from an investigation by the New Jersey State Police, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office and the state Division of Criminal Justice.

Deputy Attorneys General Vincent J. Militello, Philip J. Mogavero and Jamie Picard coordinated the investigation for the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau and secured the indictments.

Detective Sgt. Glenn Garrels and Detective John Hannigan led the investigation for the State Police Major Crime Unit.

Hoffman thanked the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, U.S. Marshals Service, Philadelphia Police and Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office for their valuable assistance.
PHOTO: Courtesy Nj.com

YOU SAW IT HERE FIRST: A Paterson man accused of shooting a Paramus police officer during an undercover operation in Garfield last week was brought to court in Hackensack today handcuffed to a wheelchair amid heightened security and a large police turnout.

New Jersey Deputy Attorney General Andrew C. Fried read the charges against Rafael Vasquez — attempted murder, aggravated assault, robbery, violating parole and weapons offenses, including being an ex-con possessing a firearm.

Public Defender Jaclyn Medina entered a not-guilty plea on behalf of Vasquez, whose arm was in a modified sling.

Then Vasquez — also known as “King Lucifer” — was returned to the Bergen County Jail, where he remained held on $2 million bail. The case now goes to a state grand jury.

The officer, who was on loan to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Narcotic Task Force when he was shot in the right hip and lower left leg in the Garfield Walmart parking lot last Tuesday, was released over the weekend from Hackensack University Medical Center.

In court today: Paramus police, area police chiefs, officers, Bergen Sheriff Michael Saudino, undersheriffs (PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)

CLIFFVIEW PILOT first reported last Wednesday that Vasquez plea-bargained his way out of a pair of attempted murder charges to lesser counts in Passaic County.

As a result, he spent only three months behind bars before being released last Nov. 20, despite a history of violent crime, records show.

A Passaic County grand jury indicted Vasquez, 25, on attempted murder in January 2011. That was merged with a second attempted murder charge a week later — which boosted his bail to $1 million from $350,000, records show.

The 5-foot-5-inch, 140-pound Vasquez — also known as Rafael Vasquez-Pina and Gustavo Canga — pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in exchange for a three-year term. But records show he was soon back on the street, having received credit for time spent behind bars.

The New York City-born ex-con already had a lengthy record before the more serious charges.

These include:

• obstruction and resisting arrest — to which Vasquez pleaded and for which he was sentenced to 364 days in jail in — September 2010;

• charged with robbery brought Vasquez parole in 2009 after a year in prison — again, thanks to credit for time served;

• pleas in 2007 to joy riding and criminal trespassing.

Vasquez was hit in the arm and leg by shots fired by backup officers last Tuesday after he shot the Paramus detective twice in the Walmart parking complex outside the Marshals store off Passaic Street, authorities said.

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

He was taken to St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Paterson to be treated for his injuries before being transferred to the jail Thursday.

Two other men who authorities said were involved in the shooting — Melvin Guzman of Garfield, 18, and 21-year-old Patrick Morel of Clifton — remained held in the county jail on $750,000 bail each..

They’re charged with aggravated assault, assault with a deadly weapon and two weapons possession charges — one for its use against a law enforcement officer.

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

RELATED:

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: The Paterson man charged with shooting a Paramus police officer during an undercover operation in Garfield plea-bargained his way out of a pair of attempted murder charges to lesser counts in Passaic County three years ago, CLIFFVIEW PILOT has found. READ MORE ….
UPDATE: A Paramus police officer working a Narcotic Task Force detail was ambushed and shot during a $400 marijuana sting in a Garfield department store parking lot this afternoon, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli confirmed early this evening. READ MORE ….

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A repeat shoplifter accused of assaulting a Rochelle Park CVS store manager was in custody after his photo was distributed to area law enforcement agencies, CLIFFVIEW PILOT has learned.

Paterson police took 31-year-old David Lucas into custody over the weekend, Rochelle Park Police Detective Jim DePreta said this afternoon.

Lucas assaulted the store manager as he ran from the CVS on April 10 carrying a duffel bag filled with soap (photo, above), DePreta told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

On March 24, store officials told police, he stole $250 worth of chewing gum and pushed the manager away as he fled.

Surveillance images were distributed and the 6-foot-3-inch, 195-pound Lucas was identified by Maywood police and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, DePreta said.

A warrant for his arrest on robbery and shoplifting charges was obtained and Paterson police picked him up at midnight Saturday, the detective said.

“He was wearing the same hat and boots on the surveillance video,” DePreta said.

Lucas was being held on $22,500 bail in the Bergen County Jail.

He’s also a “person of interest” in several jurisdictions and stores, police said.

IMAGES: Courtesy ROCHELLE PARK PD

EXCLUSIVE: Elmwood Park man who expected to walk out of a Hackensack courtroom today after resolving charges of stalking his ex-wife, breaking into her house and secretly videotaping her having sex with another man got a surprise when an outstanding arrest warrant out of Family Court surfaced.

Presiding Superior Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi said she immediately couldn’t determine what the warrant was for, so she ordered 45-year-old Lorenz Hen jailed.

Hen, who has a history of arrests for non-payment of child support, has shown up late for court or not at all over the past 20 months, as seven indictments were brought charging him with stalking, assaulting or contacting his ex-wife in violation of court orders.

Lorenz Hen (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)

Earlier this year, Hen withdrew a plea to four indictments at what was supposed to be his sentencing. Last Monday, he was scheduled to go before DeAvila-Silebi for a trial date, but his lawyer said that Hen left the courthouse for a supervised visit with his children.

He was due in court at 9 a.m. today but showed up a little before 11.

“If you had been here at 9 o’clock, I would have told you to go to [Family Court] and resolve this matter,” DeAvila-Silebi told Hen. “But since you didn’t, I’m going to put you in jail to make sure you appear.”

Hen pleaded guilty today to charges in six of the indictments and was arraigned on a seventh that was handed down April 16.

Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Jessica Gomperts said the seventh indictment was resolved with the plea.

In exchange, prosecutors agreed that he should spend 364 days in the Bergen County Jail, after which he’ll remain on probation for five years.

The case began in September 2012, when authorities charged Hen with attempting to assault his ex-wife and neglecting their 2-year-old child. Although she’d obtained a restraining order against him, prosecutors said Hen violated it by phoning the woman, approaching her in public and breaking into her house.

Less than a week later, they charged him with stalking for another violation. A judge set bail at $10,000.

Then things got ugly, prosecutors said.

After breaking into his ex-wife’s house, they said, Hen hid and then videotaped her and another man having sex. He then showed the video to the woman’s religious leader and threatened to distribute it to friends, business associates and others, authorities said.

RELATED: Elmwood Park man set to admit stalking, breaking in, videotaping ex having sex

Seven charges in all were filed, after which Hen posted $2,500 bail and was released.

More indictments followed — two of them earlier this month for stalking allegations in August and November of last year and in February. Bail was $25,000, which Hen again posted.

Hen pleaded guilty today to head-butting his ex-wife, injuring her eye and nose; breaking into her house and making the secret videotape, then making a copy; and repeatedly violating restraining orders.

DeAvila-Silebi, in turn, warned him that if he comes back before her “on any kind of violation” before his scheduled June 2 sentencing, she will have him tried on all of the charges.

She also said Hen would have to pay for the court interpreter himself.

“We pay them by the hour,” the judge said, “and this man has been waiting three hours for you.”

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

DO YOU KNOW HIM? Port Authority police are seeking the public’s help identifying a man who jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge earlier this month.

PAPD police issued a sketch of the man, who they said is white and possibly Hispanic, in his mid-50s to early 60s, and about 5-foot-10 to 6 feet tall and 180 to 200 pounds, the authority’s Joseph Pentangelo said.

He has salt and pepper hair and brown eyes and was wearing a dark blue shirt, black pants, brown belt, black socks, brown shoes, with no scars or tattoos.

He is believed to have jumped from the south walkway of the bridge around 11 p.m. on April 3, Pentangelo said. His body was found just before midnight, he said.

If you have information that can help identify him, the PAPD asks that you call them: (201) 216-6955.

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Surveillance video led Ramsey police to the arrest of a Lodi man who they said was breaking into cars outside area gyms and stealing valuables.

Jason Daniello, 38, was questioned and then charged after his car was spotted in the area of a car break-in on April 17, Police Chief Bryan Gurney said.

That day, a woman told police, her purse was stolen from under the seat of her 2008 Cadillac Escalade while she worked out at Retro Fitness on Route 17.

Police found the passenger rear window smashed, Gurney said.

That same day, another victim reported losing a purse with cash after parking her 2007 BMW outside the Sweat fitness center on East Main Street.

Detectives Marc Shingelo and Adam Szelag interviewed Daniello, who Gurneys said “admitted to burglarizing both vehicles and removing the purses.”

They charged him with two counts each of burglary, theft and criminal mischief.

Daniello posted $2,500 bail and was released pending a Municipal Court hearing.

 
MUGSHOT: Courtesy RAMSEY PD

EXCLUSIVE: The dismantling of the ‘Boone gang’ of Englewood burglars was completed yesterday with guilty pleas from two men identified by authorities as the last major players.

Aasim Boone and Renando Sheffield plea-bargained three- and four-year sentences, respectively, in connection with an Old Tappan home burglary in December 2011.

Negotiations went on much of the day and ended with Sheffield smiling at Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor David Calviello.

“Mr. Calviello,” Sheffield said, “the nightmare is over.”

Aasim Boone (l.), Renando Sheffield (r.) (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)

Boone, who is also being sentenced in a Sussex County burglary case, said: “I’m not coming back to Bergen. I’m not even going to throw a bubblegum wrapper on the ground.”

The plea deals bring down the curtain on a years-long spree by members of the loosely-knit crew, which authorities say emerged in the late 1990s as successors to the James Bond Gang.

Like their notorious predecessors, members of the Boone crew came from Englewood and Teaneck. They didn’t use fancy gadgets or other means to try and thwart police. They simply broke or kicked their way into homes, then got in and got out with however much jewerly, cash and other valuables they could grab, authorities said.

Those convicted at trial or pleading guilty in the past year include:

• Akeem Boone, Aasim’s brother and the man whom authorities identified as the group’s main player;
• Melvin Collins, a convicted burglar with 60 indictments on his record;
• Jarrell Bordeaux, Marc Rainey and Jamelle Singletary, who were involved with the Boones and Sheffield in the theft of a 600-pound safe from Connecticut;

Rainey last week had three years tacked onto a 10-year sentence he began serving in October (SEE: Judge in Hackensack makes sure Englewood burglar does serious prison time).

Good police work led to the arrests of Aasim Boone and Sheffield, Calviello told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

“An officer saw a car he knew was parked in a place it didn’t belong and stopped it to question the driver,” the prosecutor said.

That turned out to be Sheffield, who told the officer he had a fight with his girlfriend, who ran off. He was waiting for her to return, he said.

Boone then suddenly emerged from the burglarized home, Calviello said. Seeing police, he ran, throwing away his clothing and gear, some of which got caught in tree branches, the prosecutor said.

He still had his cellphone, though, which he used to call a Ridgewood cab.

The cabbie was stopped by Old Tappan police who’d set up a perimeter. They questioned the driver, who said he was headed to pick up a fare.

He then gave them a familiar address: It was a condemned house used for drills by police and firefighters.

Police asked the cab driver to signal them on his way back if the passenger matched Boone’s description. He did and Boone was arrested.

“Are you waiving your right to a trial because you are, in fact, guilty of these crimes?” Presiding Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi asked Boone and Sheffield yesterday.

“Yes,” each answered in turn.

Boone, 31, agreed to four years in addition to whatever he’s sentenced to in Sussex County.

Sheffield, 32, agreed to a four-year prison term, to be added to the eight-year sentence he’s serving for the safe burglary.

His term will be reduced to three years at a June 13 sentencing for both men.

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

YOU SAW IT HERE FIRST: Westbound Route 4 was backed up to Teaneck late this morning following a tractor-trailer crash that sent a male Honda driver to the hospital with what appeared to be minor injuries.

The crash occurred just after 11 a.m. before the Spring Valley Road overpass.

The highway was reopened less than 20 minutes later. By then traffic stretched for miles.

STORY / PHOTO: Izzy Infield

UPDATE: A piece of guard rail slammed through a Ford Explorer that crashed through the center guard rail of the southbound Garden State Parkway in Woodcliff Lake before rolling and landing right-side up on the northbound side below.

Responders at the scene said a piece of the rail struck the victim in the abdomen after the SUV crashed through it.

New Jersey State Police Trooper Jeff Flynn told CLIFFVIEW PILOT that the guardrail “went into the vehicle,” but he couldn’t yet say whether it had struck the 30-something driver.

“She has some serious injuries,” he said.

The 11:50 a.m. crash occurred at milepost 168.7, forcing the closure of the northbound lanes near Werimus Road, the trooper said.

Local responders were using a Woodcliff Lake DPW emergency gate to access the highway after a medical helicopter was called off because of bad weather.

“They’re going to do a relay to the hospital,” Flynn said.

The Fatal Accident Unit was summoned because of the severity of the crash, he said.

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Port Authority police today said a couple who died shortly after being pulled from the Hudson River yesterday are from Suffern.

Gary W. Crockett, 41, and 40-year-old Nickie Cirelli were plucked from the river by New York City police and fire responders about 1,000 yards south of the George Washington Bridge — raising questions about whether they jumped.

A half-hour earlier, workers working mid-span on the bridge reported seeing “something out of their peripheral vision go by them from above to below,” said Joseph Pentangelo of the Port Authority Police Deparatment. “The workers then saw the two in the water.

“No one actually saw them jump.”

CPR was administered after the bodies were brought to the 125th Street pier and both were rushed to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital, Pentangelo told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Both were pronounced dead soon after, he said.

“They had no ID. No car was found on the bridge,” Pentangelo said. “No note was left.”

Suffern detectives who heard about the incident contacted the Port Authority, he said.

RELATED: GWB a ‘suicide magnet’?

Despite the force of the impact, 20 or so people have been said to have survived the GWB’s 212-foot drop.

A 28-year-old a former Naval Academy water-polo player was the last one, in 2009. Several years ago, a woman was plucked from the water alive but suffering from serious lifelong injuries. The same for a man who lived to tell about his leap in 1968.

Then there was a Bergen County who in the 1940s bet a friend that he could survive. He swam to shore, collected his money — then died of his injuries a few days later.

CHECK BACK FOR MORE DETAILS

UPDATE: A 74-year-old former mob associate from Palisades Park walked out of the Bergen County Jail a free man yesterday after being sentenced to six months of time served for sexually assaulting a family friend 13 years ago.

Presiding Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi reluctantly imposed the plea-bargained sentence on Angelo “Ken” Wedra, an ex-con who spent 25 years in state prison for murder and the rape of a handicapped teenager.

In both an evaluation by the Adult Diagnostic Treatment Center in Avenel and a pre-sentence assessment by the Probation Department, Wedra (above, in court yesterday) denied acts that he’d admitted in court, the judge said.

“There was utter denial,” DeAvila-Silebi said, adding that Wedra “is still maintaining that the victim has lied — and he gives reasons.”

A trial in the case last June ended in a hung jury.

Prosecutors were preparing a new trial against Wedra when he pleaded guilty in October to slightly reduced charges of criminal sexual contact and agreed to go jail immediately.

Wedra admitted knowing that the then-35-year-old woman was under sedation following a car crash earlier that day when he entered her home Rochelle Park home in March 2001 using a set of keys he had for emergencies.

He then admitted getting into bed with her and touching her breasts and thighs “to physically satisfy” himself.

Wedra also pleaded guilty to violating a restraining order for contacting the victim against her will.

The woman testified during the trial that she didn’t scream because she was afraid that her children would hear.

Even afterward, she said nothing about the incident for eight years, choosing to go on with her life as before “to maintain a relationship with her family,” Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor David Calviello told jurors during the month-long trial last spring.

As part of the October deal, another indictment charging Wedra with sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl was dismissed.

It was also agreed that he’d serve six more months in the Bergen County Jail and receive credit for three months that he’d already spent behind bars before posting $300,000 bail in August 2009.

Wedra accused the woman during the trial of wanting to borrow money from him and also of wanting him to kill her ex-husband, a Bergen County sheriff’s officer. When he didn’t, Wedra said, she concocted the rape charge “to get revenge.”

A clearly angered DeAvila-Silebi yesterday ordered him to report to the state Division of Parole in Paterson as soon as possible, warning Wedra that “a bench warrant will be issued immediately” if he didn’t.

She also reminded him of the restraining order.

“There is to be no contact with the victim or any family members who live with her — for her protection and yours,” the judge said. “Any contact of any kind will cause additional charges.”

Defense attorney Dennis Calo asked that Wedra and his wife still be allowed to visit the victim’s children, one of whom is now an adult and another who’s about to be.

However, Calviello said the children made it clear they don’t want to be contracted by the Wedras. A letter sent by Wedra’s wife, Marie Mattson, to one of them “disturbed” the boy, the prosecutor said.

Calviello said he was disturbed by Wedra’s attempts in his previous court filings “to escape any accountability – not just for this matter but also his past crimes, which he has admitted to.”

“Where previously he admitted to sexual intercourse with a 17-year old disabled child, in his Avenel report he claimed she was willing — even though he was involved in a home invasion at the time,” the prosecutor said.

The 1971 rape occurred during a Hunterdon County home invasion, Calviello told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Wedra and two co-defendants rang the bell expecting to find a substantial amount of cash in the house, he said. After pushing their way in and not finding any, Calviellos said, Wedra took the girl upstairs and raped her.

The plea deal in the Bergen County case “although not perfect justice” was “the best we could do” for everyone concerned, he said.

That includes the victim and her family, who didn’t want to endure a second, perhaps grueling trial, the prosecutor said.

The woman testified for several days in the first trial, attended the plea hearing and asked Calviello to tell the judge that she didn’t want to attend yesterday’s sentencing. Nor did any family members.

It’s significant, Calviello said, that Wedra will be on community supervision for life. He also will be subject to Megan’s Law, which requires him to register his address with police as a sex offender for life.

Wedra, who had been in ill health, was brought into court yesterday in a wheelchair.

During his plea, he walked with a cane and received permission to remain seated because of sciatica. During deliberations in the first trial, he was taken from the county courthouse in Hackensack to Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck after complaining of “angina-like” symptoms.

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

* * * * *

RELATED:
Former Palisades Park mobster agrees to 6 months in jail following hung-jury rape trial

EXCLUSIVE: A 74-year-old former mob associate from Palisades Park whose rape trial ended in a hung jury earlier this year will be free next April in exchange for pleading guilty today to sexual contact. READ MORE ….

Hung jury in rape trial of Palisades Park former mob associate

ONLY ON CLIFFVIEW PILOT: The trial of a former mob associate from Palisades Park charged with rape ended in a hung jury yesterday. READ MORE….

Palisades Park defendant in rape case rushed to hospital as jurors deliberate

CLIFFVIEW PILOT EXCLUSIVE: As jurors in Hackensack today began deliberating the fate of a former mob associate from Palisades Park charged with rape, the 73-year-old defendant – who only moments earlier was smiling with his family – was brought out of the Bergen County courthouse on a gurney and taken to Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck after complaining of “angina-like” symptoms. READ MORE….

Rape trial of former Palisades Park mob associate begins

ONLY ON CLIFFVIEW PILOT: A woman who’d just been released from the hospital following a car crash didn’t scream because her children would hear her when former mob associate Ken Wedra of Palisades Park came into her bedroom, opened his pants and raped her on a March night a dozen years ago, a prosecutor told jurors in Hackensack yesterday. READ MORE….

Wife of former Palisades Park mob associate says he never admitted rape

ONLY ON THE PILOT: The wife of a former mob associate from Palisades Park on trial for rape said a recorded phone conversation between him and the alleged victim isn’t a confession because he doesn’t have the ability to understand the conversation. READ MORE….

A grand jury indicted a Rutherford man on aggravated manslaughter charges in the death of a Carlstadt mother of four who prosecutors said was struck by his car as she walked home from work last fall.

Victor Kwak was drunk when he lost control of his 2006 Lexus GS430 while headed east on Railroad Avenue between Everett Place and Boiling Springs Avenue in Rutherford on Aug. 22, Prosecutor John L. Molinelli told CLIFFVIEW PILOT at the time.

The car “struck the curb on the south side of the roadway and then crossed back northward and drove off the road onto the sidewalk on the north side,” the prosecutor said.

It then struck and knocked down a tree, a street light and a wooden utility pole before ramming into Sandra Munoz-Molina, who was on the on the grounds of St. Mary’s High School, headed home from her beauty parlor job.

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

The Mexican immigrant, who loved ones said hoped to one day open a beauty parlor with her sisters, left behind four sons ranging in age at the time from three to eight years old.

Kwak has remained free since posting $75,000 bail the day after the crash.

Kwak, who originally was charged with aggravated assault by auto, also was issued several motor vehicle summonses, including one for DWI, the prosecutor said.

Besides aggravated manslaughter, the indictment returned in Hackensack on Monday charges him with two counts of death by auto.

STORY: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter

HAVE YOU SEEN HIM? Wallington police are seeking the public’s help finding a Lodi man who they said joined two women in burglarizing the apartment of a man who’d just moved into a retirement home.

It was just before 2 p.m. last Thursday when a Pulaski Avenue resident reported seeing two people climbing into a first-floor window while a third waited in a getaway car.

The resident took a photo and got the license plate number, Lt. Shawn Kudlacik told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

The plate came back to 26-year-old Crystal Vazquez of Eatontown (above, top), Kudlacik said.

Detectives discovered that Vazquez was staying with Angelina and Shane Soto, the lieutenant said.

They also learned that the victim’s upstairs neighbor is Shane Soto’s best friend, he said.

Police quickly arrested Vazquez and Angelina Soto, 21, charging both with burglary and conspiracy.

Vazquez was released on a summons.

Angelina Soto remaned held on $7,500 bail this morning in the Bergen County Jail.

Shane Soto, 18, is named in an arrest warrant charging him with burglary and conspiracy. Bail is $7,500.

IMAGES: Courtesy WALLINGTON PD

SHOUT OUTS: The Port Authority Police Department will appoint three senior members to top leadership positions and promote 62 others in rank during a ceremony tomorrow on Staten Island.

Michael Brown will be appointed deputy chief, Louis Klock will be appointed inspector and John Roland will be appointed captain during the event at the Hilton Garden Inn, 1100 South Avenue.

In addition, 62 other PAPD members will be promoted to the ranks of lieutenant, sergeant and detective.

The Port Authority Police Department is responsible for protecting the traveling public who use the agency’s major airports, tunnels, bridges, seaport and PATH system. The PAPD also patrols the World Trade Center site.

SPECIAL REPORT: The combination of pressures over stolen money, illegal drug use and an ongoing police investigation into an AR-15 military-style rifle stolen from a Mahwah home led a Suffern couple to kill the woman’s 70-year-old uncleand then jump off the George Washington Bridge to their deaths, authorities said today.

The investigation is far from complete, Suffern Police Chief Clarke Osborn said during a morning new conference. However, he said complicated troubles inside a seemingly peaceful home just a few blocks from Suffern Village Hall led to the death of longtime resident William Valenti.

Valenti’s niece, 40-year-old Nicki Hunt Circelli, and her boyfriend Gary Crockett, 41, tried to deceive relatives about Valenti’s death to give them time to get away after asphyxiating the longtime food truck operator, who served Mahwah area businesses, the chief said.

Gary Crockett, Nicki Hunt Circelli

In fact, it was Valenti’s business that led to the discovery of his body.

When he didn’t show up for work Monday, his partner went to the house with Valenti’s nephew and found a note from Circelli and Hunt saying they’d taken him to the hospital.

“This was an intentional deception effort,” Osborn said.

Crockett already was a person of interest in the Mahwah investigation of a AR-15 military-style rifle stolen March 1 from a home where a moving company he worked for had been. READ MORE ….

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Bill Demarest

Award-winning newsman Bill Demarest, Editor of Nyack Free Press, has been a reporter and editor covering New York and New Jersey for more than 30 years.

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli will be called to the witness stand to testify against two Bergen County Police Department officers accused of moving shell casings at the end of the car chase and then lying under oath to cover up a shooting, the lead prosecutor in the case told jurors in Hackensack today.

Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Wayne Mello, during his opening argument in the trial this morning, called the actions of officers Saheed Baksh (above, right) and Jeffrey Roberts (left) “a betrayal of the badge we all have a right to trust.”

“The badge of a police officer is a symbol as much as the flag … a symbol of trust [and] commitment to truth and honesty,” Mello told jurors.

He then told jurors expect details of a “a chase second to none.”

“It will amaze you,” Mello said, promising to show jurors police cruiser dashboard videos of the pursuit from Paramus to Bogota.

Baksh’s lawyer, Louis Diluzio, portrayed the August 2010 scene as a mess of 20-plus officers from several jurisdictions — including local, county, and New Jersey State Police, plus the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office.

Mass confusion plus a short time frame — and not an attempt to deceive — led to assumptions and delay in reporting an officer-involved shooting.

Diluzio also said prosecutors have no evidence to prove Baksh removed the shell casings from the crime scene.

He also disagreed with Mello’s contention that Baksh was ordered to leave his car at the “shooting scene” to await a tow and take another officer’s car to the hospital with the two suspects he’d chased after they complained of injuries.

No one ever gave that order, the attorney said.

Baksh traveled from the “apprehension scene” on the other side of the railroad tracks back to his car, which he drove back to the “barn” — the county police garage in Hackensack, he said.

It wasn’t until about two hours later that Roberts asked Baksh if he told anyone he discharged his weapon, Diluzio said.

Baksh said he hadn’t, so Roberts said he would, he said.

New Jersey Attorney General guidelines require county prosecutor’s offices to review all police shootings to determine whether they are justified.

According to Mello, the two-hour gap compromised the scene — and, as a result, the investigation.

The two officers face a total of six charges, including second-degree conspiracy to commit official misconduct.

Grand jurors in August 2012 indicted both after prosecutors presented videotape from various patrol car dashboard cameras and transcripts of interviews with several officers following the chase.

No one was hit, but prosecutors said Baksch pocketed the shell casings after firing the shots, while Roberts did nothing to stop him.

The officers have been free on $10,000 bail each and remain suspended without pay.

Both insist that Molinelli (above, inset) pursued the charges against them as part of a politically motivated “witch hunt” designed to “result in the dissolution of the Bergen County Police Department.”

Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Roma, who is presiding over the trial, last fall refused their request to either dismiss the case or, failing that, transfer it to the state Attorney General’s Office.

Molinelli, in an October 2013 filing to Roma, wrote that Baksh and Roberts committed criminal misconduct that “disgraces the badge and good name of all law enforcement officers.”

The incident began the afternoon of Aug. 12, 2010, when a Forest Avenue resident returned home and found a black SUV with a man inside parked in her driveway. Suddenly, a second man emerged from her house and got into the SUV, which drove away. READ MORE ….

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

CHECK BACK FOR MORE DETAILS

UPDATE (YOU READ IT HERE FIRST): Two dozen adults and 38 juveniles were taken into custody after law enforcement officers from no fewer than 17 agencies found them trashing Teaneck High School overnight as part of a senior class prank, Acting Teaneck Police Chief Robert Carney told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this morning.

Nine were immediately taken into custody around after a 2:11 a.m. alarm brought his department, Carney said.

“A search of the school discovered extensive damage, including broken desks and chairs, urine in the hallways, graffiti and Vaseline smeared on the doors,” the chief told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Other departments raced to the school, and the arrests were completed about two hours later, he said.

Teaneck police requested the Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit to sweep the building, as well as vans to transport those seized.

One of the sheriff’s two dogs gave a positive indication on a classroom where eight juveniles were found hiding.

Carney thanked the sheriff’s office, along with the Bergen County Police Department, Palisades Interstate Parkway Police and police from Bergenfield, Bogota, Creskill, Dumont, Englewood, Englewood Cliffs, Fort Lee, Glen Rock, Hackensack, New Milford, Palisades Park, Paramus, Ridgefield and Ridgefield Park .

“I apologize if we missed any agency,” he said. “We are still in the process of reviewing the response.”

The chief believes police caught most of those responsible, some of whom tried to hide inside the building and others grabbed while making a run for it. A small number hopped fences and vanished into the night.

All were taken to Teaneck Police Headquarters and processed, Carney said, adding that the adults were due in Teaneck Municipal Court.

Parents and guardians of all the juveniles were called to retrieve them, the chief said.

“At this time, we have not determined how entry into the building was made,” Carney said. “The investigation is ongoing.”

The adults were being charged criminally and the younger teens issued delinquency complaints for burglary and criminal mischeif.

School officials had classes today but had students gather in the gym first. The building needs a massive cleanup but no major repairs, Schools Superintendent Barbara Pinsak said during a morning news conference. Officials will discipline those involved, she added.

TOP: Nj.com photo

SHOUT OUT: A week before their senior prom, Fort Lee High School students will play victims in a DWI crash re-enactment in the school parking lot tomorrow morning.

Fort Lee police, firefighters and educators collaborated on the 8:30 a.m. event, aimed at showing “how one poor choice can lead to death and even prison,” Detective Jaime Cuevas said this morning.

Speakers will include Municipal Court Judge Matthew Fierro, who will discuss the criminal procedures and legal consequences for a drunk-driving conviction.

ABC Towing donated the two vehicles that will be used in the staged crash.

Four students have volunteered to play victims. One will be a drunk driver who is texting, while another will be an intoxicated passenger.

In the script, the driver survives but the passenger dies — as does the driver of the other car, who is out with his wife on what for them is a date night.

Fort Lee Fire Department Engine/Rescue Company #2 and the Fort Lee Volunteer Ambulance Corp will demonstrate how they respond and react to a serious accident involving an entrapment and multiple injuries.

PHOTO, TOP: Courtesy FORT LEE FIRE DEPT. ENGINE/RESCUE CO. #2