NEWARK –
A Belleville man and a woman from Kearny were were charged by Newark police last week with filing false reports that they had been carjacked, authorities reported. The arrests were not connected.
Last Wednesday, Emanuel Alvarado, 26, was charged after he told Newark cops that on Sept. 17, at approximately 3 a.m., a carjacker had accosted him at First St. and the ramp to I-280 in Newark and taken his 2006 BMW 325i.
Upon investigating, detectives from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Task Force determined that the vehicle was actually towed by the State Police after it was involved in a minor one-car accident on I-280 westbound in Newark, authorities said.
Then, on Thursday, police announced the arrest of Natalie Alonso, 23, who had allegedly filed a false report that her 1997 Nissan Altima had been carjacked by four black males early that morning at Grafton Ave. and Broadway in Newark.
According to authorities, Alonso admitted under questioning that an acquaintance had borrowed the vehicle and failed to return it.
The two arrests, occurring in the midst of a rash of real carjackings, can be taken as a message that Newark cops have zero tolerance for reports of phony crimes.
“When we receive calls for service, we take a great deal of care to provide our constituents with the very best police services available,” said Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio.
“We take such actions [false reports] extremely seriously . . . . This is something that the department will not tolerate, and [it] will pursue any violators zealously.”
– Karen Zautyk
