By Karen Zautyk
KEARNY —
After a week of lying low, one of the suspects in the Oct. 20 armed robbery on Dukes St. resurfaced in town last week and was arrested, police reported.
The alleged bandit, a 21-year-old Kearny resident, was apprehended at 4:40 p.m. Wednesday after KPD vice detectives spotted him at Belgrove Drive and Woodland Ave. He is being held on $100,000 bail on the robbery charge. In addition, police said, he was also wanted by the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office on a no bail warrant for a drug violation.
The suspect and a cohort allegedly accosted a man walking on Dukes near Chestnut St. the afternoon of Oct. 20 and held him at gunpoint, relieving him of about $200 in cash and his BlackBerry.
The other robber, who reportedly was the gunman, is still being sought.
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In other Kearny police news, two 18-year-old women — one from Bridgewater, one from Raritan–were arrested on alcohol-related charges Oct. 21 after Officers Derek Hemphill and Ben Wuelfing and Sgt. John Becker responded to complaints of a large group of individuals drinking in the area of Devon St. and Quincy Ave.
When the officers arrived on the scene just before midnight, they witnessed the women emerging from a parked car, one of them carrying an open bottle of vodka, Police Chief John Dowie said. When questioned, the two reportedly admitted they had been drinking.
Both were charged with underage possession and consumption of alcohol. In addition, the driver was charged with DWI and careless driving. As she was attempting to park her car, she had hit another one, Dowie said, noting that her explanation was that the “space was too tight.”
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At 1:30 a.m. Oct. 22, Sgt. Becker and Officers Jay Ward and Dean Gasser responded to reports of a fight at a Kearny Ave. watering hole. “Apparently,” commented Dowie, “it was quite a donnybrook.” Inside the tavern the cops found “broken glass and people bleeding.”
One of the patrons, a 28-year-old Kearny man, was suffering a head wound and reportedly told the officers that another man had attempted to provoke him into a fight and hit him in the face with a bottle. Dowie said witnesses confirmed the account and gave police the name of the alleged attacker, who they said had headed north on Kearny Ave. on a motorcycle.
A short time later, Capt. Thomas Osborne spotted a man with bloody clothing standing next to a motorcycle at Kearny and Laurel Aves. The 23-year-old Kearny resident reportedly admitted to being involved in a fight and was arrested for aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon (the bottle) and possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes.
But the tale does not end there.
A review of the tavern’s security tapes showed that the victim, despite what he and the witnesses had claimed, had actually instigated the battle. He was charged with simple assault and hindering prosecution by lying.
Also, police said, a number of underage patrons were found in the bar, this information being turned over to the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
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On Oct. 23, an attendant at Tullo’s gas station in South Kearny finished pumping gas into a car and informed the driver that he owed $55. At which point, Dowie said, the driver, instead of paying, pulled a Glock automatic from the center console and relieved the attendant of $150 before fleeing down the Old Lincoln Highway.
P.O. Mike Santucci and Ray McEachern were the responding officers and Det. Jim Torrado is handling the follow-up investigation.
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Oct. 23 also brought an incident that resulted in a charge with which your correspondent was heretofore unfamiliar.
At 8 p.m., Officer Wayne Shivers went to Garofola Park to secure an unattended bicycle that had been reported there. Upon arriving, he saw a man he recognized get onto the bike and begin to pedal away, Dowie said, but when the 38-year-old Kearny resident saw the cop, he jumped off, dropped the bike on the street and lit a cigarette. According to the police report, he “spontaneously” explained, “The bike’s not mine. I found it in the park,” and claimed that “Gabe” had told him to take it. Unfortunately, “Gabe” was not around to corroborate the story.
The alleged bicycle thief was charged with unlawful taking of a means of conveyance.
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Speaking of charges that are new to us:
At 9 p.m., Oct. 25, Officer Brian Wisely was on patrol when he came upon a 17-year-old Kearny male standing in the middle of the street at Kearny and Bennett Aves. When Wisely slowed his patrol car to urge the youth to move, the teen allegedly stuck his head through the open driver’s side window and began screaming.
He was charged with interference with transportation, for having blocked the intersection.
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Also on Oct. 25, a pharmacist at Pathmark called police HQ to report that a customer was attempting to fill a prescription with a stolen Rx blank. The pharmacist became suspicious when she noticed the form, from the office of a doctor in Randolph, lacked a DEA serial number. She contacted the physician, who reportedly confirmed that a blank had been stolen.
When the customer returned to pick up the Rx, vice detectives were waiting. The 33-year-old Newark woman was charged with attempting to obtain prescription medication by fraud.
