KEARNY –
On Oct. 20, 2012, a resident on the 100 block of Schuyler Ave. returned home at 5 p.m. to discover his house at been burglarized. Det. Ray Lopez was assigned to investigate, and what did he find in the home?
A cell phone that did not belong to the victim. Apparently, it had been left behind by the thief.
The phone was dead, but Lopez was able to reactivate it.
Through information on the device, police said, he identified its probable owner as Dessaron Smith, an 18-yearold from Harrison. The detective also subsequently learned that Smith had been taken into custody as a suspect in burglaries in Harrison, Kearny Police Chief John Dowie reported.
On Friday, April 5, KPD Officer Jack Corbett arrested Smith in Kearny on a burglary and theft warrant. The suspect is in the Hudson County Jail on $10,000 bail. And with no cell phone.
Other recent reports from the KPD blotter included the following:
April 5
Brotherly companionship led to double trouble for twin brothers from Kearny after Vice Squad detectives saw the two apparently sharing a joint at Chestnut St. and Garfield Ave. at 4:30 p.m. One of the pair reportedly tried to hide a pot-filled cigar in his pocket, but the odor of the drug was a giveaway, police said. Charged with possession of marijuana and paraphernalia and being under the influence of a CDS, were 21-year-old Lance and Luther Bass.
April 7
At 4 a.m., P.O. Jay Ward was dispatched to King and Forest Sts. on the report of a motor vehicle accident. At the scene, he found numerous skid marks on both sides of the road, some heavily damaged parked cars, and, laying in the street, a complete bumper bearing a license plate. “We like it when they leave the license plates behind,” Dowie commented.
Ward broadcast the plate number, which came back as belonging to a 1996 Chevy Camaro, a vehicle the cop soon spotted up against yet another parked car in the area. The driver had soiled clothes, slurred speech and a strong odor of alcohol, police said. His car reportedly had an empty bottle of beer that had spilled its contents on the driver’s side floor.
The motorist, who failed field sobriety tests, was offered medical aid but declined, Dowie reported. Taken to headquarters for an Alcotest and charged with DWI, reckless driving, underage possession of alcohol and having an open container of same in a motor vehicle was 19-year-old Osvaldo Centeno of Kearny.
April 8
An excessively loud muffler proved the undoing of Jeffrey Jordan Jacobs, 22, of Kearny after his four-wheeled growler was seen, and heard, by P.O. Ben Wuelfing, on patrol at 2 a.m. at Highland and Johnston Aves.
Wuelfing ran a computer check on the car and reportedly found that its registered owner, Jacobs, had a suspended license. When the officer stopped the vehicle, the driver produced an expired insurance card and expired registration, police said. He also reportedly smelled of alcohol and failed the field sobriety tests, conducted with Sgt. John Becker as backup.
Jacobs was charged with DWI, driving while suspended, failure to surrender a suspended license–and operating a vehicle with an illegal muffler.
April 10
Just past midnight, P.O. Derek Hemphill responded to the report of a suspicious individual in a motor vehicle at Maple St. and Bergen Ave. Hemphill stopped the car and found that the driver, Gerardo Guerra, 42, of Passaic, had a suspended license, police said. Guerrawas charged with that MV offense.
• Do you know what a “stink sack” is? No? Congratulations.
You are probably an upstanding citizen.
A “stink sack” is large bag filled with air fresheners and other heavily scented, or smelly, items, used to disguise the odor of marijuana, commonly in a motor vehicle. One such sack was found in a white Mitsubishi P.O. Brian Wisely saw speeding and being driven erratically on the Belleville Pike at 9:30 p.m., police said. When the officer pulled the auto over at Rutherford Place, the blotter report noted, it nearly mounted the sidewalk and from the open window came the scent of burnt marijuana. In plain view in the car, Wisely reportedly found “numerous partially smoked marijuana cigars and cigarettes.”
Dowie said the officer also found: 94 empty ziplock bags, a 95th containing suspected pot, a digital scale, a large bag containing what appeared to be the innards of hollowed-out cigars, several cigar wrappers, two marijuana grinders, and a “stink sack.” Additionally, the ashtray contained 23 partially smoked “roaches,” police said
The driver, a 17-year-old Kearny juvenile, was charged with drug possession, DUI, possession of paraphernalia, possession of a CDS in a motor vehicle, careless driving and driving with a suspended license.
April 11
P.O. Chris Medina, on patrol at Bergen and Schuyler Aves. at 3:30 a.m., found himself behind a red Ford Explorer lacking license plates. After stopping the vehicle, he reportedly saw an open bottle of beer on the seat. The driver, after field sobriety tests and an Alco test, was charged with: DWI, failure to signal a turn, operating an unregistered and uninsured vehicle, careless driving, having an unsealed alcoholic beverage in an MV, operating an MV with an obstructed view, failure to produce registration, failure to make repairs to the vehicle and having no license plates. The motorist was identified as Eric Terry, 35, of Jersey City.
• At 11 p.m., Medina, P.O. Mike Santucci and Sgt. Charles Smith responded to the Maple St. parking lot behind the Provident Bank, where four individuals were engaged in a “freestyle battle.” (Perhaps they could not get tickets to WrestleMania.) The combatants were checked for warrants, and one, Brandon Tice, 18, of Kearny was found to be wanted by Kearny, police said. He was lodged at HQ pending bail.
— Karen Zautyk
