A man who contacted the KPD because he wanted to report a theft turned out to be wanted himself, police said. But at least he was (partially) honest about it.
On Saturday, April 20, Officer Vanessa Sevillano responded to a Belleville Pike location at noon to take a theft report from a 30-yearold Irvington resident, Moustapha Kamara. Apparently, some money that was left in his brother’s truck had been stolen while the vehicle was parked in an industrial area near the Wittpen Bridge.
In the course of the officer’s interviewing Kamara, he was good enough to tell Sevillano that his driver’s license was suspended because he had not gone to court, Police Chief John Dowie said.
Sevillano then confirmed that Kamara had apparently forgotten to go to court in Irvington, East Orange and Newark and that there was also an outstanding no-bail criminal warrant against him from the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, Dowie said.
Kamara was placed under arrest, taken to headquarters for booking and turned over to Essex County authorities.
Other recent reports from the Kearny blotter included, but were not limited to, the following:
April 20
At 1 p.m., Officers Brian Wisely, Chris Levchak and Malinda Esposito and Det. Bryant Obie responded to the area of Midland Ave. and Argyle Place on a report of some youths openly smoking marijuana.
Wisely interviewed a 15-year-old Kearny male who admitted to possessing the drug and was found to have two hand-rolled marijuana cigars and a plastic bag of suspected pot, police said. Levchak reportedly recovered four bags of suspected marijuana from the bookbag of a 16-year-old from Newark, and Esposito found that a 14-year-old Kearny girl was in possession of yet another bag of marijuana, police said.
Obie reportedly found that a fourth youth, a 16-year-old from Kearny, was carrying a short sword in his backpack. That teen was placed under arrest for weapons possession while the other three were charged with drug and paraphernalia offenses.
All four were transported to HQ for processing and turned over to their parents/ guardians.
At 4:15 p.m., P.O. Wisely, on patrol in the 100 block of Schuyler Ave., observed 28-year-old Kearny resident Freddy Thomas, who he was aware had outstanding warrants from both Union City and Jersey City, police said. Upon verifying that those were still active, Wisely arrested him and took him to HQ for processing and bail.
April 21
P.O. Wisely was on patrol in a secluded area of Tappan St. at 9 p.m. when he observed some juveniles behind an abandoned building and stopped to inquire as to why they were in the area. Police said they gave conflicting answers and seemed nervous. When asked directly about the possibility of drug use, a 17-year-old turned over some marijuana and a 16-year-old turned over a marijuana grinder, police said. The two, both from Harrison, were charged, respectively, with possession of a CDS and possession of paraphernalia. After being processed at HQ , they were released to parental custody.
April 22
Just after 1 a.m., Officer Derek Hemphill, responding to the 200 block of Maple St. on a report of a hit-and-run, found that a parked Chevy Blazer had been struck by what a witness described as a Toyota SUV, which reportedly fled the scene south on Maple against the flow of traffic (Maple being one-way northbound).
Hemphill searched the area and located a Toyota SUV, with a man slumped over the wheel, at Windsor St. and Bergen Ave. Damage to the Toyota, police said, was consistent with the damage to the Blazer.
After waking the driver, detecting a strong odor of alcohol and removing him from the vehicle, Hemphill determined that the man was too intoxicated for field sobriety testing, police said. He was taken to HQ , where he was given an Alcotest. Arrested was 32-year-old Kearny resident David Rodriguez, who was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, DWI and being an unlicensed driver.
Shortly after 7:30 p.m., Vice Unit officers on Maple St. reportedly caught a 29-yearold Harrison man in the act of selling cocaine to a 46-yearold Kearny resident. Police said the alleged dealer, who was driving a BMW, had his 9-year-old son in the vehicle with him.
Police said they seized 10 bags of cocaine, as well as $200 cash, and the BMW was impounded. The child was turned over to his mother after the father’s arrest.
The father was being held on $75,000 bail on charges of possession of cocaine, possession of CDS paraphernalia, distribution of cocaine and distribution in a school zone and a park zone.
The alleged customer was charged with possession of cocaine and paraphernalia and was released on a summons.
April 24
At 2:40 p.m., Officer John Fabula responded to a two-car accident on Rts. 1&9 in South Kearny and arrived to find that one vehicle, a Mercury Cougar, had been abandoned in the roadway and that the driver left the area on foot. He was located and brought back to the scene and identified as 21-year-old Jersey City resident Dwight Robinson, who was found to be wanted on a warrant out of Jersey City, police said. He was also charged with driving without a license, leaving the scene of an accident, failure to wear a seatbelt and having no insurance card in his possession.
Police said that, when questioned about why he had left the accident scene, Robinson explained, “I didn’t think I had to report it because it was a self-inflicted accident.”
– Karen Zautyk
