A 45-year-old Kearny man was cooling his heels in the Hudson County Jail last week after he was nabbed for allegedly burglarizing a Chestnut St. home the afternoon of Sept. 10. Police said he had gained entry by pushing in a window air conditioner.
It was at 3:20 p.m. when KPD Detectives Mike Gonzalez, Ray Lopez and Steve Podolski, along with Sgt. Peter Gleason and Officer Chris Levchak responded to the report of a break-in on the 500 block of Chestnut. The residents said that prescription medications and $800 in cash had been taken.
During a canvass of the area, Gleason found that the burglar had apparently discarded some of the meds under the Chestnut St. bridge at Columbia Ave.
Further investigation led the detectives to develop a suspect, identified as Kearnyite Frank Fletcher, who was arrested within the hour on Shepard Place. When found, police said, he was in possession of $800 in cash.
Fletcher was charged with burglary and theft and remanded to the jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.
Other recent reports from the KPD blotter included the following:
Sept. 5
At 10 a.m., Sgt. Michael Cardella and Officer Ben Wuelfing responded to the 700 block of Kearny Ave. on reports of an intoxicated man urinating in public. The suspect was located near Bennett Ave. and when police attempted to interview him, he reportedly became disorderly and profane. The suspect was checked for warrants and turned out to be wanted by Kearny and Newark, police said.
Arrested on those warrants and on charges of disorderly conduct, public urination, public intoxication, and littering (discarding a bag containing an open bottle of vodka) was Raymond Jurczyk, 56, of Kearny.
The Vice Unit was conducting surveillance in the area of Maple St. and Quincy Ave. at 8:30 p.m. when they witnessed an apparent drug transaction take place in a parked vehicle. Approaching on foot, they saw one of the occupants apparently getting ready to ingest marijuana. Reportedly recovered from the car were a bag of pot and nine glassine folders of suspected heroin, stamped Black Diamond and Unforgiven.
The driver, George Eager, 25, of Kearny, was charged with possession of heroin, marijuana and drug paraphernalia and possession of CDS in a motor vehicle. The passenger, Hector Roldan, 23, of Kearny, was charged with possession of heroin and paraphernalia.
Sept. 6
Police converged on Marshall’s on Passaic Ave. at 10:30 a.m. after store personnel reported that a shoplifter had threatened them with a pair of scissors. Det. Gonzalez spotted a man fitting the suspect’s description fleeing on foot on Passaic, and apparently attempting to disguise himself by turning his jacket inside out.
Gonzalez ordered him to the ground, but the man began screaming and reached for his waistband, police said. Officer Adriano Marques had arrived as backup, and the two restrained and searched the man, who was reportedly found to have the scissors stuck in the waistband. Store employees were brought to the scene and identified the suspect, police said.
Arrested on charges of robbery, possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose was Robert Cook, 64, of Newark. Police said Cook also had outstanding warrants from Newark, Elizabeth, Hillside, East Orange and Irvington.
At 2:30 p.m., Officer Malinda Esposito and Detectives Gonzalez and Bryant Obie responded to Walmart where two individuals had attempted to steal a TV. Arrested on charges of shoplifting and conspiracy were Dianne Pierce, 49, of Brooklyn, and Keith West, 53, of Jersey City.
Sept. 7
Officer Rich Pawlowski, responding to a 7 p.m. report of a possible auto B&E in progress on the 200 block of Maple St., obtained the suspect’s description and broadcast a BOLO to other units. Det. Scott Traynor, searching the area, detained 40-year-old Daniel Schrier of Kearny for questioning. Police said they did not conclusively link Schrier to the B&E, but he did turn out to be wanted and was arrested on an outstanding theft warrant out of Newark.
At 7:40 p.m., Officer Peter Jahera responded to an accident involving a car and a pickup truck at Kearny and Quincy Aves. Jahera reportedly detected the odor of alcohol on the driver of the car, who police said was also unsteady and stumbling. After field sobriety tests and an Alcotest at headquarters, Francisco Mauricio, 63, of Kearny, was charged with DWI and reckless driving.
Sept. 8
A 16-year-old Kearny girl reported that she was walking on Stuyvesant Ave. at 9 p.m. when someone pushed her from behind, knocked her to the ground and tried, unsuccessfully, to take her iPhone. The would-be robber, described only as dressed all in black, then ran west on Stuyvesant. Responding Officer Joseph Vulcano summoned North Arlington EMS to treat the victim, who sustained a leg injury. Det. Traynor is conducting the follow-up investigation.
Sept. 9
Det. Gonzalez was at Kearny Ave. and Rose St. at 3 p.m. when he saw a motorist not wearing a seatbelt.
He stopped the car and reportedly found that the driver, Victor Fernandez, 30, of Kearny, had a suspended license. Fernandez was issued summonses for that and the seatbelt violation and for operating an unregistered vehicle. His car was impounded.
Sgt. Gleason was on patrol at Midland Ave. and Forest St. at 6 p.m. when he was flagged down by a local landlord who reported having just surprised a female juvenile occupying a vacant apartment in his building. The girl had fled, but in a search of the area, P.O. Levchak found her sitting on the front steps of a Davis Ave. home.
Levchak brought her to HQ, where police learned she was a runaway from Manhattan, who had been reported missing the previous night. The NYPD provided Kearny police with the contact information, and the girl’s father was contacted to come and take her into his custody.
At 9:30 p.m., pursuant to an ongoing drug-distribution investigation, members of the Vice Unit Unit approached three individuals near Washington School, when one broke from the group and ran south on Belgrove Drive. After a foot pursuit, he was overtaken by a detective at Passaic Ave. Edward Hernandez, 20, of Newark was charged with obstructing the administration of law.
Police said a second member of the trio, Jorge Martinez, 27, of Kearny, who was the target of the original investigation, was arrested for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, manufacturing or distributing a CDS and doing so in proximity of a school/park.
In a search of Martinez’ residence, police reportedly recovered a number of bags of suspected pot — a total of 52 grams — along with a digital scale.
Sept. 10
Back on Aug. 23, someone had thrown a brick through a window at the Rite Aid pharmacy on Kearny Ave. KPD officers canvassed the area and developed a suspect, and at 10 a.m. this date, arrested Anthony DaSilva, 21, of Kearny, at his home on a charge of criminal mischief.
At 2 p.m., Det. Gonzalez and Det. John Plaugic were in Newark on an unrelated investigation when they observed a Kearny man engage in an apparent drug transaction. The officers followed his car back to Kearny, stopped it at Johnston and Grant Aves., and reportedly recovered 13 bags of suspected heroin, stamped Home Run. Ernesto Rosabal, 46, was charged with possession of the drug and paraphernalia.
Vice was conducting surveillance at Schuyler and Harrison Aves. at 10:30 p.m. and witnessed an apparent drug transaction. A Harrison resident, Lawrence Anders, 22, was charged with possession of pot, of paraphernalia and unlawful possession of a prescription drug, alprazolam.
– Karen Zautyk
