At 7:30 a.m., May 2, Kearny police headquarters received a call about a suspicious individual, wearing gloves and possibly trying to enter vehicles on Chestnut St. between Quincy Ave. and Liberty St. Officer T.J. Hernandez and Chief John Dowie responded to the scene and reported seeing a man, wearing rubber gloves, alight from the passenger side of a parked Dodge van and begin to walk quickly north on Chestnut.
Dowie said he confronted the individual, asked whose vehicle the suspect had just exited and received the response, “Not mine.” Police said a parked Jeep had also been entered. The owners were contacted and both said they had not given permission to the suspect — Joseph Burnett, 38, of Willingboro – to be in their vehicles, police reported.
It was later learned that Burnett had been arrested overnight by N.J. State Police for possession of a stolen vehicle and subsequently been seen in the vicinity of the Harrison PATH station, Dowie said.
When apprehended in Kearny, Burnett was allegedly in possession of a backpack containing a laptop computer. Harrison police were contacted regarding any overnight car burglaries, but at that point none had been reported.
Burnett was booked at KPD headquarters on two vehicle burglary charges and was released. But then, Dowie said, Harrison police called back and said they had just received a report of a backpack, computer and GPS having been stolen from a vehicle in that town.
Sgt. Paul Bershefski located the briefly free Burnett near Passaic and Linden Aves., reportedly still in possession of the backpack and computer. Harrison officers brought the theft victim to the scene to identify the items, and Burnett was turned over to HPD custody.
“In a span of six hours, he was locked up by three different police agencies,” Dowie noted.
Other recent reports from the KPD blotter included the following:
May 2
At 7:30 p.m., Officer Chris Levchak saw a man driving on Davis Ave. near King St. while talking on a cell phone. During the motor vehicle stop, police said, Ruben Maldonado, 32, of Harrison was found to have a suspended license and outstanding warrants from Linden and Carlstadt. He was booked on the warrants and issued summonses for driving while suspended and the cell phone violation.
May 3
Officer Chris Medina and Det. Ray Lopez responded to a 10 p.m. report of the theft of a cell phone from a female juvenile at Bergen and Davis Aves. After obtaining a description of the suspect, his apparent street name and his direction of flight, they tracked Jamal Coote, 27, of Kearny to his home, police said. Allegedly in plain view in the apartment was the missing phone. Coote was charged with theft.
May 6
The weekly attempt to shoplift television sets from Walmart was reported at noon. This time, Officer Vanessa Sevillano responded and arrested Rasean White, 35, of Newark, who store security said had tried to steal two TVs. Booked at HQ on the shoplifting charge, he was reportedly found to have warrants from Newark and Irvington. He was held on $2,800 bail: $800 on the warrants, and $2,000 by the Kearny Municipal Court.
Officer Sean Kelly was sent to a Kearny Ave. business at 2 p.m. on the report of theft by an employee who had allegedly taken several thousand dollars from a company account. After obtaining documentation, police said, he arrested 37-year-old Anne Gaedt of Kearny on a charge of theft by unlawful taking.
May 7
Officer John Fabula, on patrol at 3:15 p.m., saw Sulaiman Adelkan, 31, of Orange, urinating on Harrison Ave. near Greenfield Ave., police said. Adelkan might have gotten away with a summons, but the officer learned that the man had warrants out of Newark and Hillside, police said. Adelkan was arrested, and those jurisdictions were notified.
–Karen Zautyk
