A call from a concerned citizen about a suspicious individual led to the early -morning arrest Aug. 18 of a Kearny man on multiple charges, Kearny police reported.
The caller notified headquarters at 5:20 a.m. that a man was possibly breaking into vehicles in the area of Chestnut St. and Oakwood Ave. Officer Ben Wuelfing saw and detained the suspect, Andrew Worth, 22, at Midland Ave. and Beech St., and also saw a clear plastic bag containing suspected marijuana protruding from Worth’s backpack, police said.
After arresting him on the drug charge, Wuelfing searched the pack. Police said it was found to contain: a Garmin GPS, a Magellan GPS, a Verizon cell phone, sunglasses, a digital camera, a wristwatch, a new padlock still in its packaging, a silver ring, two iPods, a Bank of America Visa card and more than $300 in loose change and currency.
Sgt. Paul Bershefski, who had responded to the original call and checked parked vehicles, located an owner who said his car had been entered and some of the items were his, police reported.
Worth was charged with receiving stolen property, credit card theft and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
Other recent reports from the KPD blotter included the following:
Aug. 15
At 10 p.m., a call came in from Quick Chek reporting that a shoplifter had just fled the store. Officer Glenn Reed got a description and direction of flight, and Officer Wuelfing spotted the suspect on Chestnut St. Jose Rodriguez, 40, of Newark — allegedly in possession of 27 packs of gum and four cans of Red Bull — was brought back to the store, identified and arrested. Police Chief John Dowie said this marked the 15th time since 2009 that Rodriguez was arrested by the KPD for shoplifting or on warrants for same.
Aug. 16
Officer Daniel Esteves, responding to a 6:20 p.m. accident on the Passaic River bridge in South Kearny, found that an SUV operated by Jackeline Garcia, 31, of Elizabeth had rearended an auto. He also found that a 2-year-old boy in Garcia’s vehicle was not in a proper car restraint, and that she had a suspended license and a warrant out of Fairfield, police said. She was charged on those violations and also with careless driving and failure to exhibit vehicle documents.
Aug. 18
At Kearny and Midland Aves. at 7:45 p.m., Officer John Fabula spotted a man whom he knew to be the subject of a Kearny warrant for terroristic threats stemming from a domestic dispute. After this was confirmed, Hector Reyesvendrell, 32, of Newark was arrested and brought to headquarters.
Aug. 19
Following an investigation, Det. Michael Gonzalez arrested Carlos Flores, 39, of Newark in connection with the theft of a purse from an 82-year-old Kearny woman at ShopRite on Aug. 7. Police said Flores had also used the woman’s credit card in Newark. He was charged with credit-card theft and theft of property lost or mislaid. The purse and its contents were recovered and returned to the victim.
Aug. 20
Det. Gonzalez and Lt. Tim Wagner, on assignment in the area of Walmart at 3 p.m., saw a Honda with a broken windshield and missing vent window enter and leave the store lot. Stopping it on Harrison Ave. for the vehicle violations, they reportedly detected a strong odor of raw marijuana and saw drug paraphernalia in plain view.
Police said the driver, Christian Rosa, 21, of Harrison, admitted to pot possession and produced from the console two digital scales and a container with four large plastic bags of the drug. He also consented to a search of a backpack that reportedly held four more bags of the suspected drug, six packs of glassine bags, a marijuana grinder, a box of 80 sandwich bags, a bag with pot residue, and 43 rounds of 9 mm. blank ammunition.
Rosa’s car was impounded and he was taken to HQ, where the marijuana was weighed and found to amount to 56.3 grams, police said. He was charged with possession of the drug and paraphernalia, possession of more than 50 grams, possession with intent to distribute, driving with a suspended license, operating a MV while in possession of a CDS and operating a MV with a cracked windshield.
Officer Peter Blair was on Pulaski Skyway traffic duty at 5 p.m. when he spotted a 2008 Audi with no front license plate. Checking the vehicle on his mobile computer, he found that the registered owner had a suspended license and a Cranford warrant, police said. Carlos Gonzalez, 30, of Belleville was charged on the aforementioned offenses and with failure to surrender a suspended license.
At 9:40 p.m., Officers Brian Wisely and Tom Sumowski responded to a noise complaint at Davis and Wilson Aves. and arrived to find two men “screaming at each other” on the street. As the officers tried to separate them, Juan Ramirez, 18, of Kearny reportedly hit the other man, a 39-year-old township resident.
Ramirez was arrested for simple assault.
Aug. 21
Officer Wisely, on patrol on the 500 block of Devon St. at 3 p.m., observed 19-year-old Fabian Arroyo of Kearny, who he knew was wanted on a $10,000- bail burglary warrant from Kearny. This was confirmed and Arroyo was arrested.
Aug. 22
Officer John Travelino, on Pulaski Skyway traffic detail at 8 a.m., saw an individual walking near the now-abandoned Skyway Diner while apparently rolling a marijuana cigarette. Police said after the officer’s olfactory senses confirmed his suspicions, he recovered a joint and a small baggie of pot and arrested Angel Cotto- Reyes, 30, of Newark for possession of the drug and paraphernalia
– Karen Zautyk
