A Nutley resident told police on May 21 that they received a call from a man who identified himself as a New Jersey State Trooper and he was requesting the victim send him money due to a $5,000 IRS balance, Nutley police reported.
The victim says he was instructed to buy prepaid debit cards and provide the debit-card information to the trooper. The victim purchased five “Green Dot Gold” debit cards, totaling $2,400, and provided the caller the five card numbers and verification numbers.
Officers were able to contact customer service and spoke with a representative who was able to issue five refund checks (one for each card) to the victim, and officers advised them to call headquarters immediately should they receive additional phone calls from the same man. Additionally, they were cautioned to keep an eye on their bank accounts.
Editor’s note: Are there really people who still fall for this Green Dot Credit Card scams after the countless reports of these scams?
Meanwhile, between May 16 and May 21, Nutley police responded to 18 motor-vehicle crashes, 43 medical calls and 25 disputes/suspicious incidents, including:
May 15
A motor-vehicle stop on Franlin Ave. resulted in the arrests of both occupants on CDS-possession charges. Passenger Joseph Kaplan, 34, of Lyndhurst, was found to have an outstanding warrant out of Jersey City, and was additionally charged in Nutley with possession of heroin and oxycodone and was issued a summons for failure to wear a seatbelt. He was processed and released after he posted bail for the Jersey City warrant
The driver, Jayson DiCosta, 38, of Verona, was charged with possession of heroin and oxycodone in a motor vehicle, failure to wear a seatbelt and improper display of license plates. He was printed, processed and advised of his mandatory court date before being released on his own recognizance.
May 17
Headquarters received a walk-in report regarding a cell phone account opened up in the victim’s name and social security number in the amount of $949. Officers advised the victim of their right to register with the Identity Theft Victim program, which they did, and also advised them to contact their banks and credit card companies of the incident.
May 18
A motor-vehicle stop on Park Ave. resulted in the arrest of Raul Gonzalez, 25, of Newark, on an outstanding warrant with the Essex County Sheriff’s Office.
Nutley additionally charged Gonzalez with possession of CDS under 50 grams, possession of drug paraphernalia and hindering apprehension (for giving false information on his identity).
He was processed, advised of a court date and released on his own recognizance on the Nutley charges, but was placed into custody awaiting transfer to the Essex County Sheriff’s Office.
A motor vehicle stop for an unregistered vehicle, in the area of Washington Ave., resulted in the arrest of Gary Ferrie, 37, of Belleville, on an outstanding warrant out of North Arlington. He was transported to headquarters without incident. A search incident to his arrest yielded a controlled-dangerous substance for which Ferrie was charged with possession of CDS. He was printed and processed and released on his own recognizance. North Arlington police were notified of the outstanding warrant and responded to Nutley Headquarters to assume custody of Ferrie.
May 19
A motor-vehicle stop on Park Ave. resulted in the arrest of Jaeho Sim, 44, of Fort Lee, on outstanding warrants: two from Little Ferry, and one out of Fort Lee.
Nutley police issued two motor vehicle summonses for unsafe lane change, and driving while suspended, which were assigned a mandatory court date. The Little Ferry Police Department was advised of the arrest and released Sim on his own recognizance. Fort Lee police were contacted and responded to Nutley Headquarters to take custody of
Headquarters received a walk in report of a possible identity-theft incident. The victim told police they found a package at their doorstep that they did not order it. The order invoice contained all of their address information as well as their correct cell phone number. This concerned the victim because of another incident three weeks ago about fraudulent charges to their credit card. Information supplied to officers regarding the package indicated none of the information used to purchase the items belonged to the victim. It does not appear that the victim’s identity was stolen.
May 20
A motor vehicle stop on Centre St. resulted in the arrest of Warren Jackson, 48, of Montclair, on an outstanding warrant out of Montclair. The Montclair Police Department was contacted and released Jackson on his own recognizance and advised him of his new court date. He was issued a summons from Nutley for driving while his driver’s license suspended and advised of him of a mandatory court date.
A stop of a suspicious person on Park Ave. resulted in the arrest of Erroll K. Scott, 45, of Newark. He was charged with obstruction, given a copy of his summons and released.
A Franklin Ave. store owner came to headquarters to report that someone removed several bright orange Gerber daisies from their property. The total value of the items was approximately $30.
A victim responded to Headquarters and reported 12 transactions and a large sum of money missing from their bank account. The history recorded $3,362.28 in transactions that the victim did not make. All of the transactions occurred in Brooklyn. The financial institution advised the victim to file a police report so that they could pursue the theft.
A local business reported a theft from their store and described the suspect as a black man in his early 20s, with a black shirt and dark colored clothing, carrying a blue plastic bag and backpack. Officers located a person matching that description on Passaic Ave.
Tyrone Ellison Jr, 28, of Newton, fled from police but was apprehended off Maple Place, where he was placed under arrest and subsequently charged with shoplifting and obstruction before being released with his court date.
The proceeds from the shoplifting were five Enfamil baby formula powder containers totaling $139.95, which were located in Memorial Park by the brook. The proceeds were returned to the store and a receipt of the items was provided by the store manager.
May 21
Dispatchers directed officers to the area of Washington Ave. on a suspicious person. The suspect was interviewed and, after some time, admitted to giving false information to officers. Troy Chatman, 52, of Newark, was found to have two outstanding warrants from Newark and Linden. Additionally, he was wanted on a parole violation out of San Diego, Calif.
He was placed under arrest and transported to headquarters without incident.
Chatman was released on his own recognizance by the Linden Municipal Court with a new court date, and also released on his own recognizance with a new Newark court date. The sergeant contacted the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office and advised them of the arrest. They stated that they will not be responding to assume custody of Chatman, as there is no extradition outside of California.
Nutley charged Chatman with hindering apprehension and released him on his own recognizance after advising him of his court date and giving him copies of all of his pertinent paperwork.
Learn more about the writer ...
Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.