When Kearny police stopped a pick-up truck on Passaic Ave. last week, they reportedly had reason to believe that it might be carrying illicit substances. Indeed it was, they said, along with the interesting array of skewers, shivs and shanks pictured here.
Vice detectives pulled over the 2000 Dodge near Webster Ave. shortly after 8 p.m., Tuesday, April 19. As they approached the vehicle, police said, they saw driver Colin Hogan, 29, of Rochelle Park, attempting to hide items in his pants. Said items allegedly turned out to be: eight glass vials of cocaine; 10 wax folds of heroin stamped “American Gangster”; one stamped “Quick Stop”; one, “Bentley,” and two no-names bearing the image of a thumbs-up fist.
The officers said the knives were protruding from between the seat and the center console, which held a hypodermic needle. Passenger Esmael Dasilva, 24, of Kearny, was charged with possession of the hypo; Hogan, with possession of the drugs, drug paraphernalia and unlawful possession of weapons.
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Other recent reports from the Kearny police blotter included the following:
April 15
At 1:30 p.m., Officer Ben Wuelfing responded to a report of an accident involving a FedEx truck and a 2001 Ford Econoline van at the Belleville Pike and Elm St. and arrived to find the Ford sitting on the sidewalk. Following field sobriety tests and an Alcotest at headquarters, van operator Richard Lubertowicz, 64, of Kearny, was charged with DWI and careless driving.
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At 2 p.m., Officer Jack Grimm observed a man walking in traffic near Passaic and Bergen Aves. and cautioned him to get on the sidewalk. Returning a few minutes later, Grimm saw the man again strolling in the street. Police said a warrant check revealed that the pedestrian, Leo Branham, 44, of Newark, had a $8,700 non-support warrant from the Essex County Sheriff’s Office. He was arrested, taken to HQ and held for the ECSO.
April 16
Shortly after midnight, Officer Michael Gontarczuk saw a Nissan Altima parked on Wilson Ave., east of Kearny Ave. — a vehicle he recognized as belonging to Antonio Oliveira, 36, of Kearny. Police said Oliveira had a restraining order prohibiting him from being at a certain Wilson Ave. location and had eluded arrest on a prior occasion. Gontarczuk and Officer Dave Bush found him at a nearby apartment and took him into custody on a Kearny contempt-of-court warrant. He was held at HQ pending transfer to the Hudson County Jail.
April 17
Officer Jon Dowie, on patrol at 2 a.m. on the 700 block of Kearny Ave., pulled over a 1999 Ford for a lighting violation. As he approached the car, he smelled the odor of raw marijuana and saw a “considerable amount” of pot scattered throughout the vehicle, police said. While retrieving the evidence, he also found a soft-drink can allegedly containing three ziplock bags of the drug, a glass pipe and a partially burnt marijuana cigarette. Driver Jesse Weir, 20, of Kearny, was charged with possession of pot and paraphernalia and possession of a CDS in a motor vehicle. Weir also got a summons for the lighting violation.
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Responding to a citizen’s complaint of drug use in the area, Officers Sean Wilson and John Donovan went to John Hay Ave. at 5:30 p.m. and spotted two Kearny males — Kevin Linares, 19, and Pedro Pintado, 21 — running toward a stack of pallets, police said. The officers reportedly detected the scent of burning pot and saw Linares drop suspected marijuana on the ground.
When the cops asked the two for ID, they were told it was in a 2000 Honda parked nearby. In that car, police said, were a marijuana grinder, an open pack of cigars and four cans of beer — one open, three not. Both suspects were arrested for possession of pot and paraphernalia. Pintado was also summonsed for having an open container of alcohol in a MV; Linares, for underage possession of alcohol.
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Sgt. Mike O’Neill and Officers Sean Podolski and Jason Rodrigues went to the 300 block of Chestnut St. at 8 p.m. on a report of an individual trying to kick in the door of a residence. On the front steps, police said, they found a “highly intoxicated and highly agitated” Alex Tobon, 39, of Kearny. He was arrested for criminal mischief (the door reportedly had been damaged) and on a $2,000 Jersey City warrant for disorderly conduct and was released after posting bail.
April 18
Officer Gontarczuk, on patrol at 3:30 a.m., reported a 1997 Nissan, with no lights on, parked in the middle of the intersection of Woodland Ave. and Chestnut St. Literally asleep at the wheel, with several open bottles of Corona beer in the passenger area, was Moses Urgiles, 23, of Kearny, police said. Gontarczuk reportedly had to shake him awake. Following FSTs, administered by back-up Officer Chris Medina, and an Alcotest at HQ, Urgiles was charged with DWI, DWI within 1,000 feet of a school and having an open container of alcohol in a MV. Also: parking illegally.
April 20
At about 10:30 p.m., Officer Chris Manolis stopped a Pennsylvania-registered 2004 Acura for failing to signal a turn at Bergen Ave. and Devon St. Police said driver Gabriel Caraballo, 29, of Mooresville, Pa., was found to have a suspended license and a non-suspended $750 motor-vehicle warrant out of Newark. He was charged on those and with failure to surrender a suspended license and failure to signal a turn. Caraballo subsequently posted bail.
April 21
At 7:30 p.m., at the Pike and Passaic Ave., Vice officers stopped a 2001 Jeep operated by Christopher Kennedy, 30, of North Arlington, whom they knew to have a suspended license. Police said the odor of burnt marijuana was wafting from the vehicle and in the center console were seen a glass pipe and an apparently recently smoked joint.
In a search incident to arrest, passenger Jason Daugherty, 38, of North Arlington, was reportedly found to have another glass pipe, a hypodermic needle, two wax folds stamped “Death Certificate” and one stamped “Notorious.”
Daugherty was charged with possession of heroin, pot, drug paraphernalia and the needle. Kennedy was charged with possession of pot and paraphernalia, driving with a suspended license and operating a MV while in possession of a CDS. Police said he also had a $650 traffic warrant from Tinton Falls, on which he posted bail.
— Karen Zautyk
