KEARNY —
Last week’s Kearny police blotter began with a report about a woman who allegedly used her 13-year-old niece to try to shoplift an electronics item from Walmart. Today, we lead with anotherWalmart incident, this one involving a man who reportedly fled with a stolen RCA tablet — andleft his 9-year-old son behind.
At 2:30 p.m., June 2, Lt. John Taylor and Officer Richard Poplaski responded to the store, wheresecurity had confronted the man while he and the child were exiting the store. Police said thesuspect, later identified as Gary Felton, 53, of Newark, fled the premises — without the boy — jumped into a black Cadillac and drove away. [Note: Unlike last week’s incident, in this case thechild was not implicated in the alleged crime.]
Police
His new charges in Kearny are shoplifting, and abandonment of a child.
Felton’s son was brought, separately from his father, to KPD headquarters, where the boy wasinterviewed by representatives from the N.J. Child Protection agency and turned over to aresponsible adult.
Daddy was turned over to the Hudson County Jail.
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Other recent reports from the Kearny police blotter included the following:
June 1
At 2 a.m., in South Kearny, Officers Michael Gontarczuk and Jason Rodrigues stopped a 2000Honda for a tail-light violation, detected the odor of a certain drug and observed a hand-rolledmarijuana cigar in the passenger-side door, police said. While retrieving the stogie, theyreportedly also found: a digital scale, a grinder, a “large quantity of plastic bags and rubberbands indicative of packaging (the drug) for sale” and a glass jar of pot. Driver Maykell Ramos,28, of Jersey City, was arrested for possession of a CDS and drug paraphernalia and possessionwith intent to distribute. He also got summonses for possession of a CDS in a MV and for thelighting violation.
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Another MV violation — driver not wearing a seat belt — resulted in another pot bust, this oneat 3:30 p.m. near Maple and Halstead Sts., where Det. Michael Andrews pulled over a 2002 Fordfrom which reportedly wafted guess what.
Police said Henry Rodriguez, 37, of Kearny, turned over one bag of suspected pot and wascharged with possession of it and paraphernalia, plus not wearing a seat belt.
June 6
At 11 a.m., Det. Sgt. Michael Gonzalez and Dets. John Fabula and Daniel Esteves were in the areaof Belgrove Drive and Woodland Ave. when they spotted, and recognized, Jose Rodriguez, 40, ofNewark, who was wearing a reflective traffic vest and apparently trying to hide his face behindan umbrella.
Police said they watched him walk onto Rose St. and then return to Belgrove — sans umbrella. While he was perambulating, they conducted a warrant check and reportedly found that he hadtwo from Harrison, $250 each, one for trespass, one drug-related, and a $500 drug-related onefrom Kearny.
When the detectives approached to arrest him, police said he claimed he had just got out of workbut was unable to say where he worked. They said he was also found to now be in possession ofan Apple iPhone and a Craftsman cordless drill.
The officers checked parked cars along Rose St. and found a 2013 Mazda, its interior “in disarray,with the glove compartment contents strewn about.” Also inside was an open umbrella. Theylocated the vehicle’s owner, who reportedly confirmed that an iPhone and cordless drill weremissing and noted that she had never seen that umbrella before.
Rodriguez was remanded to the county jail on the warrants and two new charges: burglary andtheft.
June 7
At 4 a.m., at Forest St. and Stewart Ave., Officer David Bush stopped a 2016 Toyota with anobstructed view. Bush himself, however, had an unobstructed view of driver Adam Ahedo, 24, ofKearny, who police said was “stuffing objects into his mouth and chewing frantically.”
Confronted, Ahedo reportedly admitted he was trying to swallow marijuana.
Police said he was advised to cease and desist and to expel the contents of his mouth, which hedid, permitting Bush to recover the glop [not an official legal term] as evidence [barf]. Alsoreportedly recovered, from the floorboard, was a hand-rolled marijuana cigar. Ahedo wascharged with possession of pot/paraphernalia, possession of a CDS in a MV and tampering withphysical evidence.
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At 1 p.m., Sgt. Brian Wisely observed Shawn Neal, 18, of Newark, walking north on Maple St.near Liberty St. apparently smoking a hand-rolled cigar, which he discarded when the officerapproached. Wisely recovered it, and Neal was charged with possession of pot andparaphernalia.
June 8
Det. Sgt. Gonzalez and Officer Steve Hroncich, in an unmarked car at the Belleville Pike andMorgan Place at 12:30 p.m., observed Corrine Kirchner, 29, of Union, verified that she hadmultiple warrants and arrested her on same: Totowa, contempt of court, $2,500 (full); Newark,$250 (full); and Union, $500, $500 and $1,000 (all full). She was booked at HQ and the variousjurisdictions were notified she was in custody.
— Karen Zautyk
