On Jan. 22 at 6:05 p.m., Det. Jordenson Jean was working a security post at ShopRite when two store employees reported to him a man had just left the store with stolen merchandise concealed under his jacket. Det. Jean caught up to the man in the parking lot and learned by this time he had allegedly pilfered at least a package of cheese. The suspect, later identified as Robert Sanchez Jr., of Newark, ran when Det. Jean tried to stop him.
Det. Jean caught Sanchez on the other side of the parking lot and ordered him to drop the cheese. Sanchez chucked the cheese, but when Det. Jean pulled out his handcuffs, Sanchez allegedly said he didn’t want to be arrested and again ran. Det. Jean again chased Sanchez for only a storefront’s distance and caught him.
Det. Jean arrested and handcuffed Sanchez finding eleven more packages of Galbani Mozzarella cheese under his jacket. Sanchez was charged with shoplifting $71.88 of cheese and for resisting arrest. Sanchez was wanted by Newark Municipal Court on an arrest warrant for a prior theft of service charge carrying a $6,000/10% bail. He was later lodged in the Hudson County Jail in South Kearny.
On Jan. 21 at 2:48 p.m., Officers John Donovan and Danny Maganinho were dispatched to a hit-and-run car crash near 297 Kearny Ave. A 62-year-old Kearny woman told police she had opened her driver’s side door to exit her parked Subaru when the door was stuck by a passing blue Hyundai, which then left the scene. The complainant showed officers a photo of the departed Hyundai.
The officers found the blue Hyundai in a commercial parking lot a few hundred yards down the road. Driver Jaime M. Gutierrezelvay, 49, of Kearny, was allegedly asleep in the driver’s seat with an opened, 24 ounce tall boy of Budweiser next to him in the center console. Just below and outside of the driver’s door, Officer Donovan saw a black plastic bag containing several empty 24 ounce Budweiser cans. When Officer Donovan awoke the driver, Gutierrezelvay opened the driver’s door, retrieved the bag of empty tall boys and put them inside the car.
Officer Donovan got more than he bargained for when he invited Gutierrezelvay to step out of the car to perform field-sobriety tests: a brown stain on the back of his pants of presumed excremental origin. The officers arrested Gutierrezelvay after he could not pass field-sobriety tests.
Gutierrezelvay was charged with DWI, DWI in a school zone, unlicensed driving, reckless driving, refusal to submit to breath testing, open container of alcohol in a vehicle, leaving the scene of an accident and failure to report an accident. He was later released to a responsible party.
Dennis A. Quintovargas, 38, of Union City, the owner of the Hyundai driven by Gutierrezelvay, was charged via summons with allowing an impaired person to drive and allowing an unlicensed person to drive.
On Jan. 22, Det. Kyle Plaugic arrested Kathia A. Mansillafernandez, 26, of Elizabeth, after she turned herself in at police headquarters. Mansillafernandez was charged with filing false reports to law enforcement and later released with a summons.
It was alleged on Dec. 6 at 3:15 a.m., Mansillafernandez called police to the intersection of Belgrove Drive and Wilkinson Terrace and reported her 2005 Volkswagen Toureg as stolen. Officer Paul Duran took a police report; however, minutes later, the “stolen” SUV was located crashed into a parked car and a utility pole, and abandoned near 20 South Midland Ave.
Det. Kyle Plaugic took over the investigation. After reviewing area surveillance footage and conducting interviews, the detective developed cause to believe that Mansillafernandez crashed her own car on South Midland Avenue and then fled the scene in a friend’s vehicle that had been following her. Minutes later, after having been dropped off on Belgrove Drive, Mansillafernandez filed a stolen vehicle report with Officer Duran.
Officer Duran, who also investigated the car crash, issued to Mansillafernandez three traffic summonses: careless driving, leaving the scene of an accident and failure to report an accident.
On Jan. 23 at 1:31 a.m., Officers Bryan San Martin and Taylor Latka responded to a private home on a report of a domestic violence incident. The officers learned a couple had returned home after a social night out and an argument had erupted.
Officers arrested a 34-year-old Kearny man on allegations he slapped his girlfriend’s face, punched her abdomen and injured her finger and neck in an assault. The man was charged by summons with simple assault and later released from the police station.
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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.