On Nov. 21 at 7:30 a.m., Officers Travis Witt and John Donovan arrested a 29-year-old Kearny man who turned himself in at police headquarters to answer for an arrest warrant. The warrant resulted from a Nov. 5 incident in which the defendant’s ex-girlfriend told police he passed by her home and saw a work van in the driveway. The defendant reportedly became upset in his belief that this van was the chariot of a competing beau, so he climbed through his ex-girlfriend’s window to confront her.
Sadly, when the defendant entered the apartment, he allegedly punched his ex-girlfriend several times about the head, threw her down on the bed where he struck her some more and then held her on the bed for some time with his hand over her mouth and nose obstructing her breathing. Eventually, the defendant fled the apartment on foot.
The outstanding warrant charged the defendant with burglary, criminal mischief, aggravated assault, simple assault and criminal restraint. The man was held at the Hudson County jail.
On Nov. 19 at 8:54 p.m., Officer Cort Montanino and several other patrol officers were dispatched to a fight in the street near 145 Brighton Ave. Initial reports to police dispatch told of 30 to 40 people involved and two felled combatants lying possibly injured in the street.
The officers did not find such a scene upon their arrival. A witness told the cops some people ran down the street and others fled into a nearby house. The officers raised a resident of that house who reported something to the effect that she was having a party when a group of invitees who had noticed a fight the in the street ran outside for a ringside view.
The woman, Rashell N. Paulino, 18, of Kearny, reportedly was initially uncooperative in identifying herself and then later allegedly told the officers a false identity. She was charged by summons with hindering apprehension and maintaining a nuisance, but released at the scene.
Officer Lawrence Latka and Sgt. Ben Wuelfing canvassed the area to search for anyone injured from the completed fight. They tried to stop three males who were fleeing the area – one of whom was injured – but the males allegedly disregarded their orders to stop. The officers caught up to them, and they reportedly resisted arrest before being taken into custody.
The three were later identified as Kearny boys aged 17, 16 and 16.
They were later charged under juvenile delinquency with obstructing the administration of law and resisting arrest and were all later leased to guardians.
On Nov. 20 at 8:50 a.m., Officers Ryan Brady, Damian Kolodziej, Mat Lopez and Sean King were dispatched to Walmart for a shoplifting. Loss prevention associates told officers a woman fled the store and entered a Honda when they confronted her on suspicion of shoplifting. Officer Lopez quickly found and pulled over the fleeing vehicle on Bergen Avenue.
In the vehicle was Susana Valle-Espinosa, 61, of Jersey City. Store associates accused Valle-Espinosa of concealing $712.21 of apparel, footwear and groceries in her own bags and then carrying them out of the store without paying. The stolen merchandise was also in the vehicle.
Officers arrested Valle-Espinosa. She was charged by summons with shoplifting and later released.
On Nov. 20 at 6:14 p.m., Officers Angel Martinez was dispatched to a residential apartment for a 911 hang-up. En route the officer was updated that a dispatcher believed it might be a domestic violence incident.
A 39-year-old tenant told the officer that her 21-year-old daughter, who has not lived with her for two years, forced her way into her apartment against her mother’s resistance. A struggle then ensued in which the daughter allegedly threw a vase at her mother, scratched her mother’s chest, and cut her finger.
Officer Martinez arrested the daughter. She was charged with burglary, aggravated assault, weapon possession offenses, criminal mischief, and simple assault, and held at the county jail.
On Nov. 21 at 10:08 a.m., Officer John Fearon responded to a report of a robbery of a store on the 800 block of Kearny Avenue. While driving to the scene, Officer Fearon saw a man fitting the robber’s description walking south on Kearny Avenue a few blocks from the scene. Officer Fearon confronted this man, later identified as Tyler R. Martin, 26, of Newark.
Martin allegedly refused the officer’s demands to remove his hands from his pockets as well as to stop walking. Martin then took off running whereafter Officer Fearon chased him down and arrested him at Kearny and Laurel avenues.
Officers learned that while buying lottery tickets, Martin allegedly jumped over the store’s counter, took the cash register drawer containing approximately $550, and then pushed a store clerk to the floor while fleeing. Officers recovered the cash drawer on a Morgan Place sidewalk.
After further investigation, Martin was charged with robbery and obstructing the administration of law. He was also wanted on a Hillside arrest warrant. Martin was remanded to the Hudson County jail.
On Nov. 23, Det. Jordenson Jean was assisting investigators from the T.J. Maxx/Marshalls National Task Force in prosecuting habitual offenders to the Kearny Marshalls store on Passaic Avenue. While on this detail, investigators informed Det. Jean a man had just concealed merchandise in a backpack and a large black suitcase that had been for sale and then fled the store without paying.
Det. Jean confronted the suspect inside the convenience store of the Exxon station at 22 Passaic Ave. He was later identified as Daniel E. Martha-Veras, 27, of Newark. The suitcase was near Martha-Veras.
Assisted by Officers Mat Lopez and Damian Kolodziej, Det. Jean had to overcome Martha-Veras’s alleged resistance to take him under arrest. Officers recovered $1,192.61 of stolen merchandise subsequent to the arrest.
Martha-Veras was charged by summons with shoplifting and resisting arrest. He was also wanted on two no-bail warrants by the City of Newark (both for obstructing). Martha-Veras was later turned over to Newark police.
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Capt. Timothy Wagner | Kearny Police Department
Capt. Timothy Wagner is the Kearny Police Department's public-information officer and the commander of the department's Internal Affairs Unit. He contributes the KPD Blotter weekly and writes it completely.