Two men who thought they were going to meet another man for a date on the app Grindr instead were met with fists and weapons, and were seriously beaten by three males — including one who is a juvenile — and all three suspects are now behind bars, the Kearny PD says.
The incidents happened on two separate days — July 16 and July 18 — near Garfield Avenue and Elm Street.
In the first case, the victim’s credit card was stolen, his car keys were thrown into a sewer grate and the victim was beaten by three males with a weapon. The victim was able to see the residence the actors ran into, however, and provided this information to the police.
In the second incident, the victim had arrived to meet up for a Grindr date. As he parked his vehicle, three men appeared and jumped into it. The actors immediately began striking the victim and yelling at him while taking his belongings, including a luxury bag, luxury wallet and the contents thereof and other items.
The victims suffered bruising, lacerations and cuts but their injuries were not life threatening.
Det. John Fabula utilized residential security camera footage, photo arrays with victims and electronic data investigation to identify the suspects involved. Running directly into their family residence after committing both crimes did not help the suspects in concealing their identities, either.
The suspects were identified as a 17-year-old Kearny boy, Luis G. Alonso, 32, of Kearny and Ramon Domenech, 40, of Kearny.
After probable cause had been developed to arrest the three involved suspects, Det. Fabula began typing up the complaints. But before he could finish, however, Det. Mike Andrews reportedly observed the juvenile walking on Elm Street. As Andrews approached him, the boy fled and a foot pursuit ensued.
Det. Andrews (as he always does) caught up to the perp and, with the assistance of Officer San Martin, was able to handcuff him. A search incident to arrest yielded at least 12 items which were proceeds from the robberies.
All three of the above individuals were charged for the first incident — robbery, burglary, conspiracy, aggravated assault, criminal restraint, two weapons charges. The investigation of the second incident is ongoing; however, Domenech has already been charged with robbery, burglary and conspiracy in that case.
Additional charges may be issued in the future.
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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.