A Delaware man got lost in Kearny last week — and no, this is not the beginning of a Biden joke.
At around 11 p.m., Sept. 29, Kearny units responded to report of a suspicious person who reportedly entered a property on Dukes Street which is foreclosed upon. Neighbors say they heard loud bangs which led to them checking on the property and encountering the man.
Officers cleared the foreclosed upon home and Officer Anthony Oliveira found the man — Sharief J. Andrews, 39, of Wilmington, Delaware — who had reportedly entered it, matching the exact description provided by neighbors.
When questioned by police, Andrews provided evasive answers that did not make sense. A warrant check also revealed he was an NCIC wanted person out of the Burlington County Sheriff’s Office (South Jersey) for fraud, a wanted person out of Cinnaminson Township for theft and a wanted person by Pennsauken Court ($1,500.)
He was arrested and a search incident to arrest yielded checks, a flashlight, key chains containing multiple sets of house keys and a vehicle key. It was not known whether those items were his or stolen. He also reportedly claimed he “found” the Honda key on a sidewalk, so he took it.
Questioned why he was in Kearny at night, the man told cops he is the owner and operator of a financial literacy business for children, but also claimed he was lost in Kearny after a prostitute had taken him here.
Cinnaminson Township took custody of the man later on the outstanding warrant. KPD is investigating whether the man committed any crimes here.
On Sept. 27, at around 7:30 p.m., officers responded to the Target store after loss prevention had detained two alleged shoplifters. Both were employing an under-ringing technique at the self-checkout, LP said, and hten they attempted to exit store with a load of items which were not paid for.
Tamir R. Webb, 25, of Newark and Lauretta A. Valerie 24, of East Orange, were arrested, processed on shoplifting summonses and released pending court.
At around half 8 the night of Sept. 27, KPD units were dispatched to the Walmart store, where staff were dealing with juvenile shoplifters who refused to leave. The rule of thumb, generally, is that alleged juvenile shoplifters are bounced and banned but not arrested. This case, however, was a bit different.
Walmart staff said they simply wished to retrieve the shoplifted merchandise; however, the juveniles didn’t even want to do that and were uncooperative and physically resisted. The same juveniles then began throwing and damaging the merchandise, including some food products, to spite Walmart for having the audacity to catch them breaking the law.
They later jumped into a vehicle as officers were arriving.
When Officer Mat Lopez detained the juveniles in the vehicle, they began to yell and threaten him.
One of the juveniles exited the vehicle and assaulted officer Lopez, though the incident didn’t cause Lopez any injury.
The girl was arrested and charged with juvenile delinquency, aggravated assault on a law-enforcement officer and obstructing the administration of law. And after all that, she was released into the custody of a family member later on. And, yet still, Walmart declined to prosecute the other juveniles, but simply banned them from returning to the store.
On Sept. 30 at around 11 p.m., Officer Matthew Knighton was patrolling South Kearny, near Lincoln Highway, when he observed a vehicle driving on a completely flat tire. He initiated a motor-vehicle stop and his in-car computer showed the driver to have suspended registration and a warrant for the registered owner. Jacob J. Bamba, 23, of Newark, was arrested on a $750 traffic warrant out of Union Township and was charged also with driving on a suspended registration.
Union released him on his own recognizance and provided a new court date. The unregistered vehicle, with the flat tire, however, was impounded.
At around 2 a.m., Oct. 1, Kearny units were called to check on a resident on Kearny Avenue who was believed to have died in an apartment. While officers were in that apartment building attempting to make contact with the unit in question, and awaiting the arrival of an entry tool, Ulises Rebozo, 50, of Kearny and his friend, both of whom were intoxicated, approached Officer Tom Collins, Danny Maganinho and Capt. Timothy Wagner and began to yell and scream at them.
They continued to yell at the police, causing other residents to wake up and exit their apartments
As officers attempted to calm the drunkards, Rebozo became aggressive and threatened to “punch the f%^*king s#$t out of you” the officers.
He was arrested and charged with obstruction the admin of law and was later released on a summons. After he calmed down, he was given a ride home.
Unfortunately there was, indeed, a man found dead inside the apartment. He apparently had been deceased for some time and foul play was not noted.
At 8 p.m., Oct. 3, officers responded to the Target store on a shoplifting call. Loss prevention found a woman on camera, Juliana Polanco-Cruz, 18, of North Arlington, possessing a 99¢ tag which she was scanning each time she feigned she was scanning an actual item for sale.
Ultimately, she under-rang $715.63 worth of merchandise.
She was arrested and charged with shoplifting, after which she was released with a court date.
On Oct. 3, Sgt. Ryan Stickno and Officer Kevin Carvalho were dispatched to a report of a woman in possession of a firearm near Bergen Avenue. Upon investigation, police say they learned Daria L. Wilkes, 49, Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania, had a Glock 43X with hollow point rounds, unsecured, in her vehicle. She reported she had forgotten to remove the firearm from the car when traveling from Pennsylvania to Jersey.
She was arrested, charged with unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon in prohibited spaces and prohibited possession of weapons and devices (hollow-point bullets) and released with a court date.
While conducting an unrelated investigation, and extracting video footage from LA Fitness’s servers, Detective Jonathan Dowie was alerted by staff of an altercation happening in the lobby at around 4 p.m., Oct. 4. He encountered a fight and advised nearby units to respond to his location.
Sgt. Jay Ward and Officers Pedro Pina and Ryan Carlos responded and upon investigation, it was determined a theft victim used the Find my iPhone app to find track her phone, then began calling it when she was near its location.
As she called her phone, she observed Jose M. Torres, 28, of Newark, holding it while it rang. The theft victims followed Torres, who decided to enter LA Fitness and hide from them. This led to the confrontation and ultimately the fight.
The iPhone theft victims were uncooperative with police; however, Torres admitted to stealing the phone and was thusly arrested for and charged with theft. He was also found to have two Kearny warrants and a Hudson County Sheriff’s warrant outstanding for his arrest and as such, he was remanded to the Hudson County Jail afterward.
At around 5:30 p.m., Officers Ellesse Ogando and Brad Salinas were dispatched to the VFW car park on Belgrove Drive on a report of a suspicious vehicle. There, officers found Suanne Paternio, 77, North Arlington, reportedly passed out in her running vehicle. Police says she reeked of alcohol and she said admitted to consuming a pint of vodka.
Unable to stand, she had glossy eyes, was slurring words and could not maintain eye contact, according to the officers at the scene and she refused to perform field-sobriety tests. And, as such, she was arrested based on observations and charged with drunken driving. At KPD HQ, she also reportedly refused to submit to a breath test. Her vehicle was then impounded before she was released into the custody of a friend, pending court.
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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.
