A serial porch pirate is now behind bars at the Bergen County Jail thanks to the quick thinking of a Lyndhurst crossing guard and the chief of police.
According to Det. Lt. Vincent Auteri, the Lyndhurst Police Department’s public-information officer:
On Wednesday, Jan. 24, at approximately 2:54 p.m., a school crossing guard reported observing a man later identified as Jaquiece Smith, 35, Garfield, remove a package from the front porch of a local residence.
The crossing guard contacted police headquarters by radio to report the incident. Chief Richard L. Jarvis Jr. was in the area and when he tried to approach the suspect, he took off running and discarded the packages.
Responding officers set up a perimeter within the immediate area. During the search, Det. Michael Giangeruso located the suspect hiding in a commercial dumpster attempting to conceal himself under the rubbish.
Det. Giangeruso placed Smith under arrest and subsequently charged him with theft and obstruction. Several hours later, another Lyndhurst resident reported the theft of a package from his front steps. Det. Chris Cuneo was able to gather information during his investigation that linked Smith to this theft, too, and so he was charged with an additional count of theft.
Smith was later remanded to the Bergen County Jail, 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.