A man who shouldn’t have been cavorting around a South Kearny PSE&G substation finds himself on the wrong side the law after he allegedly broke into the off-limits property and stole a series of items, the Kearny Police Department said.
According to Det. Sgt. Mike Gontarczuk:
On Oct. 17, shortly before 4 a.m., Officer Taylor Latka was patrolling South Kearny when he observed a man exiting one of PSE&G’s substation buildings on fenced-in property, which are off limits to the public.
The building is technically no longer in use; however, it sits upon the in-use PSE&G property, all of which is fenced in and closely guarded with security.
These buildings and property are of utmost importance in terms of infrastructure, and property is surrounded by barbed wire and security gates. The old decommissioned building is a common burglary target as it contains materials like copper, etc., to steal.
Multiple burglaries have recently occurred in the area.
After a brief investigation, it was determined a burglary had taken place. Darryl Berger, 58, was arrested and charged with burglary as well as possession of burglar’s tools. In his possession were: a Makita branded reciprocal saw with battery and blade; a headlamp; a flashlight; a flanging light; a flanging light; a 5/8th socket screwdriver; a folding multi tool; one pair of gloves.
Presently, a warrant complaint has been approved and Berger will be transferred to the Hudson County Jail, South Kearny.
KPD: Two events thought to be unrelated actually were
Sometimes things aren’t what they seem and that’s certainly the case with these next few incidents.
In mid-May, two seemingly unrelated reports were filed in Kearny. But it turns out they were actually part of a lengthy crime spree spanning multiple jurisdictions.
In one, a work van was burglarized, with a perp stealing thousands in tools.
In another, a Hyundai Elantra was stolen.
Det. Kevin Matos, ultimately, was assigned these cases. Upon obtaining and reviewing camera footage, Matos learned the stolen Hyundai was used in conjunction with the work van burglary as well as several other crimes in various jurisdictions, including Lyndhurst and Rutherford.
Burglaries resulted in five-figure losses.
The Hyundai was eventually recovered.
Detectives discovered and extracted latent fingerprints from the interior. Additionally, after obtaining the necessary court orders, a cell phone tower area search was conducted, querying the multiple locations and towns in which crimes occurred.
After identifying the identifiers of those cellular devices which were present at the locations and times of the crimes, and comparing this to fingerprint evidence results, further grand jury subpoenas were issued.
Ultimately, all three suspects involved were identified. Additionally, a “follow” vehicle involved in the crimes was identified and further corroborated the identities of the actions. The suspects were also found to have had involvement in other unrelated burglaries and crimes spanning multiple states and jurisdictions.
Warrants were issued for Rahim J. Wilson, 35, of Newark; Nathan Hall, 33, of Newark; and Zykire E. Wray, 18, of Newark. In Kearny, each were charged with burglary, theft, conspiracy, and theft of a motor vehicle.
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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.