HUDSON COUNTY INVESTIGATOR CHARGED IN AUTO DEATH

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, May 12, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Edition: All Editions | NEWS | Page A05

An investigator for the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office was charged Saturday with causing death by auto and driving while intoxicated. A passenger in his car died after the vehicle struck a traffic light, then a tree.
Hudson County Prosecutor Paul M. DePascale immediately suspended William Heaney, the 30-year-old investigator.
The front-seat passenger, Gregory Blicharz, 29, of Bayonne, died about 4:45 a.m. Saturday at Bayonne Hospital during treatment for a head injury. DePascale said in a news release announcing Heaney’s suspension that the medical examiner would determine the exact cause of death. It was unknown Saturday when an autopsy would be performed.
Shortly after 3 a.m. Saturday, Heaney’s car left the roadway at Kennedy Boulevard and North Street, police said. They said it struck and knocked over a traffic light, then came to rest against a tree.
Bayonne police administered a Breathalyzer test to Heaney, who lives in Jersey City, and determined that his blood-alcohol level was above the level at which a person is presumed to be too intoxicated to drive, DePascale said in the release. Policy dictates that any case involving a member of the prosecutor’s staff be referred to the state Attorney General’s Office, which DePascale said he would do Monday.

Keywords: HUDSON COUNTY; MOTOR VEHICLE; DEATH; VICTIM; ACCIDENT; ALCOHOL; ABUSE; ATTORNEY; WILLIAM HEANEY; GREGORY BLICHARZ

FORMER RIDGEWOOD MAN IS SLAIN IN VERMONT; VICTIM OF FRIEND’S EX-LOVER

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, May 12, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A03

A 26-year-old former Ridgewood resident who moved to Vermont because of his love of skiing and the outdoors was hunted down and killed by the ex-boyfriend of a woman with whom he was friendly, authorities said Saturday.
Jonathan D. Herz, a graduate of Ramapo High School in Franklin Lakes, was shot in the head before dawn Thursday outside his house in Johnson, Vt., said Lamoille County Deputy Sheriff Jeff Parry.
Herz was an unlucky bystander in Randy Manosh and Muriel McMahon’s troubled relationship. Authorities said Manosh also killed McMahon’s roommate, Nancy Lowe, who was shot in the head with a .22-caliber revolver while she slept. Manosh later committed suicide, they said.
Parry declined to comment on the relationship between Herz and McMahon, 30.
Authorities gave the following account:
Manosh, 32, went looking for McMahon about 1 a.m. at her Morrisville, Vt., residence and, not finding her, killed Lowe. Upon learning McMahon was with a friend in Johnson, Manosh hitchhiked there.
Manosh tracked McMahon to Herz’s residence, a camp at the end of a logging road, surrounded by pastures and maple trees. In a house filled with family photos and outdoor gear, Herz was killed with a single shot to the head about 1:30 a.m. Manosh dragged the landscaper’s body to the back yard, where he killed Herz’s dog, and then went after his ex-girlfriend, police said.
McMahon ran screaming through the woods to the nearest mobile home and summoned help. Parry said that while officers were interviewing McMahon, Manosh sneaked behind the mobile home and shot her through the kitchen window. He then fatally shot himself.
Manosh, the son of a prominent Vermont developer and nephew of Lamoille County Sheriff Gardner Manosh, had an extensive arrest record, including his fourth for drunken driving the week before the shootings.
McMahon, who was in critical condition from a head wound, had lived with Manosh as recently as November.
Surviving Herz are his father, Peter; his mother, Anne Bean Herz; and two brothers, Mark and Peter.
A family friend reached in Vermont said of Herz, “He was a wonderful boy. He was warm. He was full of life, a good friend, and good helpmate. He was all the things that you want your son to grow up to be. “

Keywords: RIDGEWOOD; MURDER; VERMONT; SHOOTING; JONATHAN D. HERZ

Notes: Bergen page

FASTER FINGERPRINTS FOILING FELONS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, May 11, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS Page A01

Christopher Villone was in a Bergen County Jail cell on burglary charges one day in late March when investigators walked in and told him he was being charged with four more counts of burglary.
The state’s year-old Automated Fingerprint Identification System had analyzed prints found at a burglary scene in River Edge and identified Villone as a suspect. He was subsequently tied to three other break-ins.
Without the automated system, it’s unlikely that Villone, a 19-year-old Bergenfield resident, could have been tied to the additional burglaries, police said.
Until recently, police in North Jersey could not take full advantage of the computer because they had to travel to Trenton to use it.
But last month, the system was installed at the state police barracks in Totowa. Officials are looking forward to the benefits it will bring.
The computer has 1 million fingerprints in its memory and can identify suspects within 23 minutes.
Since its installation in May 1990, it has identified suspects in more than 360 cases, including 28 homicides, state police Sgt. Phil Boots said.
But before the system came to the Totowa barracks April 23, only five of those identifications were for Bergen County crimes. Other North Jersey law enforcement agencies fared little better, Boots said.
Before computerization, a detective who took fingerprints from a crime scene had to compare them with file cards containing fingerprints of known suspects, Boots said.
It would take 167 years to do what the computer does each time it is presented with a print from a crime scene.

Keywords: NEW JERSEY; POLICE; COMPUTER; TECHNOLOGY; CRIME

Caption: COLOR PHOTO – Linda DeVries operating computerized fingerprint system.

SUSPECT SOUGHT IN TWO ATTEMPTED ABDUCTIONS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, May 10, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B03

Police in the borough and Hasbrouck Heights are searching for a suspect in the attempted abductions of a Lodi teenager a month ago and of a Rutherford teen on Sunday.
Although descriptions of vehicles used in the incidents are different, descriptions of the suspects are so similar police believe the same man was responsible for both, Rutherford Police Lt. Steven Nienstedt said.
The Hasbrouck Heights incident happened about 2 p.m., April 2, at the intersection of Boulevard and Baldwin avenues, said Hasbrouck Heights Detective Bill Castiglione. The victim, a 16-year-old Lodi girl, reported that a man approached her as she walked along Boulevard Avenue. The man then had “sexual contact” with the girl and tried to abduct her, Castiglione said.
The suspect was described as a 25- to 35-year-old Hispanic male, driving a black, midsize car, possibly with four doors.
Rutherford police said a man fitting that description grabbed a 17-year-old borough girl by the arms on Orient Way at Winslow Place about 9:40 p.m. Sunday. The suspect, said to be about 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighing about 120 pounds, with dark complexion and short brown hair, spoke Spanish to the girl before grabbing her. He then fled in a “newer-model” pickup truck. The truck had a white cap with windows and a dark-color stripe on the side.
A second suspect was seen standing near the truck during the Rutherford incident, Nienstedt said. Anyone with information on either incident should call Rutherford police at 939-6000, or Hasbrouck Heights police at 288-1000.

Keywords: RUTHERFORD; HASBROUCK HEIGHTS; CHILD; KIDNAPPING; PROBE; POLICE

Caption: DRAWING – Police composite.

FATAL FIRE SEVERS THE TIES THAT BIND

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, May 10, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Edition: Four Star B | NEWS | Page B01

Two weeks ago, Bill and Joan Metz’s next-door neighbors and two couples from across the street brought them a cake to celebrate both their birthdays.
Despite Bill’s protests about making a fuss, they had a good time reminiscing about when their children were young, and looking at wedding photographs of the Metzes oldest daughter.
Early Thursday, the neighbors watched helplessly as Bill, 60, and Joan, 59, perished in a fire that destroyed their house at 96 Columbus Road, Demarest.
“I will never forget the sight of those flames shooting up at midnight last night,” Randi Dalaker of 90 Columbus Road said Thursday. Dalaker and her husband, Tore, had been neighbors of the Metzes for 31 years. “Our worst fears came true that they were in the house. “
Demarest Police Chief James Powderley, on routine patrol with one of his officers, reported the fire about 12:15 a.m. Thursday. Fire Chief Gerald Smithson said the house appeared to have been burning for an hour when Demarest volunteer firefighters, assisted by firefighters from Closter and Haworth, arrived.
Investigators are labeling it an accidental fire, said Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy, but he added that an investigation is continuing. Preliminary indications were that the fire started in the kitchen on the first floor, he said.
The Metzes were found dead in the second-floor bathroom, off the master bedroom. They died of smoke inhalation, Fahy said.
The two-story house in a neighborhood of neatly kept single-family homes was roped off Thursday; a police car was parked in front. Motorists stopped and talked to an officer about the fire.
Bill Metz had been a mechanic with the Otis Elevator Co. in New York City since 1950, and Joan was a former nurse at Demarest’s Northern Valley High School who still substituted there periodically.
Randi Dalaker, a month younger than Joan Metz, said that with the Metzes four children two sons and two daughters grown and departed, the neighbors savored the time they spent together.
“When the children were younger, we were constantly eating at each other’s house,” she said. “We belong to the same church, the Methodist Church, with the Greenwalds and the Garrans. Our children grew up together. We celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, picnics, Christmas; we did church activities together. “
Gary Garran of 91 Columbus Road said the neighbors often had parties, with each family trying to outdo the others.
“It was a family tie rather than neighbors, so it was quite a shock,” Garran said. “If we could relive that and put it in a movie or something, it would be a thing for the whole world to see, that this is how neighbors should live. “

Keywords: DEMAREST; HOUSING; FIRE; DEATH; FAMILY

THREATS LAID TO STUDENTS; 4 NABBED IN BCC BOMB SCARE CASES

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, May 9, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B03

Four Bergen Community College students, including one who wanted to avoid an ethics exam, have been charged with telephoning bomb threats to the school in two incidents last month, police said Wednesday.
The arrests were the first since the school was hit by a series of bomb threats and false fire alarms beginning last fall, said college Executive Vice President Virginia Laughlin.
Detective Edward Sorace of the Bergen County Police Department said six bomb threats and numerous false fire alarms have been called in to the school since the beginning of the year.
Sorace on Monday arrested Mark Morrell, 22, of North Arlington and charged him with making a false public alarm when he called the school switchboard about 3 p.m. April 26 to report the presence of two bombs.
Renee Roddi, 20, of Kearny, Morrell’s girlfriend at the time he allegedly made the call, also was arrested and charged with conspiring to make the call. Morrell made the call so Roddi could avoid an ethics-course examination that day, police said.
Sorace also arrested Nancy Incorvaia of Wayne at work in Parsippany-Troy Hills on April 29. Police said Incorvaia, 19, called the school’s public-safety office about 11:30 a.m. April 23 to report a bomb at the school.
Lucy Rocco, 21, also of Wayne and charged with conspiracy in that case, wanted to avoid a business-math class and asked Incorvaia to call in the bomb threat, police said.
Sorace declined to say how police discovered which students made the calls, but said he expects to make more arrests. If convicted, the students each released on $2,500 bail would face up to 18 months in jail and fines up to $7,500.
Laughlin said the school was considering disciplinary action against the students, but she declined to elaborate.

Keywords: BC; COLLEGE; BOMB; STUDENT

PRESS COVERAGE OF DEAD TEEN ASSAILED

By Laura Impellizzeri and Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writers | Sunday, May 5, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A06

Fair Lawn residents said Saturday that autopsy results showing that alcohol played no role in the death of a local 15-year-old at a New Year’s Eve party also indicate that her family and the party hosts were treated unfairly by the press and the justice system.
They agreed, however, that teenage drinking is a dangerous problem and should not be ignored by parents or prosecutors.
Autopsy results released Friday show that Coleen Draney, captain of Fair Lawn High School’s junior varsity soccer team, died of heart failure while attending a party given by a classmate, Susan Gennat.
Susan’s mother, Gisela Gennat, was ordered in March to pay a $1,000 fine, perform 25 days of community service, and write an essay on “Why One Should Not Serve Alcohol to Minors,” which was published in The Record on Friday. Gennat declined to comment Saturday.
Fair Lawn Prosecutor Ira Levine said Gennat was prosecuted because alcohol was made available to minors, not because of Draney’s death. Fair Lawn police initially suspected that Draney died of an alcohol overdose after drinking and consuming “Jell-O shots” gelatin laced with vodka.
Margaret Wilde, a neighbor of both families, said: “The media . . . crucified the Gennats. That same thing that happened to the Gennats and the Draneys could have happened to anyone who has teenage kids. “
“It’s unfortunate they had to be in the spotlight for no reason,” agreed another neighbor, who would not give her name.
Prosecutor John J. Fahy said: “It’s the media that made that portrayal, not my office. We didn’t have the toxicological report, and I know I was very careful not to say what the cause of death was. “
Draney’s father, Robert, criticized the release of the autopsy report, but would not elaborate. He, too, complained about press coverage, which he said “crucified” his daughter.
Jerome Weiner, president of the Fair Lawn Board of Education, said: “I certainly hope that it’s a lesson, whether it’s a teenager or adult, what might happen when you are not careful. I would really hate to think that students would have the perception that it was OK [to drink] since it [Draney’s death] has not been related to drinking. “

Keywords: FAIR LAWN; ALCOHOL; ABUSE; YOUTH; FAMILY; DEATH; VICTIM; HEALTH; FINE

DRUG DEALER RIVALRY HELPS COPS TIP LEADS TO ARREST OF 2 MEN

Byline: By Michael O. Allen and John Cichowski, Record Staff Writers | Monday, April 29, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A03

When Harry Kittrell returned from New York City early Saturday allegedly with a stash of cocaine and crack vials a convoy of police were waiting for him and a companion as their car crossed the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey.
Police said Kittrell is the latest reputed narcotics dealer to be turned in by rivals in a growing pattern of double-crosses that have become common in local drug traffic wars.
“There’s no better way to eliminate your competition than call the cops and `rat them out,” reasoned one narcotics detective.
“It happens all the time,” said Fort Lee Police Chief John Orso. “One dealer cheats another out of a couple of thousand dollars, so he waits for the day he can turn him in. “
Hackensack police believe the anonymous call they received at 1 a.m. Saturday came from a rival of Kittrell’s. The caller told them the make and model of the car he would be driving, and the time he was expected back from the city with drugs.
About 15 unmarked police cars, including state troopers and Port Authority police, kept the 23-year-old Hackensack man under surveillance after his car entered Fort Lee and drove to Lodi, said Port Authority Police Officer Peter Heller and Hackensack police Capt. John Aletta.
As the car left one jurisdiction and entered another along Routes 80 and 17, various police departments took up the surveillance, said police. They finally pulled Kittrell’s car over in a parking lot off Essex Street in Lodi, said Heller.
Police said Kittrell, of 185 Pine St., Hackensack, and James Johnson, 28, address unknown, had chunks of rock cocaine hidden in a plastic sandwich bag and a supply ofcrack vials. They were charged with drug possession, possession with intent to distribute, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Kittrell was being held in lieu of $15,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail. He had been out on bail from a November arrest for possession of heroin in Hackensack. Johnson was being held in lieu of $7,500 bail.
Police said Johnson, whom police described as Kittrell’s accomplice, declined to respond at first when he was read his rights. But a few moments later, police said, he began spitting rock cocaine out of his mouth.
Law enforcement authorities said it is becoming more common for drug dealers to inform police about their competitors.
“Nobody announces to police that he’s a rival drug dealer, but the type of information you’re getting generally can only come from a few kinds of sources, and one of them is a competitor,” said Passaic County Prosecutor Ronald S. Fava. “Usually, it’s some kind of grievance that prompts the call, like a turf war or a money dispute.”
An urban narcotics officer, who asked not to be identified, said competitors and spurned lovers often are the best sources for drug information.
“Sometimes a competitor will ask the ex-girlfriend about the route, then he’ll call police with the information,” said the narcotics officer. “It’s the least violent way to kill off the competition.”

Keywords: POLICE; DRUG

100-MPH CHASE, DRUG ARRESTS REPORTED BY PARKWAY POLICE

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, April 28, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A04

Two men were arrested on drug charges and a third led police on a 100-mph chase in three unrelated incidents on the Palisades Interstate Parkway, parkway police said.
In the first incident, police saw motorcyclist Charles Cherry, 25, of Manhattan traveling at a high rate of speed in Englewood Cliffs about 4:30 p.m. Thursday, said parkway Police Chief Vincent Arfuso, who gave this account of the incidents:
After a five-mile chase at speeds reaching 100 mph, Officer Vincent Cammarata stopped Cherry in Alpine. Cherry was issued several traffic summonses, including one for reckless driving, and released on $4,000 bail.
In the second incident, Officer James Paul stopped a car near Tenafly for a broken headlight about 1:50 a.m. Friday. A passenger, Juan Rodriguez Jr., 37, of Newburgh, N.Y., was charged with possession of about an ounce of cocaine and four small packets of marijuana. He was being held in Bergen County Jail on $11,000 bail.
The driver was issued traffic summonses and released.
Ariel Torres, 31, of the Bronx, was arrested about 2:50 a.m. on a charge of illegal possession of a weapon and drugs.
Officer Charles Jones stopped Torres northbound car in Alpine because of broken taillights. When Torres was unable to produce a valid license, Jones ordered him out of the car. Inside the auto, the officer found a loaded, 20-shot 9mm automatic pistol, 10 packets of heroin, and a small amount of cocaine and marijuana.

Keywords: DRUG; POLICE; ROAD; MOTOR VEHICLE; ALPINE; ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS; TENAFLY

CHILD DROWNS IN RAIN PUDDLE MOTHER FINDS HIM ATOP COVERED POOL

Byline: By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, April 28, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A03

A 2 1/2-year-old boy drowned Saturday in a puddle of rainwater atop a covered swimming pool in the back yard of his Pine Street home, police said.
Emanual Balseiro was pronounced dead at 11:35 a.m., 50 minutes after paramedics took him to Hackensack Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Police Capt. John Aletta said the drowning was an accident.
Officers Jeff Simone and Ernie Wilczewski, the first to arrive shortly after a 10:14 a.m. call to police, applied mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and other measures, but were unable to revive the boy, Aletta said. Paramedics took over from the officers.
Detective Sgt. Walter Krakowski said the drowning occurred as the family went about a routine that is normal for a Saturday morning in spring: children playing around the house as their parents did yard work.
Salvador Balseiro, the boy’s 63-year-old grandfather, who is visiting with his wife from Valencia, Spain, confirmed that was what happened.
With Myrna Ubides, a cousin of Lucy Balseiro, the boy’s mother, interpreting, the grandfather said: “They were all working around the house when they noticed the kid was missing. He was always around his mother. They thought the boy was upstairs with his sister.”
They started looking around the house when they didn’t find Emanual upstairs, Salvador Balseiro said. That was when the boy’s mother discovered her son.
“The next you heard was the mother screaming,” Krakowski said. “The father jumped into the pool and pulled the baby out.”
The child’s father, Ed Balseiro, and mother were with the family pastor Saturday afternoon, Ubides said. The couple have two other children, Rosio, 11, and Eduardo, 8.

Keywords: CHILD; ACCIDENT; SWIMMING; DEATH; VICTIM; HACKENSACK