HOMEOWNER TRIES TO TRAP SURPRISED BURGLAR IN HOUSE

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, December 8, 1990

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

When a 50-year-old township woman came home from work Thursday to find a burglar ransacking her home, she was so angry that she wanted to fight with him and keep him there until help arrived, she said.

Bonita Burgess said she tried to lock the burglar inside the house as he attempted to get away through a glass storm door.

But “he kicked the door right in front of my face; I jumped back, and he was gone,” Burgess said. “It was the dumbest thing in the world to do, but I was angry. “

The burglar ransacked the home, stole a jewelry box containing assorted jewelry, $20 to $30 in loose change, and two briefcases containing business materials, Burgess said. She said she still has to draw up a list of missing items for police.

Patrolman Raymond Talarico, who came to her house, was responding to his second call on a home burglary in two hours. A burglar earlier had tripped an alarm in a Farragut Court home and fled without taking anything.

Burgess told police she thought her husband was home when she saw lights on as she approached her Belle Avenue home a little after 7 p.m. Thursday. She became suspicious when she didn’t see his car in front of the house.

She heard movement upstairs and called out to ask if anyone was home. The burglar answered and said his name was Michael Wilkenson and that he was a friend of her husband.

“I suppose I was just plain stupid, and I was somewhat shocked,” Burgess said. “I was well inside my own house and did not realize that the house had been broken into. . . . I proceeded to walk up the stairs. Then it dawned on me that he might have a gun.”

She said she screamed as she ran back downstairs but didn’t think anyone heard her.

The burglar also ran down the stairs and tried to escape through the front door. But after several unsuccessful attempts to open it, he ran toward the side door that Burgess was trying to lock from the outside.

The burglar struggled with Burgess over the door, then kicked it out and ran north on Belle Avenue, toward Laurelton Parkway.

MAN CRASHES CAR IN POLICE CHASE; CAUGHT IN KEARNY; JUVENILE ALSO HELD

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, December 7, 1990

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

A 19-year-old East Orange man and an unidentified juvenile were arrested Thursday after they crashed a stolen car, following a chase that began in the Lincoln Tunnel and ended in Kearny, police said.

Kasin Andre Williams, of 32 South Munn Ave., and the juvenile were charged with driving under the influence of an intoxicant, reckless endangerment, and eluding police, Port Authority Officer Rich Lofstrom said.

Williams also faces a charge of possession of stolen property, pending location of the owner of the car, which was stolen Wednesday in East Orange, police said.

The juvenile also was charged with possession and consumption of alcohol in a motor vehicle and was to be sent to the Hudson County Juvenile Detention Center in Secaucus, Lofstrom said. Williams was to be held in the Hudson County Jail in Jersey City on Thursday.

Lofstrom said he and Officer Raymond O’Brien began the chase when they spotted Wiliams weaving across lanes in the Lincoln Tunnel about 1 p.m. When Williams refused to pull over, they pursued him onto the New Jersey Turnpike.

A state police officer joined the chase, and alerted Kearny police when Williams got off the turnpike at Harrison Avenue. The chase ended when Williams crashed into a fence on Passaic Avenue, Lofstrom said.

Lofstrom said Williams told police he did not stop because he did not have a driver’s license and the car was stolen.

Caption: (Not in Three Star Passaic) PHOTO – WARREN GOLDBERG / SPECIAL TO THE RECORD – Kearny police examining the car driven by an East Orange man who told them he stole the vehicle.

FORT LEE HAS NIGHT OF WEAPON, DRUG ARRESTS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, December 7, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | One Star | NEWS | Page B03

Police on Wednesday night arrested eight people on drug charges in three separate incidents. Two others were arrested on weapons charges in a fourth incident, said Police Chief John Orso.

At 5:09 p.m., said Orso, Officer Roy Bortolus saw a car cut across three lanes as it traveled west on Route 4, near Bergen Boulevard.

When Bortolus stopped the vehicle, he found small amounts of cocaine and marijuana and $12,220 in cash, Orso said.

The driver, Danny Prince, 36, of Oklahoma City, and passengers Keith Prince, 32, and Steven Guest, 23, both of Jersey City, were charged with possession of drugs and of drug paraphernalia. Each was released on $1,000 bail.

Orso said Bortolus became suspicious when Danny Prince said the money was his life savings yet did not know the total amount, guessing it to be $10,000. “We confiscated that to find out where it came from,” the chief said.

The second arrest occurred at about 8:35 p.m. after Detective Gary Moleta, traveling west on Route 46 near the Plaza West shopping, saw a car weaving through traffic. Upon stopping the vehicle, Moleta found several bags containing a white powdery substance believed to heroin, Orso said.

Tywayne Williams and Arthur Hoffman, both 18 and of East Orange, were scheduled to be remanded in Bergen County Jail on Thursday. The two were charged with being under the influence of intoxicants. They were also charged with possession of drugs with intent to distribute.

At about 9:45 p.m., on Linwood Avenue, Officer Ken Porrino seized a 12-gauge shotgun from the back seat of a car driven by Thurston U. Allen, 25, of Rochester, N.Y.

Allen and his passenger, Martha Colas, 22, of Queens Village, N.Y., were arrested and charged with illegal possession of a weapon.

Orso said the pistol grip on the shotgun was illegal. The officer saw the weapon as he approached the car to check its registration, the police chief said.

At about 10:40 p.m., Officer Steve Choromanski stopped a car driven by Bruce Davis, 23, of Roanoke, Va., after watching the vehicle change lanes without signaling near the intersection of Routes 4 and 95, Orso said.

Choromanski seized drug paraphernalia, about $1,000 worth of crack, and $1,200 worth of marijuana from the car, Orso said. The officer then arrested Davis and his passengers, Bernice Crouse, 18, of Roanoke, and Robert Green, 20, of Martinsville, Va.

They were each charged with being in possession of cocaine, marijuana, and drug paraphernalia, and possession of drugs with intent to distribute.

MAN DIES AS JEEP HITS DISABLED TRUCK ON ROUTE 17

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Wednesday, December 5, 1990

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

A 20-year-old Fair Lawn man died early Tuesday morning after he was pinned between two tow trucks on Route 17, officials said.

Raymond A. Schotanes was between the two vehicles preparing to have his disabled tow truck hauled away when it was struck by a Jeep Cherokee about 11:50 p.m. Monday, said Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy.

Schotanes was pronounced dead at Hackensack Medical Center at 2:05 a.m. Tuesday, Fahy said.
The driver of the Cherokee, Scott Taub, 31, of Chestnut Ridge, N.Y., was listed in good condition at the medical center, a spokeswoman said.

Two other people were injured in the accident, which involved a fourth vehicle. William Prince, 48, of Jersey City was in fair condition at the medical center. David Kramer, 28, of Hackensack was treated and released.

Police were unable to say how the fourth vehicle became involved in the accident, or which vehicle Prince and Kramer were in.

Fahy said the Bergen County Fatal Accident Unit and the Hasbrouck Heights Police Department’s Traffic Bureau were investigating the cause of the accident, which occurred in the northbound lane of Route 17 across from the Holiday Inn.

PAIR MAY BE LINKED TO 23 BREAK-INS; CHARGED IN NOV. 17 THEFT

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, December 2, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A46

Two men arrested during a domestic dispute were charged with theft and burglary for one of 23 recent break-ins in the city and are suspected of being involved in the others, police said.

Walter Wiggins, 36, of 230 Central Ave., Hackensack, and Howard J. Hutchinson, 30, of Englewood were to be transferred from Englewood to the Bergen County Jail on Friday.

Englewood Police Capt. C. Kenneth Tinsley said the men were being charged with the Nov. 17 break-in of a garden apartment at 530 Broad Ave. Tinsley said items stolen from the apartment were recovered from the two.

Patrolmen Tim Torell and George Austin Jr. were responding to a call Thursday night about threats to Hutchinson’s sister, Georgia, 32, at 9-22 Rock Creek Terrace, Englewood, where they arrested Wiggins and Hutchinson, Tinsley said. A 9-inch kitchen knife was found imbedded in a wall where Wiggins had been jabbing it, he said.

Tinsley declined to say how police were able to connect the men with the burglary.

Wiggins was being held on $10,500 bail on charges of unlawful possession of a weapon, making terroristic threats, theft, and burglary. Hutchinson, being held on $5,000 bail, was charged with theft and burglary.

SHOCKED EDUCATORS DEAL WITH SEX CASE; POLICE INVESTIGATE ACCUSED PRINCIPAL

By Michael O. Allen and Thomas Moran, Record Staff Writers | Sunday, December 2, 1990

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

As Bergen County law-enforcement officials continued their investigation of an elementary school principal accused of molesting pupils, Elmwood Park educators began scheduling counseling sessions for children and meetings with parents.

“To say that we were shocked would be an understatement,” said Michael Schill, president of the school board. “Our first and foremost concern has been the children, and that will always be our concern.”

Victoria Williams, Elmwood Park’s superintendent of schools, called a Monday meeting with parents to begin answering questions arising from the arrest Friday of Samuel R. Bracigliano, principal of the Gilbert Avenue Elementary school for 10 years.

Authorities say the alleged victims three boys, two age 11 and one age 9 are students at the school.

Bracigliano, who prosecutors said is single and lives with his mother in Elmwood Park, was accused of touching the buttocks of one student and taking photographs of three boys in “provocative poses” in his school office.

Law-enforcement investigators will review with school officials whether photographs and videotapes seized at Bracigliano’s home are those of former and current students at the school.

John J. Fahy, the Bergen County prosecutor, said parents who have questions or suspicions should call the Bergen County Sex Crimes Unit at 646-3600.

Williams said that at Monday’s meeting, which will be at 7 p.m. she will attempt to reassure parents that everything possible is being done to help the children.

Also Monday, counseling services will be made available to students and parents during school days for as long as they are needed, Williams said.

“We have a team of counselors, school psychologists, social workers, learning consultants, crisis-intervention counselors, and school nurses, and Bergen County personnel that will help us with this,” she said.

Except to express their shock and disappointment, several school trustees declined to comment on the situation. Many urged that the investigation be allowed to take its course.

Schill issued a formal statement, saying:

“The board suspended Mr. Bracigliano because that is the proper thing to do. We are not implying in any shape or form his guilt in this matter. He is suspended with pay. We want to get this cleared up as quickly as possible. Whether he’s guilty or innocent, the nature of the charges itself triggers a very strong reply.”

Fahy said his office acted swiftly when a parent of one of the alleged victims called to complain Thursday afternoon. Investigators armed with a search warrant seized boxes containing photographs and videotapes of young boys from Bracigliano’s home.

Bracigliano, an unsuccessful candidate for principal of Memorial High School this year, was arrested at about 7 p.m. Neither he nor his lawyer, Louis Mangano, a member of the school board, could be reached on Saturday.

Saturday, a woman who identified herself as the mother of one of the three boys allegedly photographed said the Prosecutor’s Office called her Thursday night and asked her to bring the boy in for to be interviewed.

She said her son told her he had been summoned to the principal’s office through the school intercom during his regular classes on Thursday, and he described what occurred inside the office.

Elmwood Park Mayor Richard A. Mola said that in the 20 years he has known Bracigliano, as a public official and an educator, “people have always held him in high regard.”

“I’ve never heard anything derogatory about him.”

BAIL RAISED FOR BROTHERS SUSPECTED OF ROBBERY

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, November 30, 1990

Four Star B | NEWS | Page B03

A Municipal Court judge has increased bail to $125,000 each for two robbery suspects after police found about 150 vials of crack while searching their apartment for weapons used in the robbery, authorities said.

Rodney Wade Phoenix, 26, and Robert William Phoenix, 34, of 92 Shepard Ave., Teaneck, are being held in the Bergen County Jail on charges of robbery, resisting arrest, and possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school, police said.

Officer Colin Duff, while breaking up a fight between a Teaneck resident and the brothers at about 3 p.m. Monday, was struck on the back of his head and neck with a three-foot-long piece of wood by one of the brothers, police said.

The resident, Frank Fowler, 34, of 1158 Summit Ave., told police the Phoenix brothers had robbed him of $100 at knifepoint and gunpoint earlier Monday.

The incident started when Officer George Miros, standing at Teaneck Road and State Street, noticed Fowler being chased by the Phoenix brothers, police said. Fowler was carrying a two-by-four.

Miros stopped the brothers to question them. They told him they had settled a dispute with Fowler, and then ran north on Teaneck Road to Shepard Avenue, catching up with Fowler and fighting with him.

Fowler and Duff were struck by the brothers as Miros, Duff, and Sgt. Thomas Batchelor tried to break up the fight, police said. The brothers then ran away, but were arrested minutes later. Duff and Fowler were treated for their injuries at Holy Name Hospital and released.

Bail had been set at $100,000 on the armed-robbery charges. The bail was raised Wednesday.

The Phoenix brothers were out on bail awaiting trial for their part in a series of armed robberies in Teaneck and Paramus in March 1989, according to Bergen County Superior Court records.

MAN SEEKING GUN PERMIT FIRES SHOT AT BOROUGH HALL

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, November 29, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B05

A 33-year-old former resident waiting for a gun permit from the borough was arrested late Tuesday night after he shot at Borough Hall, police said.

Robert M. Teter of 351 River Road, Little Ferry, was charged with unlawful use of a weapon and with having a loaded semiautomatic rifle in his possession, Ridgefield Detective John Bogovich said.

Police Chief Lars N. Oyen said Teter had appeared “somewhat disoriented” when he came into into the police station earlier Tuesday to apply for a gun permit. He was told the police needed time to check his background before he could be given a permit, Oyen said. Teter had received a permit from the department several years earlier, the chief said.

“Interestingly enough, there was nothing in his background that would indicate a problem,” and a permit would have been issued on Wednesday, Oyen said. Bogovich said Teter moved to Little Ferry a week ago after seven years as a Ridgefield resident.

Bogovich said police received a call about a gunman who had shot at Borough Hall at about 10:40 Tuesday night. Police found Teter in his car near the railroad tracks on Edgewater Avenue, he said. Teter refused to put up his hands and keep them in plain view, and it took four officers to subdue him, Bogovich said.

The shot hit the front of building, to the north side of the front door, and missed a window near a police lieutenant’s desk, Oyen said. No one was in that office at the time, authorities said, but police were on duty in other offices in the building.

Teter had two bullets in the rifle’s magazine, one in the chamber, and 54 additional rounds of ammunition in his car, police said.

He was undergoing psychiatric evaluation at Bergen Pines County Hospital on Wednesday and was being held on $25,000 bail, Oyen said.

SUSPECT IS ARRESTED AS HE ASKS COP FOR AID

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, November 29, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B05

A 23-year-old Newark man allegedly trying to resell a stolen Cadillac to its owner apparently got lost on the way to consummate the deal and was arrested as he was about to ask a Teaneck police detective for directions.

Rosent “Nate” McCabe, 23, of 1863 Willberg St. told police upon his arrest that he was being a “good Samaritan” in returning the car.

But Detective William Grace said he and four plainclothes detectives, in unmarked cars, had been waiting at the home of the car owner for McCabe to arrive.

The owner, whom Grace declined to identify, told Teaneck police he had received calls from unidentified parties in Newark on Monday, telling him that they had bought the 1984 Cadillac Fleetwood and would sell it back to him for $1,500, Grace said. The owner had reported the car stolen in Newark on Saturday.

The owner negotiated the price down to $900, and a meeting was set up for between noon and 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Grace and the other detectives were waiting for McCabe when he drove north on River Road at about 2:30 p.m., past the owner’s house. Grace said he and the other detectives followed the car.

McCabe apparently realized he had gone too far when he reached River Road’s intersection with Riverview Avenue and began backing up, said Grace, who was directly behind the Cadillac.

Grace said McCabe was about to ask him for directions when McCabe approached his car.

“I got out and told him to put his hands on the hood of the car,” Grace said.

McCabe was charged with possession of the stolen car and was released from the Bergen County Jail Wednesday on $500 bail.

BURGLARY STREAK IN ENGLEWOOD; WAVE OF BREAK-INS IS 2ND OF THE SEASON

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, November 28, 1990

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

One month after police arrested a suspect in a series of burglaries, the East Hill section of the city is again experiencing a wave of break-ins, including two in broad daylight on Monday, police said.

Most of the 22 burglaries happened during the day, while residents were away at work, Capt. C. Kenneth Tinsley said. Eight garden apartments and 14 homes were hit, he said.

Englewood detectives and patrol officers, with assistance from the Bergen County Canine Unit, swarmed the area Tuesday afternoon and will continue to patrol until a suspect is caught, Tinsley said.

“For the first time since the burglaries began in early November, we got a good description of this guy yesterday,” he said.

A Linden Avenue resident saw the suspect before his apartment was broken into about 3:30 p.m. Monday, Tinsley said.

The resident, who police declined to identify, said he looked out of his second-floor window after someone rang the doorbell. He did not recognize the person and, thinking the caller was a salesman, did not open the door.

“A few minutes later, he heard a noise in his bedroom. He went to investigate and he found the suspect in his bedroom,” Tinsley said. The burglar fled when he saw the resident.

Although police are waiting for a full list of items stolen in the burglaries, at least $14,000 in cash and $80,000 in jewelry, televisions, and videocassette recorders have been taken, Tinsley said.

A composite of the suspect will be drawn from the description given by the Linden Avenue resident, Tinsley said.

He urged residents, as a precaution, to remove air conditioners from windows and to leave lights on.
“This is the ideal time for burglars. It gets dark early. If you can, put lights on timers. Although this is occurring during the day, light is definitely a deterrent.”

Tinsley said the latest wave of burglaries is frustrating, since a suspect in about 40 cat burglaries in Englewood and three other Bergen County communities during September and October is behind bars. Celious Lee Harmon of Teaneck is being held without bail for violation of parole and faces burglary charges.