TRUCK CARRIED OLIVE OIL, $5M IN COKE

By Michael O. Allen and Bill Sanderson, Record Staff Writers | Saturday, October 20, 1990

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

A routine police inspection of a truck carrying olive oil led to the seizure of 393 pounds of cocaine valued at more than $5 million, the largest drug shipment seized on New Jersey highways this year, officials said.

State troopers followed the truck when it left a weighing station in South Jersey at 8:30 a.m. Thursday and arrested four men as they unloaded the cocaine that evening in Edgewater. A fifth suspect was charged in Salem County.

State police spokesman Dan Cosgrove said Trooper Manuel Gordillo was inspecting the truck on Interstate 295, at Carneys Point Township in Salem County, when he noticed fluid leaking from the rear of the truck.

Gordillo saw the cocaine behind the olive oil after being permitted to search, but he allowed the truck to leave, Cosgrove said. Gordillo, members of the Statewide Narcotics Task Force, and Salem and Bergen County police then followed the truck to the Havana Potato Truck Lot on River Road in Edgewater, he said.

Superior Court Judge Marguerite T. Simon in Hackensack set bail at $2.5 million each for four of the suspects, identified as Gonzalo Castellanos-Arroyave of North Bergen, Milton G. Vera of Queens, Edson G. Pantoja of Miami, and Alejandro Lumus of Miami.

They were charged with possession of cocaine, possession with intent to distribute, and conspiracy and were being held in the Bergen County Jail Friday.

A fifth man, Lidio Ocana of Union City, the truck’s driver, was charged with the same offenses and was being held in the Salem County Jail on $2 million bail.

Cosgrove said the seizure was the first fruit of “Operation Roadside,” started with $478,000 in federal funds in July to combine state troopers and the commercial transport industries in a program emphasizing interdiction and public awareness.

Correction: CLARIFICATION: An article in Saturday’s editions reported that four men were arrested on drug charges in a truck lot in Edgewater. The company that leases the lot, Havana Potato Co., was neither implicated nor involved in the incident, state police said. (PUBLISHED, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1990, PAGE a02.)

MAN ARRESTED IN BERGEN WANTED BY FEDS

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Saturday, October 20, 1990

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

A 30-year-old Israeli who was arrested in Cliffside Park on burglary charges is wanted by federal authorities for illegally reentering the United States, officials said. Eliyahu Shalom, being held Friday in the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack on $20,000 bail on the burglary and theft charges, was convicted of illegally entering the country in 1986 and was put on probation, on condition he keep immigration officials appraised of his whereabouts.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Rosato said Shalom moved from his known address in Brooklyn without notifying probation officials, and he was deported to Israel in 1987.

A woman arrived at her Cliffside Park home Thursday and found Shalom there, police said. Shalom fled and was arrested in Edgewater. He is to be delivered to the U.S. Marshals Service after his case is disposed of in Bergen County, Rosato said.

N.Y. COUPLE ACCUSED OF DEFRAUDING COLLEGE

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Saturday, October 20, 1990

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

A former assistant director of financial aid at Ramapo College of New Jersey and her husband were arrested Friday, accused of defrauding the college of $3,410 in financial aid grants.

Gloria and John Prentzel of Greenwood Lake, N.Y., were released on their own recognizance after arraignment before Judge Marguerite T. Simon in Superior Court in Hackensack. Prentzel was charged with theft by deception; his wife was charged with assisting a theft.

Detective Sgt. Fred Landsky of the state police Official Corruption Unit said he investigated the couple after a routine audit of the financial aid office by the Mahwah college showed that Mrs. Prentzel, 31, had approved a fraudulent financial aid application in the summer of 1989 by John Prentzel, 27, who was her fiance at the time.

Landsky said she approved the application despite knowing that her fiance listed a New Jersey address to lower his tuition fees, lied when he said he was a full-time student, and had annual income that made him ineligible for financial aid.

Landsky said Mrs. Prentzel resigned from her position at the college in September.

SATANIC CULT DIGS UP GRAVE; SECOND INCIDENT OF DESECRATION

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, October 18, 1990

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

The graveyard with a single plot lies amid industrial buildings on Washington Avenue in Carlstadt, obscured by an overgrowth of weeds. But vandals managed to find the grave and dig it up Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, Carlstadt Detective Sgt. Michael Barbire said the vandalism was the work of a satanic cult the second time since last year that a grave has been desecrated by a cult. Last year, the gravesite of Thomas Fransen Outwater, one of North Jersey’s pioneer settlers, was torn up, and his skull was removed. Outwater’s grave is about 40 feet from the site of Wednesday’s damage.

Barbire said a worker in a nearby factory called police to report the vandalism at the plot, where a man named Henry Gordes was buried at least 100 years ago.

The hole “only goes down about four or five feet this time,” Barbire said. “As far as we could tell, we don’t think they went down deep enough to disturb the remains. Whether they were scared off or not, we don’t know. “

Barbire said only Gordes name was visible on the tombstone and that police would not dig up the stone to determine the date of his death or burial.

More disturbing to police was an inverted cross found stuck in the mound of sand at the head of the hole, Barbire said. The way the cross was embedded in the mound was indicative of a satanic ritual, he said.

The cemetery plot is on a strip of land owned by the Third Reformed Church of Hackensack. The Rev. Paul Janssen, pastor of the church, said he was unaware of the existence of the grave.

Last year, in the nearby Outwater Cemetery, vandals dug up the graves of Outwater and his wife and took his skull. His scattered bones were later reassembled at the Carlstadt Police Department and reburied during a ceremony in the town in July.

Caption: COLOR PHOTO – DANIELLE P. RICHARDS / THE RECORD – Carlstadt Police Detective Sgt. Michael Barbire at a gravesite that is believed to have been dug up by members of a satanic cult on Tuesday night.

CRASHES KILL MAN, JAM ROAD TO GWB

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, October 18, 1990

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

A Teaneck man was killed and four others were injured Wednesday morning in a spate of accidents that snarled rush-hour traffic along Routes 4 and 95.

“It was a mess,” said Sgt. Scott Storms of the Bergen County Police Departmnent. “We had multiple accidents on two of the main arteries going up to the George Washington Bridge. “

Authorities said Route 4 east was not completely reopened for about two hours after a 6:30 a.m. accident near Grand Avenue in Englewood in which a motorcyclist identified as Charles A. Getler died.

Shortly after the eastbound lanes were reopened, three accidents occurred within 15 minutes in westbound lanes, injuring one person.

Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said Getler was eastbound on Route 4 when he apparently lost control of his motorcycle. It slid along the road about 30 feet and ended up wedged under a disabled car, Fahy said. Getler was declared dead at the scene.

The Route 95 accident, at about 7:30 a.m., sent 50-year-old Victor M. Rivera of Perth Amboy to Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck with a neck injury and cuts on his forehead. He was listed in serious condition in the intensive care unit Wednesday.

New Jersey State Police Trooper Antonio Nunez said Rivera was northbound in a local lane of I-95 when his pickup truck was struck from the rear by a van driven by Hyun K. Shin, 42, of Elizabeth.

The pickup truck spun around into the center lane, facing oncoming traffic, and was struck head-on by a car driven by Anthony Pepe, 33, of Staten Island. Shin and a passenger in his van were treated at Holy Name Hospital and released. Pepe was uninjured.

Nunez said it took about three hours to reopen I-95 completely.

“Rubberneckers, that’s what delayed traffic more than anything else,” he said. “Plus, we had the emergency vehicles. “

About 20 minutes after Route 4 east was cleared of the motorcycle accident, at about 8:50 a.m., four westbound cars on the highway collided near Wilson Avenue in Teaneck. An unidentified motorist was sent to the Holy Name Hospital for treatment.

Two cars collided near the Route 4 intersection with River Road in Teaneck eight minutes later. Then, at 9:05, two cars collided on Route 4 in Hackensack, a short distance from the two accidents in Teaneck. There were no injuries reported in the last two accidents.

PROBATIONER NABBED ON GUN CHARGES

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Wednesday, October 17, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page B04

Passaic and Bergen County probation officers arrested a 42-year-old city man Tuesday on charges of having a cache of illegal weapons in his apartment.

Peter Decato of 31 N. York St., who was being held in the Passaic County Jail, was charged with five counts of possessing weapons and one count of possessing drug paraphernalia.

Passaic County Probation Officer Patrick K. Morris said officers recovered a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun, two air rifles, a .22-caliber automatic, a .32-caliber eight-shot revolver, and 37 combat knives, including a projectile knife with a spring that could shoot the blade. The probation officers also found 45 hypodermic syringes, Morris said.

Rene L. Caggia, Decato’s probation officer in Bergen County, said Decato was to report to an outpatient psychiatric treatment center and the Passaic County Probation Department after moving to Paterson upon completing six months in the Bergen County Jail for a June 1987 arson conviction.

Decato was about to be sent back to Bergen County for violating probation when the officers, along with a Passaic County deputy sheriff, visited him at his apartment Tuesday morning, Morris said.

NAME CHANGED TO PROFESS THE INNOCENCE

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Saturday, October 13, 1990

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

When Bergen County Police first arrested an 18-year-old Jersey City man on drug charges four months ago, they released him to the custody of an “aunt” because he convinced them he was a juvenile and that his name was William Jones.

On Thursday, Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor James Duffy discovered the man’s true name William Fince and that he was not 16 years old, as he claimed.

Bergen County Police Detective Edward Sorace said Duffy notified Bergen County officials Thursday. Duffy declined to say how he came to discover Fince was not who he said he was.

Fince, who was charged with three counts of drug possession, was re-arrested as he reported to the juvenile division of the Hudson prosecutor’s office and was being held Friday in the Bergen County Jail in lieu of $15,000 bail.

3 SEIZED IN BREAK-IN AT JEWISH CENTER

By John H. Kuhn and Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writers | Thursday, October 11, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B04

Three men were arrested Tuesday after breaking into several lockers in the men’s room at the Jewish Community Center on the Palisades and stealing watches and about $1,000 in cash, police said.

One of the men was spotted about 4:30 p.m. breaking into a locker in the center on East Clinton Avenue. A center member chased him and got the license plate number of the car he fled in.

About a minute later, Tenafly police Officer Robert Whittaker stopped the car about a half-mile away at Huyler Avenue and Dean Drive, police said.

Charged with burglary and theft were Richard Russell, 29, and Robert Menegigian, 35, both of Dumont, and Robert Ruglio, 31, of West Orange.

Police found a driver’s license that was reported stolen from the Randolph YMCA and a membership card from the Saddle Brook Howard Johnson Health Spa. Police said they also found a stolen American Express card.

Ruglio, who police said entered the center, was to be held at the Bergen County Jail Annex on $7,500 bail. Russell was released on $5,000 bail, and Menegigian on $1,500.

Police recovered about $1,000 in cash along with several watches and wallets.

NORTHVALE MAN HELD IN ROBBERY ATTEMPT

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, October 11, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B04

A 26-year-old Northvale man was charged with armed robbery after he tried to hold up a borough gas station but was foiled by an attendant, police said.

The suspect, Nicholas Proios, later confessed to robbing two gas stations in Alpine and Emerson during the weekend, police said.

Proios approached Robert W. Gardner, an attendant at the Northern Valley Motors gas station at 484 Closter Dock Road, at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and said he had a gun, police said.

When he told Gardner to empty his cash register, Gardner refused and foiled the robbery, said Closter Police Capt. John Rose.

“He had an object in his jacket that he purported to be a gun, but the gas attendant saw that it was a staple gun,” Rose said. “He decided to take him on. He physically detained the robber. “

Proios confessed during police interrogation to robbing the Texaco gas station on Closter Dock Road in Alpine on Saturday and the Emerson Exxon on Kinderkamack Road on Sunday, Rose said.

Police accounts of both incidents were similar: Proios allegedly walked in, told the attendants he had a gun, and announced a holdup. The Alpine robbery yielded $200 and Emerson, $466.

Closter police on Tuesday charged Proios with armed robbery. Bail was set at $50,000, and he was sent to the Bergen County Jail.

Alpine and Emerson police said Wednesday they also would charge Proios with armed robbery.

COPS LED ON CAR CHASE ENDING IN ELMWOOD PARK

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, October 7, 1990

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

A high-speed chase that started in New York City with a traffic violation and two shots being fired at a policeman ended Saturday morning in Elmwood Park when the driver abandoned the car and fled on foot.

No arrest was made, said Sgt. Mary Wrensen, a spokeswoman for the New York Police Department.

Wrensen said Police Officer Patrick Mulholland of the Manhattan North Task Force stopped a black 1980 car after it went through a red light about 12:05 a.m. on Saturday at Broadway and West 178th Street.