MICHAEL O. ALLEN

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May 09
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TEANECK MAN HELD AS FUGITIVE

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, May 9, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star | NEWS | A04

A 31-year-old township man, wanted by North Carolina since 1988 for trafficking in cocaine and heroin, was captured while trying to cash a check, police said Friday.

Wanted on a June 1988 fugitive warrant, Sterling Anthony Mapp surfaced two weeks ago when he tried to open a savings account and cash two checks at the Provident Savings Bank in Teaneck, Police Detective Dean Kazinci said.

Mapp, whose last known address was 443 Cedar Lane, had assumed a new identity: Victor Roberts of the same address, complete with a valid New Jersey driver’s license, Kazinci said.

Victor Roberts Social Security number turned out to be invalid, however, and the teller would not complete the transaction. The bank also reported the incident to police. The teller identified Mapp, through a photograph, as the man who was in the bank, Kazinci said. When Mapp returned to the bank at 12:30 p.m. Thursday to again try to cash the two checks, a teller called police and he was taken into custody for questioning.

An FBI fingerprint check later confirmed Mapp’s identity, although he denied that was his name, Kazinci said. He was charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance and of narcotics paraphernalia after police found marijuana and a pipe in his possession at the time of his arrest.

He was being held Friday in the Bergen County Jail on $5,000 bail on the Teaneck charges.

ID: 17376704 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

May 09
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FT. LEE DAD KILLS CHILD, 5, AND SELF

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By Michael O. Allen and Steven Crabill, Record Staff Writers | Saturday, May 9, 1992

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

A Fort Lee man reportedly depressed over marital problems shot and killed his 5-year-old daughter sometime before dawn Friday, then turned the gun on himself, Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said.

Kira Gandell was shot twice in the head and Raif Gandell, 42, once in the mouth, Fahy said.

Gandell and his wife, Jill Markowitz, of 2400 Hudson Terrace had been in marriage counseling for some time, Fahy added.

Police found the bodies of Gandell and his daughter on a bed in the family’s second-floor apartment at the Half-Moon House Apartments at 8:05 a.m. A maid-babysitter saw a note beneath the door when she arrived for work but could not enter because a chain on the door was latched from the inside, Fahy said.

A worker at the building said and authorities confirmed that the note said: “Call the police. I killed myself and Kira.”

Police battered down the door and found the bodies on the bed, Fahy said. A .32-caliber automatic pistol was between them.

Markowitz, in Seattle on a business trip, was notified and was returning Friday, Fahy said.

Authorities did not know how long the couple had been married.

Kira was their only child, Fahy said.

Gandell had been employed at Englewood Hospital as a medical social worker counseling patients in need of community services or extended care after leaving the hospital since March 1991, said Shelley Rosenstock, director of communications at the hospital.

ID: 17376727 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

May 06
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TRUCK JUMPS GUARDRAIL; Motorist Hurt

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, May 6, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | B04

A 39-year-old River Edge man was in critical but stable condition Tuesday night with head trauma and internal injuries after a tractor trailer careened out of control and crashed into three cars, including a state police cruiser.

Alexander Belkind was pinned inside his car after the trailer jumped the guardrail on the New Jersey Turnpike and went into oncoming traffic. After part of his mangled car was cut away, he was taken by state police helicopter to the University Hospital in Newark, said Sgt. Dan Cosgrove, a spokesman for the state police.

A trooper and two other motorists who were injured were treated and released.

The trailer, driven by William Arthur Parson of Virginia, was southbound about 8:30 p.m. Monday in the turnpike’s western extension in Kearny when it struck a truck tire and rim lying in the roadway, Cosgrove said.

The trailer then struck a southbound pickup truck driven by James Farrell, 28, of Bayonne, spinning the pickup around and turning it over several times. Before the pickup truck came to a rest, it had sideswiped a trooper car, which was parked behind a disabled vehicle in the left lane.

The tractor trailer, owned by Great Coastal Express Inc. of South Holland, Ill., skidded across the southbound lanes, the median, the center guardrail, and into the northbound lanes where it crashed into Belkind’s car.

Trooper Darryl Humphrey had moderate injuries to his left elbow and forearm, Farrell’s left collarbone was fractured, and Parson injured his elbow.

ID: 17376360 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

May 06
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SPOTTING DRUG USE; Police Trained to Test Drivers

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, May 6, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | B01

In a program hailed as a new weapon against drugged drivers, state and local law enforcement officials Tuesday dedicated a center where suspected impaired drivers will be tested. They also recognized 40 police officers who have completed training as the state’s first drug recognition experts.

The Drug Recognition Enforcement program takes the guesswork out of prosecuting motorists suspected of using drugs, said Paul Brickfield, first assistant Bergen County prosecutor.

Instead of relying mainly on a police officer’s description of a motorist’s conduct, prosecutors will be able to use the results of a set of tests administered soon after a driver is stopped.

The officers 20 from the state police, 10 from the Bergen County Police Department, and 10 from municipal police departments have been trained to recognize and measure symptoms induced by various types of drugs, Brickfield said at the dedication.

The testing center is located in a wing donated by Bergen Pines County Hospital in Paramus.
John Pescatore, director of the Bergen County Office of Highway Safety, said the program plugs a gap that exists in the prosecution of drunken and drug-impaired drivers.

“Take the Bergen County Police Department,” Pescatore said. “They make over 200 drunk-driving arrests each year, well over 300 arrests of people driving with narcotics in their car, but fewer than 10 arrests of those under the influence of drugs.

The Drug Recognition Enforcement Program was developed in Los Angeles and is now used in 20 states, including New York, Brickfield said.

The state Highway Traffic Safety Division, working with a $14,000 seed grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, chose Bergen County as the place to test the program because of its almost 3,000 miles of interstate, state, county, and municipal roadways.

The training included classroom examinations and practical experience working with drug suspects and identifying what types of drugs they were using, Brickfield said. The officers worked with suspects arrested on sweeps by narcotics bureaus in Jersey City and Paterson.

An examination of a suspect should take about 45 minutes, said state police Sgt. Frank R. Emig, who, along with Bergen County Police Sgt. Robert Brenzel, is a coordinator of the program. Some tests, such as the balance, walk and turn, one-leg stand, and finger-to-nose, are similar to the roadside tests administered to suspected drunken drivers.

Others, such as examinations of pupils, measurement of pulse rate, blood pressure, and body temperature, and toxicological tests, are scientific tests designed to determine which category of drugs a person may be using, Emig said. By the time a test is concluded, the officer would be able to testify as an expert in court on the category of drugs the suspect was using at the time of the arrest, he said.

About 18 people have been charged since DRE officers began issuing summonses to people for driving under the influence of drugs in January, Brickfield said. A few suspects pleaded guilty while several cases are pending, he said.

No one has been convicted in a contested case, however. Brickfield said the first case was lost last week when a Bergen County Superior Court judge questioned not the credibility of the drug recognition expert, but the initial stop that led to the suspect’s being charged.

He added that the program also would have to survive a judicial challenge of a conviction in New Jersey, as it has in other states, before it is accepted as an established enforcement mechanism.

James A. Arena, director of the state Highway Traffic Safety Division, said it was a natural evolution from drunken driving enforcement to trying to get drugged drivers off the road. In 1981, he said, 33 percent of fatal accidents in the state involved a drunken driver or victim, compared with 18.7 percent in 1991. The national average for 1991, the latest figure available, was 39 percent, he said.

“Consistent with the scourge of drugs in our schools, workplace, the whole society, really,” he said, the percentage of drug-related fatal accidents and injuries has increased alarmingly, to as high as 30 percent in 1991.

Caption: 2 COLOR PHOTOS – The testing center includes a holding cell, top. 2 – Above, Sgt. Frank Emig watching Jennifer Dalton, a public information assistant, in a simulated driver test. – PETER MONSEES / THE RECORD 1

ID: 17376436 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

May 03
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GARFIELD JEWELER KILLED DURING APPARENT HOLDUP; Baseball Bat Discovered Near Victim’s Body

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By Michael O. Allen and Neil H. Reisner, Record Staff Writers | Sunday, May 3, 1992

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

The owner of a Garfield jewelry store was killed Saturday afternoon, apparently beaten during a robbery.

Broniflaw Oreda, 57, of Lyndhurst, owner of Bruno Jewelers at 59 Passaic St., north of Palisade Avenue, was found by police after they received a phone call from a burglar alarm company at 4:59 p.m.

Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said police found Oreda’s bloody body in the back of the store. A baseball bat was lying nearby, he said.

“We believe robbery was the motive,” Fahy said. “We believe he resisted, but it’s too soon to tell.”

Two store showcases were smashed, but Fahy said he did not yet know whether anything was taken. The investigation continued into the evening, as police cordoned off the storefront and collected evidence.

Melissa Eisenhower, 35, lives on Palisade Avenue and can see the rear of the store from her porch. She said she suspected something was amiss when she saw a man leap over a retaining wall behind the store and run down Passaic Street about an hour before police arrived on the scene.

“I closed my windows right away, because I thought somebody was going to come inside my house. . . . I grabbed my son and closed the window,” she said. She described the man as white, with a medium build, clean-shaven, possibly with short brown hair, and wearing jeans and a short-sleeve shirt. But other neighbors said that man may have been another resident of the block.

Neighborhood merchants and residents said they did not really know Oreda, whom they referred to only as “Bruno” or “Mr. Bruno.” Most described him as a quiet, friendly man who liked to stand just inside his store, gaze out the window, and chat.

Neighbors said Oreda was about 5-foot-7, with olive skin and thinning blond hair, who always wore a coat and tie and who spoke broken English with an accent.

“He’s such a nice guy; they didn’t have to do that,” Eisenhower said, adding that he would pocket the money she paid for minor jewelry repairs instead of putting it in any kind of register or cash box. “I don’t think he had so much money in there. He didn’t have a big selection.”

The shop is in a working-class neighborhood where stores occupy the first floors of small two- and three-story apartment buildings. Above the shop window is a black awning and a white sign; in the window, a sign advertises watch batteries, a layaway plan, and jewelry repairs. Nearby are a liquor store, a beauty salon, a leather store, a deli, and a photo studio. A meat and fish market closed within the last few months. Neighbors said Oreda had owned his shop there for about three years.

George Ryerson, 30, who lives in the neighborhood, said three police officers drove up to the store about 5 p.m., two in uniform and one in civilian clothes. “They knew something was up,” he said, describing how the plainclothes officer approached the door then immediately went back to the car to don a bulletproof vest. The officers broke through the security door and entered the shop with guns drawn, Ryerson said.

Other neighbors wondered how a robber could enter the store, because the jeweler kept the door locked, buzzing customers in through a security door.

“That’s why I don’t know how it happened,” said Kelvin Tavarez, 24, who works at Giany’s Liquors. “It’s not like just anybody can get in. You have to be buzzed in to get inside.”

Oreda’s merchant neighbors said this was the first major crime on the block. Tavarez’s mother, Gianilda, said she’s concerned. “I’m scared. I’m the owner of a liquor store, and I keep late hours,” she said.

Record Staff Writer Laurie C. Merrill contributed to this article.

ID: 17376143 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

May 03
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IN TEANECK, A CALL FOR RACIAL HARMONY; Over 100 Gather in Peacefull Rally Against Injustice

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By Laurie C. Merrill and Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writers | Sunday, May 3, 1992

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

Saying the time is right to work for racial harmony, a score of civic and religious leaders told a rally of some 100 people in Teaneck on Saturday that the Rodney King beating case underscores the injustice and prejudice that permeate society.

“We are at a very dangerous point in our society. The schism between the races is greater than ever before,” said Franklin Wilks, a lawyer for the Bergen County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

“In the absence of faith in our legal system, there is nothing left by anarchy,” Wilks added.

In apparent preparation for the afternoon rally at Teaneck’s Municipal Complex, police had barricaded the doors of police headquarters with plywood. But the mood of the interracial crowd was conciliatory, and when the rally ended, participants departed quietly.

Across New Jersey, streets were calm Saturday afternoon, and in Manhattan, the Rev. Al Sharpton led a peaceful march of about 1,000 people. There was no repeat of the violence that flared briefly in Jersey City and Newark on Friday, responses to the acquittal in Los Angeles of four white policemen who beat King and were videotaped doing so.

Several speakers bemoaned the poor attendance especially by teenagers at the NAACP rally held to speak out against injustice.

“Injustice has corrupted us all,” said Wendy Dunlap, 16, of Hackensack, a member of the NAACP Youth Board. “All of us must work to end it, especially young people.”

And many speakers, including several Teaneck council candidates, spoke of other social issues, stressing the need to improve conditions in cities, obliterate the drug trade, improve education, and increase employment.

The ghost of Phillip C. Pannell was invoked. The youth was fatally shot two years ago by white Police Officer Gary Spath, who was acquitted of reckless manslaughter in February. Pannell’s parents, Thelma and Phillip, spoke at the rally.

Thelma Pannell said she had predicted that the four officers would be acquitted, as Spath had been. And Phillip D. Pannell said: “I’m mad as hell. . . . There is no justice in this country for the people of color.”

Many at the hourlong rally sounded a similar theme: Remove President Bush. Said local NAACP President Robert Robinson, “We need to change George Bush from the White House to the poor house.”

Those who gathered under the bright sun came for different reasons. Some have attended the rallies that had been held almost weekly since Pannell was killed. Others came to express outrage over the King verdict.

William Johnson, 27, of Englewood said the Los Angeles police officers guilt was never in doubt. “What better proof do you need than that videotape?” he asked.

“I think the verdict in Los Angeles was as unjust as the verdict for Gary Spath,” said Eva Michael, 38, of Teaneck. “I believe it’s a much bigger issue than these two court cases. It’s the whole issue that is going on in the country. We have a racist society.”

Former Teaneck Mayor Bernard Brooks, 56, said that at least Teaneck faces its problems.

“I think if you look at towns like Teaneck, Teaneck tries,” Brooks said. “I’m not suggesting that Teaneck is a perfect place, but it tries. Look at this crowd. You’ve got all kinds of people here. Right after the Pannell thing, you had all kinds of people trying to get together and do things. But even then, there are still divisions.”

In Jersey City, streets were quiet and merchants said business was slower than they expected a week before Mother’s Day.

“It’s nice and calm and peaceful,” said Jay Kang, owner of Jay Discount Jewelry on Journal Square, who late Friday afternoon was locked inside his shop with dozens of customers as youths looted several stores.

Record Staff Writer Neil Reisner contributed to this article.

Caption: PHOTO – An interracial crowd rallying outside the Teaneck Municipal Complex on Saturday in protest of the Rodney King verdict. – STEVE AUCHARD / THE RECORD

ID: 17376152 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

May 01
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GUARDS BLAME INMATES FOR JAIL STAMPEDE; Testify in Overcrowding Suit

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, May 1, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | B03

Inmates protesting the food service at the Bergen County Jail trampled three corrections officers in a stampede for the dining room door before guard dogs were sent in to quell the January disturbance, several officers testified Thursday.

Corrections Officer Joseph Mastropole said the inmates ignored his command that they leave the dining room in an orderly fashion.

Mastropole’s account and those of three other officers followed testimony in February from six inmates in a federal lawsuit charging overcrowding at the jail. The suit was filed in Newark in 1988, and Thursday’s testimony was heard in Hackensack.

Instead of leaving one table at a time, with the first table in the room leaving first, several inmates at the back tables headed for the door.

“I said, `Wait a minute, the first table has to leave first, ” Mastropole said. “The next thing I knew, 20 to 30 inmates got up and were heading toward me. . . . I was just overwhelmed by the inmates. They pushed me to the floor.”

Corrections Officer Brian J. Irwin testified that he was kicked and punched by inmates. He said that Gregory Cannell, an inmate who later was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer in the incident, took a swing at him but missed.

“It happened so fast,” Irwin said, adding that the officers were unable to keep the inmates inside the dining room.

A grand jury will decide whether to indict Cannell and another inmate, Howard Tucker, on charges of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer in the disturbance.

The corrections officers versions of the incident matched that of the inmates, except on who attacked whom in the ensuing melee. Officers said Cannell and Tucker physically attacked them, and were cursing and yelling at them.

In their February testimony, six inmates said the officers on duty were the ones who attacked them and ordered guard dogs after them. Cannell, who later served 37 days in isolation and is being housed in the main jail as a problem inmate, was treated for three dog-bite wounds.

Although most of the officers involved went to the medical unit for examination, none was injured.

Deputy Bergen County Counsel Murshell Johnson said outside the courtroom that the officers testimonies showed they resolved in a calm and professional manner a dangerous situation that could have led to many injuries.

Assistant Deputy Public Advocate Audrey Bomse questioned the officers credibility, however. She asked each officer if he had ever verbally or physically abused an inmate, or had seen another officer do so. All said no.

The hearings, part of a federal lawsuit to reduce overcrowding in the Bergen County Jail, will resume in May for further testimony from officers.

ID: 17375943 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

Apr 30
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INMATE-WITNESSES HARASSED? Advocacy Office Cites Retaliation Over Testimony

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, April 30, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | B01

Inmates who have testified in the federal lawsuit that seeks to reduce overcrowding at the Bergen County Jail are being targeted for retaliation by state and county corrections authorities, the state Inmate Advocacy Office claims.

The office cited a charge brought by the Department of Corrections against Gary Jones a week ago for his Feb. 7 testimony that detailed how he led a hunger strike to protest food service in the jail a month earlier. Two other inmates involved in the protest, Karl Meisenbach and Gregory Cannell, also filed complaints with the advocacy office.

Director of Inmate Advocacy Nancy Feldman said her office has investigated reports of harassment of inmate-witnesses.

“Obviously we are very concerned that there not be intimidation,” she said. “The witnesses have rights to testify and there should not be retaliation against them for that.”

“Absolutely ludicrous,” Sheriff Jack Terhune said of the allegations.

Terhune said that neither Cannell nor Meisenbach complained to his department and that the Inmate Advocacy Office failed to inform his office of the complaints.

Patricia Mulcahy, a Corrections Department spokeswoman, denied that the charge brought against Jones amounted to retaliation.

“The Department of Corrections does not retaliate against anyone. It’s all based on the evidence,” Mulcahy said. The evidence used against Jones was culled from the transcript of his testimony in the hearing, she added.

The state charged Jones with inciting a riot and sentenced him to 15 days in detention and 365 days in administrative segregation, and docked him 365 days of time off that he had earned for good behavior, Mulcahy said. The state also plans to send the case to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office for possible indictment, she added. Jones is serving five years for burglary.

Feldman said the only reason the department charged Jones was his testimony.

“We are not happy about this,” she said. “We don’t think it is right. We are evaluating Mr. Jones situation [and] the Department of Corrections action to decide how we can be most effective in helping him.”

Meisenbach on Tuesday told a special master who is holding fact-finding hearings on the lawsuit that corrections officers incensed over his Feb. 7 testimony were trying to set him up to look like a “snitch.” He asked Tuesday to be moved to a state prison out of fear of violence from other inmates. Meisenbach said Tuesday that although he felt it was the right thing to do, he regretted having testified in February.

In Cannell’s case, a homemade weapon was found in his cell a day before he was scheduled to testify in the Feb. 7 hearing, said Audrey Bomse, assistant deputy public advocate.

Cannell, who was bitten three times by a guard during the Jan. 11 incident, was a few days short of serving out 30 days in isolation for his role in the disturbance when the weapon was found. He was sentenced to an additional seven days in isolation. Bomse said the timing of the weapon’s discovery was suspicious.

Jones was moved from the Bergen County Jail on April 13 to the Garden State Reception and Youth Correctional Facility. He was tried nine days later and found guilty of inciting a riot and was sentenced the same day. On Tuesday, he was moved to East Jersey State Prison in Rahway, where he will serve his sentence and 365 days in administrative segregation.

Jones and Cannell were two of five inmates who called The Record on Jan. 11 to say they were going on a hunger strike to protest the quality of food and size of the portions.

Jones testified at the Feb. 7 hearing that as a leader of a group of white inmates, he persuaded black and Puerto Rican inmates in his dormitory to go on a hunger strike. All 64 inmates in the dormitory skipped lunch that day, he testified.

That evening, all but five inmates dumped their food into the garbage. As they all tried to rush out of the mess hall to return to their dormitory, some corrections officers were knocked down, Jones said. Officers used dogs to quell the resulting disturbance.

Fifteen inmates not including Jones faced institutional charges. Cannell and Howard Tucker were charged additionally with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. That case is before a Bergen County grand jury.

Jones testified that he continued his hunger strike for five more days out of remorse that other inmates got into trouble, when he, as the leader, was not charged.

Terhune said his department sent a report of the incident to the Department of Corrections for possible sanctions against Jones because he was a state inmate, held at the jail under a contract with the state.

But Bomse said the Corrections Department violated several of its own guidelines. Jones was in a county jail and should have been charged there, she said. Also, she added, the inmate should have been advised in writing, usually through a handbook given to inmates when they are assigned to an institution, of acts that are prohibited.

Even in exceptional circumstances, or if new evidence were obtained, Jones should have been charged within 48 hours of his testimony and the charges should then have been investigated, Bomse said.

BERGEN COUNTY; PRISON; LAWSUIT; PROBE

ID: 17375838 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

Apr 29
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BERGEN INMATE ASKS FACT FINDER FOR PROTECTION

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, April 29, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | B03

A 27-year-old Bergen County Jail inmate on Tuesday asked to be moved to a state prison out of fear of violence from other inmates because corrections officers allegedly set him up to look like a “snitch.”

Karl Meisenbach testified before James R. Zazzali, who is holding fact-finding hearings in a class-action lawsuit seeking to reduce overcrowding in the jail. The inmate said that an officer incensed over his February testimony in the lawsuit took steps to make other inmates suspicious of him.

Corrections Officer Richard McMahon spoke to him two times within view of other inmates, the second time shortly after a shakedown in the dormitory, Meisenbach said.

McMahon testified, however, that he knew Meisenbach from “on the street” and had counseled him on drug, marital, and custody problems. His talks with Meisenbach during the occasions cited were not out of the ordinary, McMahon said.

Meisenbach, who said he had been committed to the Bergen County Jail about two dozen times, testified in February that during a disturbance at the jail on Nov. 24, corrections officers accused him of possessing drugs, slapped him around, stripped him naked, and left him handcuffed to the bars in a holding cell.

Officers testified Tuesday that they had been called to the disturbance by other inmates complaining about Meisenbach.

Meisenbach said Tuesday that McMahon approached him in the jail in April and told him he did not like what he had been hearing about him. McMahon said four of his corrections officer friends got into trouble because of the February testimony, Meisenbach testified Tuesday.

A few days later, McMahon came to him, “again, in front of all the inmates,” and asked if he had any information for him. This happened immediately after a shakedown in the dormitory, Meisenbach said, adding that he feared violence from other inmates if they thought he was “ratting” on them.

McMahon testified, however, that he asked Meisenbach about two things: rumors that he had drugs on him in the jail he said that’s what he was referring to when he said he did not like what he had been hearing about Meisenbach and his testimony regarding how four corrections officers treated him during the Nov. 24 incident.

Zazzali said Tuesday’s hearing was to allow testimony from both sides, and that he did not know when, or if, he would rule on Meisenbach’s request.

ID: 17375767 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

Apr 27
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TWO ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES

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By MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Monday, April 27, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | A09

After responding to a report of an unconscious man with possible cardiac arrest, Moonachie police charged Charles A. Jacobus with being under the influence of drugs and his host with assorted drug-related offenses.

Jacobus, of Moonachie, was in fair condition Sunday night, said a nursing supervisor at Hackensack Medical Center, where he was taken Saturday after being revived.

Police Officer Michael Maguire saw hypodermic needles in a basket and a marijuana cigarette in an ashtray in the living room of an apartment at 47 Albert St., Lt. Michael McGhan said.

Albert Stola, 50, who lives in the apartment, was charged with six counts of possessing narcotics and drug paraphernalia and fraudulently obtaining methadone. He was being held in the Bergen County Jail on Sunday in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Jacobus, 38, will be arraigned on charges of being under the influence of a drug, possession of heroin, and possession of a hypodermic needle after his release from the hospital.

ID: 17375533 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

Apr 26
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INMATE WHO TRIED SUICIDE HOSPITALIZED

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, April 26, 1992

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

A 34-year-old Elizabeth woman was under observation at Bergen Pines County Hospital on Saturday after an apparent suicide attempt at the Bergen County Jail Annex.

The woman, who was identified by Westwood police as Linda Ferchinger, tried to hang herself Monday night, said Nancy Feldman, director of the state Office of Inmate Advocacy.

Feldman said she did not know if Ferchinger was under a suicide watch at the time. An investigator will interview her Monday.

Sheriff Jack Terhune, who has declined to comment, said Saturday that Ferchinger was no longer the responsibility of his department because she had been released on $500 personal recognizance bail.

Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said Friday that his office had downgraded the theft charge against Ferchinger to a disorderly person offense and returned the case to the Municipal Court.

Terhune said authorities in Union and Sommerset counties want Ferchinger for violating probation and would be able to pick her up as soon as she is released from the hospital.

The suicide try was the second in two months by an inmate in the custody of the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department. Four inmates have committed suicide in the past year.

In March, George Kellam, a 25-year-old fugitive who surrendered to authorities, slashed his wrist in a holding cell at the Bergen County Courthouse. He had been waiting to be transferred to the jail.

The Queens man was stopped by sheriff’s officers and was taken to Bergen Pines. He was in the Bergen County Jail Annex on Friday awaiting sentencing on drug possession charges.

Westwood Lt. Robert Saul said Ferchinger was arrested April 17 and charged with stealing jewelry from a resident.

ID: 17375485 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

Apr 23
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TWINS MAKE DEBUT ON ROAD; Mom Has Special Delivery

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, April 23, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | B01

“Honey, I’m probably still going to be pregnant when you get home tonight,” Blanche Sabatini assured her husband Wednesday morning when he hesitated before going to work.

An hour after Alex Sabatini left, his wife began a ride she’ll never forget.

Twins Dana Marie and Alexander Jr. were born to Sabatini in an ambulance on the way to the Hackensack Medical Center.

“It was very exciting,” the 37-year-old Rutherford woman said several hours later. “It just feels great to hold them.”

It was quite a day for the ambulance crew, too. “Honestly, I can’t explain it. It’s just a very different and heartwarming experience,” said Ellie Cosley, captain of the Rutherford Ambulance Squad.

Sabatini said she had been worried because she had heard twins are often born early, and hers were four days overdue.

But mother and infants were in excellent condition after the unusual deliveries, said Dr. Shaul Yarkoni, director of the medical center’s obstetrics and gynecology unit.

Cosley said the ambulance squad responded to Sabatini’s call at about 8:30 a.m.

Dana Marie at 5 pounds, 5 ounces was born on Route 17 at 9:02 a.m., and Alexander Jr. at 7 pounds, 3 ounces arrived at 9:07 a.m. in the ambulance after it pulled into the emergency room parking lot.

Zach Weissman, a Hackensack Medical Center paramedic, delivered Dana Marie with help from Cosley and squad members Mary Melfa and Roseanne Mesisco.

Yarkoni met the ambulance at the hospital, where he delivered Alex with the aid of paramedic Eric Kudlack.

The Sabatinis, who have been married for 17 years, have two other children: Nicole, 10, and Vincent, 2.

Caption: COLOR PHOTO – Blanche Sabatini of Rutherford resting Wednesday at Hackensack Medical Center with her new twins Alexander Jr., left, and Dana Marie. Sabatini is flanked by paramedics Eric Kudlack, left, and Zach Weissman. In the back row, from left, were Ellie Cosley, Rutherford Ambulance Squad captain, and squad members Roseanne Mesisco and Mary Melfa. – LINDA CATAFFO / THE RECORD

ID: 17375195 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey).