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Oct 10

GLOBAL SEARCH FOR FORT LEE BOY; DAD SUSPECTED IN ABDUCTION

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By Mary Jo Layton and Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writers | Thursday, October 10, 1991

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

An 8-year-old Fort Lee boy was snatched from a street corner and apparently taken to South Korea in a custody dispute, setting off a frantic international search, authorities said Wednesday.
Investigators suspect that Pyung Woo Song, abducted near his North Central Road home Monday morning as he waited for a school bus, is with his father in Seoul. They were trying Wednesday to confirm the boy’s whereabouts with the assistance of South Korean authorities.
“This is unique because of possible parental involvement,” FBI Special Agent William Tonkin said.
“We are trying to ascertain whether or not we have a federal kidnapping here, and I don’t think we have an answer yet because we don’t have enough facts.”
Investigators from the FBI, South Korea, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, and Fort Lee are involved in the case.
Fort Lee police suspect that the boy’s father, Dae Seup Song, also known as Kwi Hwa Song, arranged the abduction after threatening to bring the boy to South Korea against his mother’s wishes, Fort Lee Police Chief John Orso said. The parents were estranged, but Orso said authorities believe they share custody.
The chief said investigators spoke with the father Tuesday afternoon from Seoul.
“He denied having anything to do with it,” Orso said. “He said it’s a shame. She is doing this to hide the boy.”
The boy’s mother, Eun Sook Choi, in an interview at police headquarters Wednesday afternoon, said she was told that the boy is safe and with his father in Seoul. Choi, through an interpreter, said her sister called from Korea at 4 a.m. Wednesday and told her she had spoken with the boy briefly.
“She is relieved that the boy is OK,” said interpreter Peter Lee.
“He is with his father and uninjured. He cried on the phone and said he wants to return to the United States to live with his mother,” Lee said.
The family moved from Virginia to Fort Lee in July and enrolled the boy in School 3, Orso said.
Police suspect the father fled to South Korea, fearing prosecution for bringing illegal immigrants into the United States, Orso said. A spokesman with the Newark office of the INS would not comment on the case.
Authorities spent most of Wednesday unsuccessfully attempting to arrange a phone call between the mother and boy, the chief said.
Authorities were not aware of the boy’s abduction until midnight Monday, when his mother reported it to Fort Lee police.
School 3 Principal John Caputo said school officials noticed the boy was not present at the start of school day, about 9 a.m., and immediately tried to contact his parents.
The boy’s grandmother told investigators through an interpreter that she thought the boy was with his mother. The boy’s mother was attending school all day and did not return home until 11 p.m. When she realized the boy wasn’t there, she called a friend and went to police, Orso said.
“The problem was letting all these hours pass not knowing anything was wrong,” he said.
Language and cultural barriers also hampered the investigation, Orso said.
“Had we been notified of the threat, we definitely would have taken it seriously and had the boy under close surveillance and possibly could have avoided the tragedy,” he said. “I must ask the Korean community to tell its people that we, the Police Department, are here to assist and protect them.”
Police canvassed the neighborhood at the base of the George Washington Bridge on Tuesday. Fliers with a picture of the youth were circulated in the area.
A neighbor reported seeing an Asian man drag Pyung Woo Song into a black Lincoln Town Car driven by another Asian man.
Fort Lee police suspect the boy was taken to Canada and flown to Seoul. At 10 a.m. Wednesday, a police broadcast in Canada alerted authorities to look for a black sedan with two men suspected of kidnapping a Fort Lee boy. Later in the day, police learned of the mother’s conversation with her sister in Korea about her son being there.

Keywords: FORT LEE; CHILD; KIDNAPPING; MARRIAGE; FAMILY; SOUTH KOREA

Caption: COLOR PHOTO – PYUNG WOO SONG

Oct 09

Love0

GAS EXPLOSION ROUTS PLANT WORKERS

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, October 9, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 6 Star | NEWS | Page B02

A natural gas line outside a power station at the Garden State Paper Co. ruptured Tuesday, causing an explosion that sent fireballs into the air and routed about 115 employees from four surrounding plants, authorities said.
Fire Chief Sean Delahanty said the only confirmed injury was to John Czujko, his first assistant chief, who was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation. Although neither police nor fire officials could confirm any other injury, employees at the neighboring Zumtobel Lighting said a colleague was taken to the hospital with burns on his forehead.
The man leaped out of his car just after the pipe exploded, said Ben Perez of Paterson, a sheet-metal fabricator at the company, which is next to the power station.
“The explosion happened right in front of him,” Perez said. “He didn’t know what happened. He got out of his car and ran with everyone down Kipp Avenue.”
Three cars belonging to Garden State Paper employees and a backhoe owned by an independent contractor were destroyed by the ensuing fire, which was fed by natural gas shooting out of the pipe until it was shut it off.
Officials could not say how the leaking gas was ignited. They also could not say how many employees were inside the four-story power station at the time of the explosion, but said all got out safely.
Rich King, plant manager for King Finishing, a powder coating firm, said he ran back into his building and escaped from the back dock after seeing the explosion, which someone called in to the Police Department about 2:45 p.m.
“We no sooner walked outside and there was this fireball,” King said. “I ran through the plant and yelled, `Everybody get out.”
Margo Lane, communications manager for Garden State Paper, said she had no information on the cause of the explosion but said it effectively shut down the company’s operation because the station is the only power source for the plant, which processes recycled newsprint. The company’s main building, about two blocks from the power station and containing about 250 workers, was not evacuated.
About 85 firefighters from Garfield, Lodi, Wallington, Maywood, Rochelle Park, Saddle Brook, and Elmwood Park fought the blaze.

Keywords: GARFIELD; BUSINESS; EXPLOSION; FIRE

Oct 09

Love0

MEETING TACKLES TEENAGE DRINKING; GAP IN STATE LAW AROUSES CONCERN

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, October 9, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 6 Star | NEWS | Page B01

Who is responsible when Johnny throws a keg party for a few of his teenage friends after Mom and Dad leave for the weekend?
That gap in state law which prohibits teenagers from drinking in most places but does not address who would be responsible when they drink on private property was the major topic of a meeting in Hasbrouck Heights on Tuesday.
“This is an important issue for all of us,” Bergen County Executive William “Pat” Schuber said in his opening address to a breakfast meeting of more than 270 people, including legislators and police officers who deal with juveniles.
“On the issue of host liability and teenage drinking, there cannot be any greater priority for government and our leaders than saving a generation,” Schuber said.
Tuesday’s program at the Sheraton Heights Hotel was organized by the Bergen County Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse.
County Prosecutor John J. Fahy, the keynote speaker, said the program was not arranged to deal with issues raised by the death of Coleen Draney, a Fair Lawn teenager who died of heart failure at a New Year’s Eve party where there had been drinking.
But, he said, her death helped focus people’s attention on the issue of teenage drinking.
“The consequences are so serious, because young people can die, if the problem is not addressed,” Fahy said.
He raised the point of the ambiguities in the law concerning private property, saying it sends mixed messages to youths and their parents.
Also, he said, youths are constantly bombarded with messages in advertisements that they can enjoy themselves only if they drink.
“The message is not subtle: To be a better lover, you have to drink scotch; to be a better skier, you have to drink beer; to sit at a table with a beautiful woman, you have to drink wine,” Fahy said.
The law states clearly that no one under the age of 21 is allowed to consume alcohol except in a religious ceremony or with the permission of a parent or guardian.
So some parents allow alcohol to be used as a rite of passage, or allow prom-bound teens to drink at home as a way to prevent them from drinking in public, Fahy said.
“I find that to be complete insanity,” Fahy said.
“Those parents, perhaps, are well-intentioned, but . . . the message that we have to send out is that teenage drinking is not going to be tolerated.”
The Bergen County Juvenile Officers Association has developed a model amendment to the state law that would specifically include private property among the places where youths cannot drink.
Cresskill police Detective Sgt. William Macchio, a member of the association, said tougher and clearer laws are needed all over Bergen County.
Cresskill, for instance, has an ordinance that closes the loophole in the state law, and has effectively cut down on teenage parties, he said. But it is unclear whether youths move their parties to surrounding towns.

Keywords: HASBROUCK HEIGHTS; MEETING; YOUTH; ALCOHOL; VIOLATION

Oct 07

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N.J. BRIDGING RIFT WITH MUSLIMS

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Monday, October 7, 1991

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

A faux pas by state Attorney General Robert J. Del Tufo for which he has since apologized is serving to bridge a perceived chasm between the Department of Law and Public Safety and the state’s Muslim communities.
A further step in the healing process which follows published remarks by Del Tufo warning of possible terrorism by Muslims in New Jersey during the Persian Gulf war was a meeting Sunday afternoon at the Dar-Ul-Islah Mosque in Teaneck.
Assistant Attorney General James F. Mulvihill met with about 200 worshipers at the mosque to explain state standards for investigating bias incidents.
Del Tufo appointed Mulvihill as liaison between his office and Muslims following a meeting in August with a seven-member Muslim delegation to discuss his remarks. Mulvihill was accompanied by Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy, who also addressed the audience, which included Teaneck Mayor Eleanor M. Kieliszek.
Mulvihill told his audience that the laws and procedure for reporting bias crimes are in place, but that a Muslim who is a victim of a bias attack must report the incident to police so it can be “thoroughly and promptly investigated.”
Mulvihill said that of 824 bias crimes reported to the state police in 1990, six including two at the Dar-Ul-Islah Mosque were directed at Muslims.
“What we have to do in government is to send a loud and clear message that hate crime is not going to be tolerated,” Mulvihill said.
He urged his listeners to get involved in countywide community-relations boards so they could educate the public about their lives and culture.
He also urged them to apply to join police forces and to run for seats on boards of education and other public bodies, noting that that is how most immigrant groups in this country managed to have their voices heard.
Waheed Khalid, a member of the executive committee of the Dar-Ul-Islah Mosque, served as moderator during the meeting, which also included a question-and-answer session. Much of the ill will from Del Tufo’s remarks has dissipated because of the meeting in August and steps he has since taken to reach out to Muslims, Khalid said.
Muslims face the challenge of going out and educating the public about their religion and way of life, Khalid said.

Keywords: GOVERNMENT; NEW JERSEY; ATTORNEY; TERRORISM; MOSLEM; PERSIAN GULF WAR; TEANECK

Oct 06

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MEDIA UNFAIR, TEAMSTERS LOCAL SAYS

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By MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, October 6, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A07

Members of Teamsters Local 560 marched to the state’s largest media outlets Saturday to protest what they called unfair news coverage of the union’s battle with government to elect its own leaders.
Starting with a rally in front of the local’s office in Union City, about 100 members came to The Record, then went to WWOR-TV in Secaucus. Newark police could not confirm whether the members went to The Star-Ledger in Newark, as they had announced they would.
When Local 560 filed a petition in U.S. District Court in Newark three weeks ago to end the six-year trusteeship of the union, “the news media gave minimal coverage,” said Bob Marra, secretary-treasurer of the local. “When the government filed their return brief . . . all the news media, including The Record, gave it front-page coverage.”
The government opposed the appointment of former President Michael Sciarra as business agent. In January, a federal judge banned him from positions of influence, ruling that the Genovese crime family was trying to resume control of the Teamsters through him. Sciarra is appealing the decision.

Keywords: HACKENSACK; MEDIA; UNION; GOVERNMENT; ELECTION; NEWSPAPER; DEMONSTRATION; UNION CITY; THE RECORD; SECAUCUS

Oct 06

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STORE IS ROBBERY’S SECOND FATALITY; SHOP CLOSING AFTER N.J. MAN IS KILLED

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, October 6, 1991

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

Daisy Benitez says being held up is something the merchants in her area learn to live with. But after a robbery claimed the life of a Tenafly man in her store, she says she’s closing up shop.
Benjamin Braddock Peisch, 24, of Oak Street was shot and killed Thursday night when he walked in on a robbery of the Daisy Bariete clothing store in Upper Manhattan and intervened.
Benitez, 34, of Queens said Saturday that she would sell her stock T-shirts, jeans, socks and close her doors for good.
“If he hadn’t had a fight with them, they wouldn’t have shot him,” Benitez said in Spanish, translated by her 24-year-old niece, Florence Ramos. “They threw him on the floor twice and told him to stay there. He kept getting up.”
John Mullin, a Tenafly High School social studies teacher, said Peisch was just the kind of person to intervene if he saw something amiss.
“This kid was a gentleman through and through; he’s always stood up for the underdog,” Mullin said. “It would have been a surprise to me that something wrong was going on and he didn’t try to set it right.”
Tenafly High School Vice Principal Bernard Josefsberg said the death was a shock to everyone at the school.
“This was really a great kid,” he said.
On graduation from the school in 1986, Peisch was given a $500 scholarship by the Tenafly Lions Club, in part for demonstrating seriousness of purpose and civic consciousness, Josefsberg said Friday.
His family declined to comment.
Peisch, a junior at Montclair State College, first came to the store about two weeks ago and stopped to talk with one of the saleswomen, Benitez said. He seemed to like the woman and returned to talk to her twice, she said.
The three robbers came in about 6 p.m. Thursday, put guns to the backs of three employees, and herded them into the back of main area of the store, in the basement of a residential building at 568 W. 171 St.
“He came down in the middle of all this and went to the girl’s defense,” Benitez said.
The robbers knocked him to the ground twice, Ramos said, the second time hitting him with the butt of a handgun and opening a gash in the back of his head. In the ensuing struggle, as the three men ganged up on Peisch, one shot him in the chest, she said.
No one else was injured, and the men escaped with an unspecified amount of money. Benitez said the employees working in the store at the time of the robbery had quit and would not return.
Police on Saturday were looking for witnesses, said New York City police Sgt. Tina Mohrmann.

Keywords: ROBBERY; STORE; CLOSING; NEW JERSEY; MURDER; TENAFLY; SHOOTING; NEW YORK CITY; CLOTHING; BENJAMIN BRADDOCK PEISCH

Oct 05

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ROBBERS KILL N.J. SHOPPER; TENAFLY MAN INTERVENED

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, October 5, 1991

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

A 24-year-old Tenafly man who walked in on an armed robbery at a New York City clothing store and intervened was shot and killed by one of the robbers, police said Friday.
Benjamin Peisch of 91 Oak St. died at the scene on Thursday, 34th Precinct Detective Matthew Fallon said.
“He had an altercation with one of the people committing the robbery. They hit him a couple of times, then shot him,” Fallon said.
Peisch was shot once in the chest as he struggled with one of three men during the robbery, which occurred about 6:25 p.m. in the basement of Daisy Bariete Store, a unisex clothing store at 568 W. 171 St., Fallon said.
Peisch was an innocent bystander who “seemed to have walked into an apparent robbery in the store” and decided to get involved, Fallon said, adding that police were looking on Friday for witnesses.
No one else was injured, and the men escaped with an amount of money police would not disclose.
Peisch is believed to have been a 1986 graduate of Tenafly High School.
Sgt. Norris Hollmon, a police spokesman, said police used identification in Peisch’s wallet to trace him to Tenafly late Thursday. Tenafly Police Chief Allen Layne said he was called by New York police about the death at 10:19 p.m., and that his officers notified the family. Hollmon said the family identified Peisch’s body later that night.
A man reached at the family residence on Friday declined to comment.

Keywords: TENAFLY; ROBBERY; NEW YORK CITY; SHOOTING; MURDER; CLOTHING; STORE

Oct 03

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SUSPECTED KIDNAPPER IS SHOT; WAVED DYNAMITE AT MARSHALS

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, October 3, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 1 Star | NEWS | Page B01

A 50-year-old man wanted for masterminding the kidnapping of a Union County businessman for ransom two years ago was shot and wounded by one of two U.S. marshals in North Bergen as he waved a stick of dynamite at them, authorities said.
Julio Sosa Rodriguez of Jersey City was holding a lighter to the dynamite, threatening to ignite it, and refusing the agents commands to drop it, said Arthur Borinsky, U.S. marshal for New Jersey.
The shooting occurred about 10:40 p.m. Tuesday at the corner of 14th Street and Paterson Plank Road, said township police Lt. Timothy Kelly.
The marshals learned that Sosa was going to be in the area and, accompanied by local authorities, approached a van where they suspected he was hiding, said Bill Licatovich, a public affairs specialist with the U.S. Marshals Service in Washington.
When they told Sosa to come out, he emerged holding the dynamite, authorities said.
Sosa, who was shot in the upper torso, was in custody at the Jersey City Medical Center on Wednesday. A hospital spokesman said he was in stable condition.
He was wanted on a Sept. 7, 1989, complaint of kidnapping and illegal possession of firearms, said Union County First Assistant Prosecutor Michael Lapolla.
On Sosa’s order, Nydia Gonzalez Melendez and Hese Ayala, also known as Johnnie Ayala, kidnapped George Sanchez of Elizabeth in Union City on Sept. 1, 1989, Lapolla said.
Sanchez had a business in Union City, Lapolla said.
Sosa was in phone contact with the two men as they tried to get Sanchez’s wife to pay a $100,000 ransom.
The call to Sanchez’s wife, made by Gonzalez, was traced to a pay phone in Hoboken, and he was arrested there.
“When [Gonzalez] didn’t return,” Lapolla said, “the victim convinced Ayala that he had taken off with the ransom money, and he persuaded Ayala to take him home, that he would give him money.”
Ayala was arrested when he got to Sanchez’s home.
Both men pleaded guilty and are serving prison terms on kidnapping charges.
Sosa, however, was not seen again until Tuesday.

Keywords: KIDNAPPING; SHOOTING; NORTH BERGEN; POLICE; BOMB

Oct 03

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TEANECK ROBBERY SUSPECT HAD BEEN ON PAROLE 3 DAYS

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, October 3, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 6 Star | NEWS | Page B03

A Jersey City man who robbed a Teaneck savings and loan twice in a two-month period committed the first crime three days after he had been paroled for robbing another bank, authorities said.
Alfred N. Ferguson, 34, was charged Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Newark with one count of robbery, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Brown said. On Tuesday he jumped over the counter at Oritani Savings and Loan at 560 Cedar Lane and took about $5,000 from tellers drawers, police said.
Ferguson, being held without bail in the Union County Jail in Elizabeth, also is expected to be charged with the Aug. 1 robbery of the savings and loan, in which $10,000 was taken, and with the July 31 attempted robbery of the United Jersey Bank branch at 21 Park Place in Englewood, authorities said.
After his capture following the robbery Tuesday, Ferguson confessed to the two robberies of the savings and loan and to the attempted robbery at the Englewood bank, in which his note demanding money was refused, police said.
That attempt occurred two days after Ferguson was released from the Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Institution in Bordentown. He had been paroled after serving three years of an eight-year term for robbing a Jersey City bank in 1988, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Corrections Department said.
Teaneck Police Detective Lt. Warren White said Ferguson walked into Oritani Savings and Loan about 2:25 p.m. Tuesday and vaulted over the bank counter including a transparent, protective barrier that was installed after he allegedly robbed the bank in the same manner two months earlier.
Sweeping past two tellers, both of whom were on hand for the first robbery, Ferguson reached into their cash drawers and took about $5,000 before running out the door, police said.
A customer in the bank ran after Ferguson as he dashed across Cedar Lane. The customer, who got into his car and drove after the suspect, saw him jump into his car and drive away. He gave upthe chase when police pulled behind Ferguson and arrested him a short time later. The customer is expected to testify as a witness.
The FBI, which had been investigating because bank robbery is a federal offense, questioned Ferguson late Tuesday and charged him under federal statutes. Also instrumental in the investigation, said FBI spokesman William Tonkin, were the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department.

Keywords: TEANECK; BANK; ROBBERY

Oct 02

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BIKER LEADS COPS ON TWO-COUNTY, THREE-HOUR CHASE

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By David Gibson and Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writers | Wednesday, October 2, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 6 Star | NEWS | Page B03

A 24-year-old man stole a motorcycle in South Nyack, N.Y., on Tuesday, then led police on a chase across Bergen County before being arrested three hours later in Paterson, authorities said.
Christopher Rea, who faces numerous charges in Passaic County and New York, was being held in the Passaic County Jail in lieu of $35,000 bail on the New Jersey charges and on a detainer on the New York charges.
Bergen County Police Sgt. Paul Hamel said Rea was a blur through Bergen County as he darted on and off highways onto local roads on the powerful 1991 motorcycle. Although officers from several departments allegedly saw Rea, none came close enough to catch him.
Among the highways he was spotted on in Bergen were the Palisades Interstate Parkway, Route 4, Route 17, and Route 46, police said.
He was captured just past 2 p.m. after he rode onto Union Avenue in Totowa and was spotted by a Passaic County sheriff’s officer who had just heard a broadcast of the suspect’s description.
Sgt. Dennis Schlosser chased Rea, who fled at high speed, according to Sgt. Kathy Kryszko, a sheriff’s department spokeswoman.
Kryszko did not elaborate on the speeds reached during the chase. But she said Rea drove quickly through red lights and stop signs as he led Schlosser on a three-mile slalom down Union Avenue, onto Preakness Avenue in Paterson, over to Front Street, and finally to Spruce Street by the Great Falls.
There, Kryszko said, Rea abandoned the motorcycle and plunged into the Passaic River. Schlosser had alerted other authorities, however, and officers from the Sheriff’s Department and the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office persuaded Rea to swim to the riverbank and surrender.
No one was injured in the chase, Kryszko said. She said Rea gave addresses in North Bergen and Weehawken, but said his home base was in Daytona Beach, Fla.
South Nyack Police Chief Alan Colsey said when Rea returns to his town, the charges will include burglary, criminal mischief, grand larceny, resisting arrest, criminal possession of stolen property, and about 10 motor vehicle violations.
He was charged in Totowa with one criminal count of reckless eluding. He faces a similar charge in Paterson, as well as charges of possession of stolen property, possession of burglary tools the screwdriver used to steal the motorbike and resisting arrest by fleeing.

Keywords: MOTOR VEHICLE; VIOLATION; NEW YORK STATE; BC; PC; POLICE

Caption: PHOTO – KLAUS-PETER STEITZ / THE RECORD – Officer Bryan Dalton radioing information on a stolen motorcycle that police chased from New York to Paterson.

Oct 02

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BANK HEIST A REPEAT PERFORMANCE; THIS TIME, CRIME DOESN’T PAY

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, October 2, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 6 Star | NEWS | Page B01

Two months to the day after he jumped over a bank counter in Teaneck and stole about $10,000, police say, Alfred N. Ferguson returned Tuesday afternoon and repeated the routine, getting about $5,000.
This time, however, Ferguson was captured when employees at the Oritani Savings & Loan Association at 560 Cedar Lane telephoned police. A patrol car pulled over the suspect’s car about a mile away.
Ferguson, 34, of Jersey City, gave police a lengthy statement admitting both robberies, said Lt. Warren White, head of the Teaneck Detective Bureau. The FBI questioned the suspect, who will be charged under federal statutes.
Police said Ferguson entered the bank at about 2:20 p.m. Tuesday, startling the two tellers and one customer as he vaulted over the counter. Those same two tellers had been working behind the counter on Aug. 1, when the first robbery occurred.
That day, at about 11:15 a.m., Ferguson wearing a dark baseball cap and sunglasses and displaying a small revolver allegedly jumped over the counter and announced, “Yo, yo, this is a robbery! Stand back so no one gets hurt! ” About $10,000 was stolen.
He did not have a gun Tuesday, said Capt. Gary Fiedler, but he was wearing a red hooded sweatshirt, a baseball cap, and a blue bandana, Fiedler said.
Without saying a word, Ferguson allegedly proceeded to take wads of cash from the teller drawers before leaping back over the counter and fleeing.
Detective Sgt. Robert Adomilli and Detective Francis McCall were in an unmarked patrol car around Windsor and Beverly roads when they heard a broadcast of the robbery and a description of the suspect.
The detectives then saw the suspect’s black 1984 Buick leaving a parking spot about a 1 1/2 blocks ahead on Beverly Road, Adomilli said. The driver went west, turning north on River Road.
Adomilli said that as the car moved along at 10 mph, the two lawmen pulled up behind and then alongside it only to hear Ferguson yell: “What, am I speeding? ”
“We answered back, `Yes, you are speeding.”
With weapon drawn, McCall approached the suspect after he pulled his car to a stop. The detective then instructed him to place his hands on the wheel.
“He did everything we asked him to do,” McCall said.
Tuesday’s robbery was the fifth in Bergen County since Aug. 1. On Labor Day weekend, there was a break-in at an Urban National Bank branch in Franklin Lakes. The safe-deposit vault was looted in that instance.

Keywords: TEANECK; BANK; ROBBERY

Sep 29

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RESCUE TRAINING AT DEADLY POND TO SAVE LIVES, NOT FIND BODIES

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, September 29, 1991

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

Kingsley Pond, with its shimmering brownish-green surface, has been the site of many drownings in past years. Saturday, it was the site of rescue training for the Oakland Fire Department scuba team.
Joe Bogonian, the team’s coordinator-dive master and a member of Oakland’s first dive team, said the emphasis since the group was formed 21 years ago had been on recovering bodies and objects.
“We weren’t so much thinking about rescuing people,” Bogonian said.
But, as Oakland Fire Chief Roy Bauberger said Saturday, new methods of reviving near-drowning victims have since been developed.
On Saturday, the procedures were being taught by Lifeguard Systems, a training group, to Oakland’s 10-member scuba team, plus 10 divers from the Bergen County Police Department and the Pompton Lakes, Lyndhurst, and Wallington fire departments. Butch Hendrick, president of the Hurley, N.Y., group, said it teaches tactical water operations to military, police, fire, and emergency medical service workers.
Oakland has several bodies of water including Potash Lake, where two men drowned last year, and Kingsley Pond, where a 17-year-old drowned four years ago.
Matt Gallup, an Oakland firefighter and a member of the first aid squad, said he was startled at first when he came face to face with a bass on his first dive Saturday. He was supposed to rescue a baby-size mannequin in the training.
“It looks pretty easy, jumping in the water and just swimming,” Gallup said. “But you take a pretty good beating down there.”
A diver may have to go around many objects tree limbs, refrigerators, automobile parts, and other debris to reach the victim.
The problem with most dive teams, Hendrick said, is that they are sport oriented and not prepared to retrieve a body or objects in black or difficult waters.
The weekend’s training the first leg was at the man-made Kingsley Pond three weeks ago concludes there today.

Keywords: RESCUE; FIREMAN; LAKE; OAKLAND; SWIMMING; ACCIDENT; DEATH; VICTIM

Caption: 1 – PHOTO – ROBERT S. TOWNSEND / THE RECORD – Above, rescue personnel participating in training exercises from the banks of Kingsley Pond on Saturday. 2 – PHOTO – ROBERT S. TOWNSEND / THE RECORD – Below, Robert Ventura, left, and Tony Galka of the Wallington Fire Department practicing procedures as a dive team one man stands by just offshore to aid the diver.

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