By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, June 6, 1991
The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B03
Two Paterson men were charged Wednesday with carrying a police baton and two automatic handguns following their arrest during a traffic stop on Route 46.
William G. Figueroa, 18, of 62 22nd Ave. and David Cruz, 24, of 96 Market St. were stopped about 9:50 p.m. Tuesday after pulling out of a motel driveway onto Route 46 westbound without coming to a full stop, said Arthur Montenegro, the acting police chief.
Montenegro, Detective Lt. Gene Roma, Patrolman Brian Veprek, and Detective Michael Montenegro were on special assignment when they saw the 1985 Volkswagen Rabbit pull out of the driveway.
Roma saw the baton in the car’s back seat and asked whether either man was a police officer or a security guard. Both said they were not and police arrested them.
“When the driver got out of the vehicle, I saw the butt of a handgun sticking out of a hole in the console of the vehicle,” Arthur Montenegro said.
It was a loaded .380-caliber automatic, and its serial number was scratched off, meaning it was probably stolen, Montenegro said. A search of the car revealed a .38-caliber Derringer, he added.
Montenegro said a search of the motel room where the men had been staying turned up several hollow-nosed bullets.
Both men face charges including possession of two loaded handguns, hollow-nose bullets, and a baton, as well as defacing a firearm by filing off the serial number. Figueroa was being held in the Bergen County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail and Cruz on $2,500 bail.
Keywords: SOUTH HACKENSACK; WEAPON; CRIME
ID: 17345706 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)
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