FUGITIVE IN MOTEL ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Friday, June 21, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B02

A 28-year-old man wanted in Passaic County for sentencing on drug charges is being held without bail following his arrest Thursday in a motel, authorities said.
Pernell Brooks, 28, was flushing crack cocaine down a toilet when five detectives two from Secaucus and three from the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department walked into his room at the Red Roof Inn about 10 a.m., said Sgt. Kathy Krzysko, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Department.
Brooks, whose last known address is 68 President St., Passaic, was wanted on five warrants for failing to appear in Passaic County Superior Court for sentencing, Krzysko said.
Krzysko said the detectives recovered $10,000 worth of crack cocaine, some of it in jumbo vials, and about 500 empty vials.
Brooks faces charges in Secaucus and Passaic County for possession of cocaine, possession of the drug with intent to distribute, possession of paraphernalia, hindering his arrest by allegedly flushing the drug down the toilet, and maintaining a drug production facility.

Keywords: SECAUCUS; PC; DRUG; CRIME

TWO PATERSON MEN FACE GUN CHARGES CAR, MOTEL SEARCHES UNEARTH WEAPONS

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

FASTER FINGERPRINTS FOILING FELONS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, May 11, 1991

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

Christopher Villone was in a Bergen County Jail cell on burglary charges one day in late March when investigators walked in and told him he was being charged with four more counts of burglary.
The state’s year-old Automated Fingerprint Identification System had analyzed prints found at a burglary scene in River Edge and identified Villone as a suspect. He was subsequently tied to three other break-ins.
Without the automated system, it’s unlikely that Villone, a 19-year-old Bergenfield resident, could have been tied to the additional burglaries, police said.
Until recently, police in North Jersey could not take full advantage of the computer because they had to travel to Trenton to use it.
But last month, the system was installed at the state police barracks in Totowa. Officials are looking forward to the benefits it will bring.
The computer has 1 million fingerprints in its memory and can identify suspects within 23 minutes.
Since its installation in May 1990, it has identified suspects in more than 360 cases, including 28 homicides, state police Sgt. Phil Boots said.
But before the system came to the Totowa barracks April 23, only five of those identifications were for Bergen County crimes. Other North Jersey law enforcement agencies fared little better, Boots said.
Before computerization, a detective who took fingerprints from a crime scene had to compare them with file cards containing fingerprints of known suspects, Boots said.
It would take 167 years to do what the computer does each time it is presented with a print from a crime scene.

Keywords: NEW JERSEY; POLICE; COMPUTER; TECHNOLOGY; CRIME

Caption: COLOR PHOTO – Linda DeVries operating computerized fingerprint system.

2 CHARGED WITH SELLING PHONY IDS TO MINORS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, April 27, 1991

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

A 32-year-old Jersey City man who police said sold “several hundred” fake New Jersey driver’s licenses to underage students in four states was released Friday from a Delaware jail on $15,000 bail.
For the past two years, Howard A. Lubowsky produced and sold the bogus licenses to high school students in the Cresskill area and to college students in Delaware, Philadelphia, and New Rochelle, N.Y., police said.
“The only purpose of a 17-year-old getting one of these is so they could get served in bars and liquor stores,” said Cresskill Detective Sgt. William Macchio, noting that 17-year-olds can obtain legal New Jersey driver’s licenses. Charges are pending against Lubowsky in Cresskill.
About a month ago, Cresskill and Newark, Del., police discovered that they were investigating the same man, Macchio said, when Newark police called borough police about a fake New Jersey license they had confiscated. The license bore a borough address.
On three separate occasions, Macchio said, Lubowsky came to Cresskill for photo sessions at a teenager’s house. At least 20 students would pay $25 to have their pictures taken, then pay $25 a week later at a license-signing and laminating session, Macchio said.
At a University of Delaware dormitory Wednesday night, one of the people Lubowsky photographed was an undercover Newark, Del., police officer, a university security official said. Lubowski had sold 58 licenses at the school in October and was prepared to sell 55 Wednesday, the security official said.
In Delaware, charges against Lubowsky include 12 counts of forgery, unlawful production of driver’s licenses, and possession of forgery devices. A Morris Plains woman, Claudia Silverberg, 31, also faced similar charges. She was being held Friday in a Delaware correctional facility, authorities said.

Keywords: JERSEY CITY; CRIME; LICENSE; YOUTH; SALE; CRESSKILL

BERGEN FIRM HIT IN $13M DRUG BUST

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, April 20, 1991

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

Federal drug agents have arrested the president of an Englewood Cliffs trucking firm, seized 1,087 pounds of cocaine found in a company truck, and confiscated the company’s assets, officials said.
Agents in New York, Los Angeles, and Tucson, Ariz., seized an additional 420 pounds of cocaine bringing the total value of the drug seizure to $13.3 million after the arrest of six individuals Wednesday in Queens, U.S. Customs Service Special Agent Martin Ficke said Friday. Three other people were arrested in Tucson, he said.
Jaime Quintero, president of Suffolk Overland Transport Inc. at 701 Palisades Ave., set up the deal for the truck to carry the drugs, Ficke said.
Ficke said about 12 trailers belonging to the company, which he said had been involved in “significant” drug trafficking since December 1989, were seized, along with other assets. The company’s 25 employees were effectively out of work, he said.
A man who answered Suffolk Overland Transport’s telephone in Englewood Cliffs on Friday declined to comment.
After the investigation began about two weeks ago in Tucson, agents followed a truck to Los Angeles, then to Newark, and finally to Queens, Ficke said.

Keywords: USA; DRUG; CRIME; ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS; BUSINESS; EXECUTIVE; MOTOR VEHICLE

ANONYMOUS CALL LEADS POLICE TO DRUG SUSPECTS

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Thursday, April 18, 1991

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

Three men were arrested on drug charges after a tipster told city police they were selling cocaine on West Street on Tuesday night.
Fernando Hernandez, 29, of Palisades Park; Uriel Capata, 22, of New York City, and German Rodriguez, 45, of Englewood were being held in the Bergen County Jail, each on $35,000 bail.
They were charged with possession of cocaine, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, and possession of an illegal drug within 1,000 feet of a school, said Englewood Police Capt. C. Kenneth Tinsley. Police also seized more than $1,000 and the 1985 Chevrolet car that Hernandez drove, he said.
An anonymous caller told police at about 7:15 p.m. that the three men were seen selling drugs on West Street, Tinsley said.
Detective Joseph Martin cut the car off at West Street’s intersection with Palisade Avenue. A dog from the Bergen County Police Department canine unit found about 38 grams of pure cocaine, worth about $40,000, in the car, Tinsley said. Most of the cocaine was hidden under the air-conditioning compartment in the car, he said.

Keywords: ENGLEWOOD; DRUG; CRIME

POLICE WARNING OF SCAM `CHIMNEY SWEEPS SOLICIT IN TEANECK

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, January 18, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page B05

Daniel Stewart said the deal to clean his chimney sounded good on the telephone, and the woman making the offer even gave him an additional $10 discount.
But when the deal later ballooned from $58 to about $1,000, Stewart, 36, of Birch Street, threatened to call police, and the workmen quickly left his home.
“They use high-pressure tactics,” Stewart said. “They try to scare you into making repairs. “
Teaneck Police Detective William Grace said township residents, especially the elderly, should be aware that this is just another variety of an old scam.
Grace, who sent a bulletin to police departments in the area when he heard of the scam, said police have no leads on who the con men were.
Stewart said he received a phone call about two weeks ago. A woman said American Chimney Experts was cleaning chimneys on Birch Street and offered to clean Stewart’s at a $25 discount from the $90 going rate.
“She asked me if I was a veteran and I told her no. She said too bad, because if I had been a veteran, that would have been an additional $10 discount,” Stewart said. She offered the $10 discount anyway, bringing the bill to $55 plus tax.
Three workmen arrived at his home about 45 minutes earlier than the appointed time, when he wasn’t home, he said. One man climbed to the top of the chimney, one went to the basement, and one sat down to play the piano as he negotiated with Stewart’s wife.
The man on the chimney started throwing objects down the shaft. Another said he felt something “furry” in the furnace flue. They said there was a carbon-monoxide buildup inside the chimney and that, because of state regulations, they had to turn the furnace off. They offered to do the work for $1,000.
“My wife told them they were crazy,” Stewart said.
The men disappeared when Stewart returned home about 30 minutes later and said he was going to call police.
A spokesman at the Bergen County Division of Consumer Affairs said he had never heard of American Chimney Experts.
Linda Enslow, secretary of the New Jersey Chimney Sweep Guild, said consumers should be wary of such offers. The guild can be reached at 761-1054, and it will refer people who need work done to professional sweeps in their community.

Keywords: TEANECK; FRAUD; CRIME

HACKENSACK SHOOTING VICTIM HELD; POLICE SAY HE RAN COCAINE RING

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, January 12, 1991

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

A 28-year-old city resident who was paralyzed last month in what New York police called a drug-related shootout was arrested Friday on drug and weapon charges as he came out of a hospital.
Juan Cuevas, now wheelchair-bound, had just attended a physical-therapy session at Hackensack Medical Center when police arrested him at noon, Police Chief William Iurato said.
Cuevas was charged with possession of a firearm, possession of cocaine, and possession of drug paraphernalia as a result of a police raid on his home last month. He was released after his wife paid 10 percent of $5,000 bail.
Iurato said police will move to seize Cuevas single-family, Colonial-style house at 385 Summit Ave. because he operated a large-scale cocaine ring there. Cuevas purchased the house for $275,000 in August, the chief said.
“At this point we don’t know how sophisticated the operation was, but the home was protected by a sophisticated surveillance and burglar-alarm system,” Iurato said.
New York City police found the bullet-riddled bodies of four men, including Cuevas, at 620 S. 147th St. in Manhattan on Dec. 16. Two of the men were dead. Cuevas, who had been shot in the chest and lungs, and the fourth man were hospitalized.
Acting on a tip from an anonymous caller on Dec. 18, the Hackensack Police Narcotics Unit arrested his wife, Elizabeth Cuevas, 23, his brother, Jose Cuevas, 24, and Anselmo Pineda, 37, at the house. During the arrest, Hackensack police found a .45-caliber handgun, scales used to weigh drugs, burglar alarms, signaling devices, and surveillance cameras in and outside the house, including one in a birdhouse.

Keywords: HACKENSACK; SHOOTING; VICTIM; DRUG; CRIME

BUS FIRM CITED FOR POLLUTING RIVER

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

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

The state has cited a borough bus company for polluting the Saddle River after state police Thursday found motor oil draining from the company’s parking lot into the river, officials said.
The civil citations against Saddle River Tours Ltd. at 119 Graham Lane were filed by state police and the state Department of Environmental Protection, spokesmen for both agencies said Friday.
A unit of the state police Marine Investigation Bureau, while on routine patrol of the Saddle River about 10:30 a.m. Thursday, found a large amount of oil running into a drainpipe along the parking lot that emptied into the river, state police spokesman Capt. Thomas Gallagher said.
While checking for the source of the oil, the marine police unit also found oil running through a hookup from the parking lot into the borough sewer system, officials said.
Sgt. Kevin J. Harnett of the Bergen County Police Emergency Management Unit, who also responded to the scene, said the environmental crime unit of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating possible criminal violations by the company.
Gallagher said the state police contacted the Lodi Police and Fire departments and the Prosecutor’s Office because of the hookup into the sewer line.
County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said he could not comment on the matter.
Representatives of Saddle River Tours could not be reached for comment Friday.
Bruce Doyle, an emergency response specialist with the DEP, said the department’s division of hazardous waste management will oversee the cleanup and remedial measures to be taken by Saddle River Tours.

Keywords: LODI; BUS; BUSINESS; RIVER; OIL; CRIME; ENVIRONMENT

DON’T INVITE HOLIDAY CRIME

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, December 23, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | SOUTH CENTRAL BERGEN | Page 11

As police in Englewood Cliffs tell residents at this time of year, “Don’t play Santa to a burglar. ” Put lights on timers, turn on your home alarms, and notify your police department when you leave on vacation.

While burglars strike at any time of year, homes in the region have been particularly hard-hit in recent months.

Englewood Cliffs Deputy Police Chief Patrick Farley said residents should assist the police by being vigilant and reporting suspicious activities.

Fort Lee Police Chief John Orso said residents should also be wary of flim-flam artists. Don’t pay for cash-on-delivery packages that you didn’t order, he added: Some nicely wrapped packages turn out to be empty.

For residents who will be vacationing out of town, Orso said the Fort Lee police, like those in several other communities, have a program in which homes are watched to protect them from burglars.

Emerson police Sgt. Ronald Micucci agreed, saying tough times make people more desperate.

Englewood Deputy Police Chief William Luciano said there are block associations in the city and that neighbors should also alert each other and perhaps leave keys when they will be gone for any length of time.

Other departments say to have neighbors take in mail and not to allow newspapers to pile up in front of your home.

The malls will be staying busy past Christmas Day so shoppers, especially the elderly, should watch their pocketbooks when shopping and walking to cars, police say.