MICHAEL O. ALLEN

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Elmwood Park

GLEN ROCK GOLF PRO ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES

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MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, March 15, 1992

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

A Glen Rock golf instructor was arrested Friday on charges of selling cocaine, Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said Saturday.

Rodney R. Frith, 31, of 36 Grover Terrace was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and was being held Saturday in the Bergen County Jail on $100,000 bail, Fahy said. Fahy said Frith works as a golf pro at Hillman’s Golfland in Elmwood Park.

A friend of Frith’s, Ceser Brienza, a Chestnut, N.Y., rubbish removal company owner, also was being held on the same amount of bail on the same charge, Fahy said.

Fahy said that Brienza, who had sold cocaine to Bergen County narcotics agents on two previous occasions, brought Frith with him to a Friday night rendezvous in Hackensack with people who, unknown to the suspects, were county narcotics agents. The meeting occurred behind Channel Home Center in Hackensack. They were taken into custody about 6:05 p.m.

Agents seized 1 kilogram of cocaine, with an approximate value of $25,000.
GLEN ROCK; GOLF; PROFESSIONAL; DRUG; ABUSE; SALE; HACKENSACK; ELMWOOD PARK; NEW YORK STATE; RODNEY R. FRITH

ID: 17371517 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

CRASH KILLS ONE, INJURES THREE; Teen in Stolen Car Dies Fleeing Police

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By David Gibson and Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writers | Wednesday, March 11, 1992

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

A car theft in Paterson ended tragically in Elmwood Park near midnight Monday when the stolen car, driven by an unlicensed driver who had arrived from Puerto Rico four months ago, tried to elude pursuing police and slammed head-on into a car driven by a Garfield woman.

The driver of the stolen car, 19-year-old Manuel Cardona, was killed on the spot, and his two teenage passengers were badly injured. The Garfield woman, Sophie Soltys, 45, of Summit Avenue, also was seriously injured, authorities said.

Soltys suffered head injuries and bruised ribs and was listed in stable condition in the intensive care unit of St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Paterson, where the two other survivors were taken.

A 14-year-old passenger in the stolen car was in stable condition in the pediatric intensive care unit with multiple trauma. A 16-year-old passenger was on life-support, said Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy.

Cardona, who was driving the steel-gray 1986 Hyundai, was pronounced dead at 12:06 a.m. at the River Drive and Summit Avenue accident scene, Fahy said.

Fahy, whose office is investigating the crash along with the Clifton and Elmwood Park police departments, said the Clifton and Elmwood Park police officers who chased the teenagers followed state guidelines regarding pursuits.

Police said Cardona had arrived in Paterson from Puerto Rico with his family two months ago and was not licensed to drive in New Jersey. He was living with relatives at 163 Redwood Ave. His family said Cardona had never been in trouble before.

The chase, which covered about two miles at speeds approaching 60 mph, came after a surveillance that began in Clifton about 11:40 p.m. Monday, said city Detective Capt. James Territo. He gave the following account:

Patrolmen Warren Lee and Pat Ciser, who was behind the wheel of their squad car, were parked at Randolph and Knapp avenues when the Hyundai passed them on Randolph Avenue moving toward Passaic. The officers began to follow. Noticing that the passengers were behaving nervously, they decided to check the police computer to see if the Hyundai was stolen.

The officers continued to follow as the car proceeded at the speed limit to Parker and Ackerman avenues. There, it abruptly made an illegal left-hand turn from the right-hand lane and headed over the bridge above the Passaic River, and into Garfield.

The car went north on River Road toward Elmwood Park, with the Clifton officers still following. At that moment, the officers were able to confirm that the car had been stolen in Paterson.

The officers then decided to pull the car over and issue a summons for the illegal turn made earlier.

“They activated their lights and, `Boom, the car takes off,” recounted Territo. The Clifton car gave chase and put out a bulletin for area departments to watch for the vehicle.

As the cars passed into Elmwood Park at Market Street and River Road, Elmwood Park Patrolwoman Debra Lysiak joined the pursuit. Two blocks later the car Cardona was driving sped up, police reports said, and went airborne as it hit a rise at a railroad crossing by River Drive and Summit Avenue. It was 11:53 p.m.

“As it came down on the pavement, the driver seemed to lose control,” said Elmwood Park Police Chief Byron Morgan II. “He veered into the oncoming traffic and hit a car in the southbound lane.” The car was a 1986 Oldsmobile driven by Soltys.

The fire department had to use the “jaws of life” to extricate the drivers of both the Oldsmobile and the Hyundai.”

Police said the Clifton patrol car was about 150 feet behind the Hyundai, followed immediatley by the the Elmwood Park police car, when the crash occurred.

No charges have been filed in the case.

Territo said the two Clifton patrolmen remained on duty and said they acted properly: “At this point we’re not looking at it as if anything was done wrong. We’re really looking into it as a matter of course.”

“It wasn’t like a high-speed, lengthy chase,” he added. “It was almost over before it started.”

Fahy called the pursuit a “proper chase,” and said the police did not exceed the speed limit.

Anna Cardona, the victim’s mother, was leaving late Tuesday for Puerto Rico, said Cesar Adorno, with whom she has lived for several years. Adorno said he would follow today with Cardona’s body, which will be buried in Puerto Rico.

“If this hadn’t happened we would have stayed here,” Adorno said. “Maybe to make a life.”

The dead man was a “real good guy” who had “never been in trouble with the police anytime or anywhere,” said Cesar Adorno, who has lived with the victim’s mother, Anna Cardona, for several years.

Cardona’s family, including his younger brother, came to Newark in November to be with an ailing cousin, Adorno said. They moved in with relatives in Paterson in December.

Adorno said Manuel Cardona, who was born and raised in the Bronx until his family went to Puerto Rico when was 4 years old, was studying for his high school equivalency diploma and was working part-time in construction. Adorno said the family did not know the juveniles

involved in the crash, or how Cardona came to be behind the wheel of a stolen car.
They last saw Cardona early Monday evening before he went to “hang out” with friends.

Police arrived at the home about 2 a.m. Tuesday with the news of his death.

Caption: The wreckage of the 1986 Hyundai whose teenage driver was killed Monday in a crash while reportedly fleeing police. Police said the car was stolen in Paterson. 2 – Below, police investigating the scene of the accident Tuesday. 3 – (4s, 3s, 2s, 1s) PHOTO – Manuel Cardona and his family moved to New Jersey in November. 2 COLOR PHOTOS – PETER MONSEES / THE RECORD

ID: 17371116 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

MAN CHARGED IN WIFE’S ORDEAL; HE DRENCHED HER WITH GAS, COPS SAY

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, December 20, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | Page C05

A 27-year-old man abducted his estranged wife from a Teaneck street, drenched her with gasoline, and threatened to set both of them afire if she did not reconcile with him, police said.

Russell J. Kutcher was arrested in a Ridgefield motel where he had taken her, police said. Kutcher was being held Thursdau on $500,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail. His wife, whom police declined to name, was not injured.

The couple, separated since September, were in the process of getting a divorce. The woman had obtained a temporary restraining order against Kutcher on Dec. 13 because he was bothering her, Teaneck police Detective Leonard Pinto said. They were married in February.

Kutcher, a former Garfield resident who had been living at the motel, abducted the 24-year-old Elmwood Park woman about 12:45 p.m. Wednesday as she was talking with a friend at Bergen Street and Blauvelt Avenue near Ridgefield Park, Pinto said.

He dragged her into his 1978 Ford Thunderbird, then pulled a container from the back seat and poured gasoline over her head, Pinto said.

“He held a lighter to me and threatened to kill us both if I didn’t stop screaming,” the woman later told police.

A few minutes later, the frantic friend hailed Ridgefield Park police Sgt. Timothy LaTour, who had just left his house after a lunch break, and told him what had happened. LaTour broadcast a description of Kutcher’s car, and police from Teaneck and Ridgefield joined Ridgefield Park police in the search.

About 1:30 p.m., LaTour found Kutcher’s car in the parking lot of the Turnpike Motor Hotel on Route 46 west.

LaTour said he waited for backup from Ridgefield Park Capt. William Morton and Officer Philip McEntee, Pinto, and Ridgefield Detective Richard Stoltenborg, Investigator William Candeletti, and Officer William Pych, and that police then kicked in the door of Room 59.

“She was inside the room, sitting on the bed, crying,” LaTour said. “He was just walking around with pants, no shirt on.”

Kutcher gave up without incident, police said. Ambulance personnel found his wife covered with gasoline, Stoltenborg said.

Police said Kutcher, an unemployed chef, was staying in the motor hotel for the past week. His last known address was 271 Lanza Ave., Garfield.

He was charged Thursday in Teaneck Municipal Court with abduction and aggravated assault. Bail was set at $100,000. He was charged in Ridgefield with criminal restraint, unlawful imprisonment, making terroristic threats, and contempt of court for violating the restraining order. Bail there was set at $400,000.

ID: 17364118 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)

FOUR SUSPECTS IN DRUG RING ARRESTED SOLD AGENTS COCAINE NEAR SCHOOL

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, November 1, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 6 Star | NEWS | Page B04

Four alleged drug dealers were being held in the Bergen County Jail Thursday on $150,000 bail each, and county law enforcement officials say the arrests indicate they are beginning to crack key drug rings.

Facing charges of drug possession and distribution are Ernesto Villar, 34, and Eleanora Barclift, 28, both of Elizabeth, and Ivette Quinones, 34, and Luis Aiacena, 32, both of Newark, said Bergen County First Assistant Prosecutor Paul B. Brickfield.

Undercover agents bought cocaine from the suspects on Sept. 13, then arranged Wednesday’s “buy-and-bust” in Elmwood Park, he said.

About 3:10 p.m. Wednesday, Elmwood Park and state police, plus the Bergen County Narcotic Task Force, arrested the four after they sold 10 ounces of cocaine to an officer on Route 46 west, near the Gantner Avenue School, Brickfield said.

Villar drove a truck into a police car while trying to escape, Brickfield said. He said Investigator James Giblin, whose foot was broken, required surgery Thursday. Two other officers were treated for minor injuries.

Barclift was charged with two counts of selling cocaine to an undercover agent 10 ounces Wednesday and a quarter-ounce on Sept. 13. Villar faces similar charges, plus three counts of aggravated assault against a police officer.

Aiacena and Quinones, who face similar drug charges, were each also charged with one count of receiving stolen property the car they drove to the site, police said.

“Ten ounces is a significant amount of cocaine,” Brickfield said. He said the task force is targeting the larger dealers.

ID: 17359732 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)