FORT LEE HAS NIGHT OF WEAPON, DRUG ARRESTS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, December 7, 1990

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

Police on Wednesday night arrested eight people on drug charges in three separate incidents. Two others were arrested on weapons charges in a fourth incident, said Police Chief John Orso.

At 5:09 p.m., said Orso, Officer Roy Bortolus saw a car cut across three lanes as it traveled west on Route 4, near Bergen Boulevard.

When Bortolus stopped the vehicle, he found small amounts of cocaine and marijuana and $12,220 in cash, Orso said.

The driver, Danny Prince, 36, of Oklahoma City, and passengers Keith Prince, 32, and Steven Guest, 23, both of Jersey City, were charged with possession of drugs and of drug paraphernalia. Each was released on $1,000 bail.

Orso said Bortolus became suspicious when Danny Prince said the money was his life savings yet did not know the total amount, guessing it to be $10,000. “We confiscated that to find out where it came from,” the chief said.

The second arrest occurred at about 8:35 p.m. after Detective Gary Moleta, traveling west on Route 46 near the Plaza West shopping, saw a car weaving through traffic. Upon stopping the vehicle, Moleta found several bags containing a white powdery substance believed to heroin, Orso said.

Tywayne Williams and Arthur Hoffman, both 18 and of East Orange, were scheduled to be remanded in Bergen County Jail on Thursday. The two were charged with being under the influence of intoxicants. They were also charged with possession of drugs with intent to distribute.

At about 9:45 p.m., on Linwood Avenue, Officer Ken Porrino seized a 12-gauge shotgun from the back seat of a car driven by Thurston U. Allen, 25, of Rochester, N.Y.

Allen and his passenger, Martha Colas, 22, of Queens Village, N.Y., were arrested and charged with illegal possession of a weapon.

Orso said the pistol grip on the shotgun was illegal. The officer saw the weapon as he approached the car to check its registration, the police chief said.

At about 10:40 p.m., Officer Steve Choromanski stopped a car driven by Bruce Davis, 23, of Roanoke, Va., after watching the vehicle change lanes without signaling near the intersection of Routes 4 and 95, Orso said.

Choromanski seized drug paraphernalia, about $1,000 worth of crack, and $1,200 worth of marijuana from the car, Orso said. The officer then arrested Davis and his passengers, Bernice Crouse, 18, of Roanoke, and Robert Green, 20, of Martinsville, Va.

They were each charged with being in possession of cocaine, marijuana, and drug paraphernalia, and possession of drugs with intent to distribute.

3 BERGEN MEN ARRESTED; JEWELRY SEIZED

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, November 11, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A06

One man remained in the Bergen County Jail on Saturday while two others were freed on $15,000 bail each following their arrest Friday on charges of receiving stolen property.

The three were seized about 7:50 a.m. Friday as they sat in a parked car on Fletcher Avenue, behind the Red Oak Diner, Police Chief John Orso said. Orso said police seized jewelry, believed stolen in burglaries in at least two nearby communities, and $4,500 in cash.

The suspects were identified as Jeffrey Whitaker, 27, of Tryon Avenue, Teaneck; and Peter Cheremisinoff, 34, of Gorge Road, Cliffside Park, both of whom were freed on bail; and Troy Montgomery, 24, of West Palisade Avenue, Englewood.

Orso said Cheremisinoff faced an additional charge of receiving stolen property with intent to distribute it.

POLICE CHECK NABS 28, SNARLS GWB TRAFFIC

By Michael O. Allen and Corky Siemaszko, Record Staff Writers | Sunday, October 28, 1990

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

A police checkpoint on the George Washington Bridge netted 28 arrests for drunken driving and other charges, but was called off less than two hours after it started because of severe traffic backups.

Westbound traffic on the bridge’s lower level was merged into two lanes at 8 p.m. Friday while a contingent of officers peered into passing cars looking for signs of intoxicated drivers. The checkpoint one of several mounted this year was ended around 10 p.m.

Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy called the roadblock the first at the bridge in two years a success and said his office will set up checkpoints on the bridge on a regular basis.

Twenty-eight people three from Bergen County were arrested on a variety of charges, including driving while under the influence of alcohol or other intoxicants, possession of controlled dangerous substances, and possession of drugs with the intent to distribute.

Bail amounts ranging from $250 for a 27-year-old East Orange man charged with driving under the influence and possession of drug paraphernalia to $25,000 for a Paterson man arrested on charges of possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia were set at the scene by Fort Lee Municipal Judge John R. DeSheplo.

Most of the defendants were released on their own recognizance.

The checkpoint was conducted by the Prosecutor’s Office, Port Authority Police, Bergen County Police, and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department. Police pulled over one of every 20 cars, but suspended the checks several times to let traffic through, Fahy said.

“The rule that we put in place was that if traffic backed up more than one mile that’s approximately 10 minutes we were going to let all the cars through,” Fahy said.

The roadblock was terminated when officials noted that traffic had not returned to normal after one of the suspensions.

Lt. Michael Koretzky, a Port Authority Police tour commander, said an accident two miles away, but unrelated to the roadblock, added to the backup.

“The last time we did a roadblock on the bridge, we were criticized because of long traffic delays,” Fahy said. “We were determined that that would never happen again.”

He said there had not been a roadblock in the past two years because of bridge construction.

SUSPECT IN BURGLARY SPREE WAS OUT ON BAIL

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, October 26, 1990

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

The chief suspect in more than 40 cat burglaries in four Bergen County communities over the past two months had been arrested on burglary charges in one of the towns in July and freed on bail.

Celious Lee Harmon of Teaneck, who was arrested Monday night on burglary charges, had spent nearly a month this summer in the Bergen County Jail after being arrested on burglary charges in Englewood, police said.

Harmon, who was captured Monday as he tried to flee from police at the Port Authority’s George Washington Bridge bus terminal in Manhattan, is fighting extradition to New Jersey, said Fort Lee Police Chief John Orso.

Police say that after Harmon posted $5,000 bail on the Englewood charges, he began burglarizing homes in Englewood, Englewood Cliffs, Fort Lee, and Tenafly in early September.

Orso said Harmon, 28, often rode the bus from New York City into affluent sections of the communities, broke into homes and stole valuables, and then rode the bus back across the bridge to the bus terminal, where he sold the stolen goods to support a crack cocaine habit.

Capt. C. Kenneth Tinsley of Englewood said that when the four-town burglary spree began Sept. 5, the Englewood Police Department knew who its chief suspect was. So did the Fort Lee Police Department.

“We knew who we were looking for because we had a set of footprints and a set of fingerprints,” Orso said. “We also knew he was traveling by bus between New York and New Jersey. “

The four communities formed a 30-person task force to track him down, but he eluded them. By the time he was captured Monday, he was suspected of more than 40 home burglaries in the four towns.

He was arrested after a chase by two Fort Lee and two Port Authority police officers at 180th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan.

Tinsley said that Harmon’s arrest in Englewood in July came after a chase. He allegedly had broken into a home in the East Hill section of city. Police also found property stolen from a residence on Gloucester Street strewn along the path of the chase.

Harmon was arrested in Fort Lee in 1985 and sentenced to five years in prison after conviction on three counts of burglary, two counts of receiving stolen goods, two counts for possession of burglary tools, and two counts of resisting arrest. He was also a suspect in 18 other burglaries in Fort Lee, Orso said. He was paroled in 1988.