MAN OUT ON BAIL ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer

Sunday, September 15, 1991

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

A 25-year-old Hackensack man out on bail and awaiting trial on drug possession and distribution charges was arrested on new drug charges in a pre-dawn raid Saturday, police said.
Police said Harry Kittrell had more than 100 vials of crack and a plastic bag filled with marijuana when they arrested him in a Railroad Avenue apartment. Detective Sgt. Robert Wright, Officer Kevin O’Boyle, and a team of 10 officers from the Hackensack Police Narcotic, Youth, and Detective divisions arrested him about 1 a.m., Detective Sgt. Mike Mordaga said.
Kittrell was charged with two counts of possession of drugs with intent to distribute and was being held on $75,000 bail in Bergen County Jail, Mordaga said.
Arrested with Kittrell was Albertina Brown, the 26-year-old resident of the apartment where Kittrell allegedly was selling drugs, police said. Brown, 26, of 69 Railroad Ave. was held on $25,000 bail.
“We targeted this area was because it’s a known area for blatant drug sales,” Mordaga said. “We received numerous complaints from residents.”
Kittrell faces numerous other charges filed over the past year in Hackensack, including charges of selling crack to a state trooper within 1,000 feet of a school and selling crack to a Hackensack officer.

Keywords: DRUG; HACKENSACK; SALE

TWO ARE SOUGHT IN GUN ASSAULT; INCIDENT LEAVES 2 WOMEN HURT

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, August 30, 1991

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

Arrie Moore of 60 Newman St. and the gunman whom Moore allegedly instructed to kill Charles Reyes of 147 Sherman Ave., Teaneck are wanted on two counts of attempted murder, police Capt. John Aletta said Thursday.

Reyes and Theodore Bolden, 18, of 280 American Legion Drive, Hackensack, had arrived at the parking lot of Bolden’s apartment building at 2:35 a.m. Wednesday when the incident occurred. Lisa R. Manago, 21, of 77 Maple Ave., Hackensack, and a friend had driven the two men there, police said.

Moore and the gunman confronted the two men in the parking lot. According to police, Moore told the gunman to kill Reyes.

Reyes and Bolden both ran off when the gunman removed an automatic handgun from his waistband and fired. They were not hit by the gunshot, Aletta said. The gunman then fired at Manago’s car, and it crashed into a tree, he added. Moore and the gunman then ran toward Central Avenue, and have not been seen since, Aletta said.

Manago’s head hit the steering wheel when the car struck the tree, Aletta said. Bullet fragments struck Anita M. Powell, 23, of 41 E. Forest Ave., Englewood, a passenger in the car, on the left arm, he said. She also had cuts on her right foot, head, and chin.

Aletta said the women were taken to the Hackensack Medical Center. Hospital officials said they had no record of their being admitted.

The victims knew the gunman but not his name, Aletta said. Although it was unclear what caused the shooting, he said, they all knew each other.

Keywords: HACKENSACK; WEAPON; ASSAULT; SHOOTING

TWO ARE SOUGHT IN GUN ASSAULT; INCIDENT LEAVES 2 WOMEN HURT

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, August 30, 1991

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

A 20-year-old city man and an unidentified gunman are being sought for shooting at four people Wednesday, two of whom were injured when a gunshot caused the driver of a car to crash into a tree, police said.
Arrie Moore of 60 Newman St. and the gunman whom Moore allegedly instructed to kill Charles Reyes of 147 Sherman Ave., Teaneck are wanted on two counts of attempted murder, police Capt. John Aletta said Thursday.
Reyes and Theodore Bolden, 18, of 280 American Legion Drive, Hackensack, had arrived at the parking lot of Bolden’s apartment building at 2:35 a.m. Wednesday when the incident occurred. Lisa R. Manago, 21, of 77 Maple Ave., Hackensack, and a friend had driven the two men there, police said.
Moore and the gunman confronted the two men in the parking lot. According to police, Moore told the gunman to kill Reyes.
Reyes and Bolden both ran off when the gunman removed an automatic handgun from his waistband and fired. They were not hit by the gunshot, Aletta said. The gunman then fired at Manago’s car, and it crashed into a tree, he added. Moore and the gunman then ran toward Central Avenue, and have not been seen since, Aletta said.
Manago’s head hit the steering wheel when the car struck the tree, Aletta said. Bullet fragments struck Anita M. Powell, 23, of 41 E. Forest Ave., Englewood, a passenger in the car, on the left arm, he said. She also had cuts on her right foot, head, and chin.
Aletta said the women were taken to the Hackensack Medical Center. Hospital officials said they had no record of their being admitted.
The victims knew the gunman but not his name, Aletta said. Although it was unclear what caused the shooting, he said, they all knew each other.

Keywords: HACKENSACK; WEAPON; ASSAULT; SHOOTING

COP-ASSAULT SUSPECT CAUGHT

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, August 28, 1991

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

A 20-year-old city man wanted for assaulting a policeman in March was arrested Tuesday after a brief chase and a scuffle with an officer, police said.
John Hawkins of 230 Central Ave. had just stolen a car and was eastbound on Mary Street when Hackensack detectives, in the area on an unrelated investigation, spotted him at about 1 a.m. at a stop sign on Polifly Road, police said.
When Hawkins tried to run one of the unmarked police cars off the road, police said, the stolen car a 1985 Cadillac Eldorado careened into a wall under the Route 80 overpass on Polifly Road. Hawkins fled on foot before being caught by a detective and a dog from the Bergen County Police Canine Unit, authorities said.
In the ensuing scuffle, a loaded .38-caliber handgun was taken from Hawkins, police said. He kicked the police dog in the face and continued fighting after he was disarmed, police said.
Hackensack police Officer Michael Williams, while patrolling on March 2, had attempted to arrest Hawkins in Carver Park for a Jan. 18 contempt-of-court warrant from Lodi. Hawkins allegedly bit Williams on the hand and punched him in the face several times before fleeing on foot.
Police had been looking for him since.
Hawkins was being held in the Bergen County Jail Tuesday on $50,500 bail. He was charged with the March 2 aggravated assault on Williams, and also received several charges from Tuesday’s incident. Those charges include illegal possession of a weapon, possession of cocaine, assault on a police officer, assault on a police dog, possession of burglary tools, and theft and burglary of the car.

Keywords: HACKENSACK; POLICE; ASSAULT

FUND-RAISING ACCUSATIONS FAMILIAR TO PAL

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, August 28, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B01

The arrest Monday of two men for allegedly passing themselves off as police officers to obtain $1,000 on behalf of the Hackensack Police Athletic League was not the first time a fund-raiser for the organization has come under scrutiny.
Five men hired by a Connecticut fund-raising firm were acquitted of charges stemming from their January 1985 arrest for solicitation of funds under false pretenses to benefit the group.
The men had been charged with using aliases instead of their real names in soliciting funds. Although police accused them then of impersonating officers in their pitch, they were never formally charged on those counts.
The Hackensack police said the Hackensack PAL is not connected to the department.
John Simonelli and Mark Carter, employees of Theatrical Marketing Services of Middletown, were arrested Monday and were being held in the Bergen County Jail on Tuesday on $7,500 bail each.
In 1990, Theatrical Marketing Services a Monmouth County firm raised about $106,000 on behalf of the Hackensack PAL, according to a financial statement filed with the Consumer Affairs Division. About $31,800 went to the PAL, with the firm and an office manager dividing the remainder.
Simonelli, of Pawtucket, R.I., was arrested after he gave John Carrino of Race Excavations Co. on Sussex Street a receipt for a $1,000 check that Carrino had given him in the presence of a detective, police said.
Carter, of Feeding Hills, Mass., was arrested shortly afterward at the 302 Ridge Road, Lyndhurst, office of the fund-raising firm. Police said they recorded a telephone conversation between Carter and Carrino in which Carter told Carrino several times that he was a member of the Hackensack Police Department.
Both were charged with wrongful impersonation of a police officer and theft by deception.
Ollie Hartsfield, a spokeswoman for the state Consumer Affairs Division, said they have no record of complaints about impersonations against Theatrical Marketing Services. The company has contracts with a number of other PALs around the state, she added.
Charles McHarris Jr., PAL executive director, said he did not find out about the arrests until Tuesday but declined to comment until he consults with the group’s lawyer. He said, however, that Simonelli and Carter were innocent of the charges against them.
No representative of Theatrical Marketing Services could be reached at the Lyndhurst or Middletown office.

Keywords: HACKENSACK; POLICE; FINANCE; FRAUD; PROBE

2 ACCUSED OF POSING AS POLICE OFFICERS; SOLICITED $1,000 FROM BUSINESSMAN

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Tuesday, August 27, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B01

Two men from a fund-raising firm hired by the Hackensack Police Athletic League were arrested Monday on charges that they passed themselves off as officers to solicit $1,000 from a city businessman, police said.
John Simonelli of Pawtucket, R.I., was arrested about noon after he gave John Carrino of Race Excavations Co. on Sussex Street a receipt for a $1,000 check that Carrino gave him in the presence of a detective, police said.
When the detective, who was posing as one of the owners of the excavation company, asked Simonelli why the department did not send a uniformed officer, he told the detective all the uniformed officers were busy, police said.
Mark Carter of Feeding Hills, Mass., was arrested shortly after Simonelli at the Lyndhurst offices of the fund-raising firm, T.M.S. Fund Raising Co., of 302 Ridge Road.
Police said they taped a telephone conversation between Carter and Carrino in which Carter told Carrino several times that he was a member of the Hackensack Police Department.
Simonelli and Carter both were charged with wrongful impersonation of a police officer and theft by deception. They were being held in the Bergen County Jail on $7,500 bail each.
Carrino’s donation would entitle his business advertisement to be placed on the inside front cover of the Hackensack PAL “Drug and Alcohol Prevention Handbook and Business Directory,” the receipt said.
No one answered the telephone or returned a message left on the answering machine at the PAL’s Hackensack office. Representatives for T.M.S. could not be reached for comment. Carrino also could not be reached Monday.
Patrolman Charles Redstone, president of the Hackensack local of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said that although the athletic league has “Hackensack” as part of its name, it is in no way connected to the Hackensack Police Department.
The athletic league’s fund campaign often confuses residents and businesses that the PBA solicits during the fall to raise money for charity, he said. People often call the PBA to say they had already contributed money to the “Hackensack police,” he said.
Complaints of deception by telephone solicitors for police-related groups are common statewide, officials say. Investigators say the solicitors, who work on commission, often imply, if they don’t state it outright, that they are members of the local police department.
“Most people, when they hear it’s a police department, will donate money because they think it is a worthwhile cause,” said Redstone.

Keywords: FRAUD; POLICE; HACKENSACK; CHARITY

SUSPECT CAPTURED, WITH HELP OF TIPSTER; LEFT SON WITH COPS AS HE DUCKED ARREST

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, July 19, 1991

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

An anonymous tip Wednesday led to the capture of a 42-year-old man who last week had fled police leaving his son in their custody after being recognized as wanted on several charges.
Officers from five municipal police departments chased Nicola Lomuscio after he bolted from his home at 176 Woodland Ave. and arrested him about 4:45 p.m., said Little Ferry Detective Sgt. Michael Walsh.
Lomuscio was being held on $56,536 bail in the Bergen County Jail on Thursday. Little Ferry police charged him with eluding police and with two counts of resisting arrest. Police in Hackensack, where the case originated, charged Lomuscio with violating a restraining order, harassment, theft, and escape from custody.
Hackensack Police Capt. John Aletta said the incident began July 11 at their headquarters, when an officer recognized Lomuscio as the man they wanted in connection with a domestic abuse case and other charges. Lomuscio had come to report that someone had assaulted his 10-year-old son. He fled, leaving the boy, Aletta said. The assault claim was determined later to be unfounded, police said.
Hackensack police released the boy to his mother, who lives in the city.
Police had been unable to find Lomuscio at home since that incident, until a caller told police Wednesday that Lomuscio was heading toward Little Ferry, Aletta said. Four borough officers were waiting outside his home when he arrived. He defied the officers, entered the home, and escaped out the back door, Walsh said.
Police from South Hackensack, Moonachie, and Ridgefield Park and a Bergen County Police K-9 unit joined the brief chase before Lomuscio was arrested on Route 46 in Little Ferry, Walsh said.

Keywords: POLICE; LITTLE FERRY; HACKENSACK; ABUSE; THEFT; ASSAULT

CAR CRASH LEVELS SERVICE STATION BOOTH

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, June 23, 1991

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

A car driven by a 31-year-old Hackensack man crashed into a center divider and demolished a booth at an Exxon service station on Route 46 Saturday, just missing the gasoline pumps, police said.
The driver, William Valle of Lodi Street, suffered a fractured pelvis and was in fair condition at Hackensack Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said. Police said he would be charged with driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, driving an uninsured car, and driving without a license. The accident occurred about 3:30 a.m. Saturday along Route 46, by Overpeck Creek. Valle was thrown from his car when it hit a parked auto after striking the service station booth, police said.

Keywords: RIDGEFIELD PARK; MOTOR VEHICLE; ACCIDENT; GARAGE; HACKENSACK

Notes: Bergen page

WATER MAIN BREAK HITS CARS, COMMERCE

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, June 5, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page A12

A water main break on Main Street on Tuesday snarled traffic and shut off water to about 15 stores, disrupting business, officials said.
A 12-inch main that dates to 1883 ruptured at about 2 a.m., Hackensack Water Co. spokeswoman Cindy Munley said. Workers located the rupture in front of the United Jersey Bank at 210 Main St. and turned off the pipe about 6:30 a.m., she said.
Santiago Patino, the bank’s operations division vice president, said the bank was closed for the day because the Fire Department, for safety reasons, advised that electrical power to the building be cut. Water drained into the bank’s basement, where all the bank’s electrical components were kept, he said.
Customers were directed to other branches, Patino said, adding that the bank will reopen today.
Perry Tsucalas, owner of Colby’s Luncheonette at 190 Main St., said the restaurant lost about 40 percent of its customers for the day when the bank closed. “A lot of our customers are from the bank, and that affects business,” Tsucalas said.
Tammy Hoffman, manager of Duby Florist, which is next door to Colby’s, said she was called in to work about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, five hours earlier than usual, to find about four feet of water in the basement.
“We couldn’t park in front of the store because of the water, Hoffman said. “It was like a big river on Main Street from the railroad track. The top of the store was fine, but downstairs in the basement there were three to four feet of water. It’s just a total mess. We lost all our supplies.”
Water was restored about 4 p.m., Munley said, adding that about 15 stores had to have water pumped out of their basements.

Keywords: HACKENSACK; WATER; ACCIDENT; BUSINESS; STORE

URBAN LEAGUE HONORS STUDENTS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Monday, June 3, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page B02

Christopher Sanders said he did not know he would receive an award at the annual Urban League Salute to African American Scholars until he arrived at the ceremonies Sunday in Hackensack.

“I looked in the program and it was like `Wow, first place! It’s inspiring,” said the Teaneck High School student.

Sanders essay on Democratic Party National Chairman Ronald Brown won him first place and a $1,000 scholarship. He said he plans to study architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark this fall.

About 300 camera-toting parents packed Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Edward Williams College auditorium to see the Urban League recognize and honor some 70 North Jersey middle and high school students.

After apologizing to the audience for the broken air conditioning that created sweltering conditions in the auditorium, FDU President Francis Mertz received applause when he announced that the school will award a four-year, $12,500 scholarship to an Urban League honoree every year, beginning in 1992.

Lenworth Gunther, president of Edmedia Associates Inc. and the day’s keynote speaker, said the students being honored were revolutionaries in a sense because they were defying stereotypes.

“This is just the first stage of what will be many honors and many recognitions, I hope,” Gunther said. “I want you brothers and sisters to understand that I am you, just a little older version. I don’t want to be expendable and I don’t want you to be expendable.”

Among the parents who attended were Edris Clarke, whose daughter Debbie Laine Clark, received an award for excellence. She will begin pre-med studies at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., this fall.

“I’m very proud of my daughter,” the elder Clarke said. “She is a very conscientious student . . . She says to me, `Mommy, I know where I’m going and I’m going to get there by God’s grace.”

Keywords: AWARD; BLACK; HACKENSACK; ORGANIZATION; STUDENT

Caption: PHOTO – COLLETTE FOURNIER / THE RECORD – Christopher Sanders of Teaneck congratulating fellow award-winner Michele M. Cherville of Paterson.