CITY PROBES BURGLARY WAVE; SAYS ARMED ROBBER FITS PATTERN

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, December 28, 1990

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

A 28-year-old Hackensack man who last week admitted committing three armed robberies is being investigated in connection with more than 20 burglaries in the city and several more in surrounding communities, city police said Thursday.

A Municipal Court judge Thursday set bail at $25,000 for Michael Dunlap of 179 Union St. on three counts of armed robbery and possession of a crack vial, and released him on his own recognizance.

In one of the robberies to which Dunlap confessed, he entered AAA Home Video store at 29 State St. on Sept. 24, asked about joining the club, and then announced a robbery, said Capt. John Aletta, Hackensack Police investigations chief. Dunlap said he had a gun wrapped in his coat, but the store attendant did not see it, Aletta said.

Dunlap is said to have repeated the pattern at the Arena Diner on Essex Street on Oct. 1 and at the Shell gas station across the street from the diner on Dec. 9. Approximately $300 was taken in all the robberies, Aletta said.

Detective Sgt. Fred Puglisi is investigating other armed robberies fitting the pattern, Aletta said. Hackensack also will share its information with surrounding communities that have reported robberies fitting the pattern, he said.

Robbery victims will be shown a photo lineup, including a photograph of Dunlap, to see if they could identify their assailant, Puglisi said.

Detective Sgt. Michael Mordaga arrested Dunlap on Dec. 20 as he walked along Union Street, near Central Avenue, at about 7 p.m. Aletta said Mordaga recognized Dunlap from descriptions and a composite drawing of the suspect in the armed robberies.

Police said when Mordaga patted Dunlap down before taking him into custody, the detective felt what appeared to be a bullet in Dunlap’s pocket. The object turned out to be a crack vial, Aletta said.

TWO BOYS BADLY HURT IN RTE. 80 CAR CRASH

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

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Two Fairview boys were seriously injured Saturday when the car they were riding in overturned after it was struck by another car, whose driver was charged with drunken driving by police.

A spokeswoman for Hackensack Medical Center said David Gandelman, 7, was in critical condition with head injuries, and his brother, Alan, 9, was in serious condition with unspecified injuries.

Their father, Vladimir Gandelman, 39, the driver of the car, and Zima Spevak, 52, their grandmother, were treated and released, the spokeswoman said.

Frank Farron, 32, of East Rutherford, the driver of the other car, was given a summons for driving while under the influence of alcohol, said state police Sgt. Robert Martin. Farron was not injured, Martin said.

The crash occurred about 6:45 a.m. on Interstate 80, near Exit 66 in Hackensack.

Both cars were eastbound when Farron, in the center lane, collided with Gandelman’s car as he tried to move into the right lane, Martin said.

COCAINE COURIER SUSPECT ARRESTED; HACKENSACK COPS TARGET N.Y.C. RING

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, December 21, 1990

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

A 26-year-old Bronx man carrying cocaine for a New York City drug-trafficking ring walked into a trap Wednesday when he tried to sell an ounce of cocaine to narcotics officers, police say.

Ernesto Restrepo was being held in the Bergen County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bail on charges of possession of cocaine, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, and possession of the drug within 1,000 feet of a school, police said.

The Hackensack police narcotics division also seized from the suspect a 1989 Ford Taurus equipped with a two-way radio, said Capt. John Aletta, chief of investigations. The New York-based drug ring uses such radios to communicate with potential customers, Aletta said.

The one ounce of almost pure cocaine was worth about $1,500, but its value could have ballooned when processed into other forms of the drug, Aletta said.

Members of the city detective and narcotics divisions began working on the case about a week ago when they received information about the ring’s operation in the area, Aletta said. He declined to tell the exact location of the arrest, but said it was in the area of 400 Hackensack Ave., near the Bergen County Vocational-Technical School.

After ordering the drug by radio and agreeing to meet the courier in a parking lot in the area, Detective Sgts. Michael Mordaga, Robert Wright, Allen Ust, and Walter Krakowski arrived at about 10 p.m. and arrested Restrepo at the conclusion of the transaction, Aletta said.

LINK SOUGHT IN HACKENSACK DRUG BUST, N.Y. SHOOTINGS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, December 19, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B05

Police are investigating the connections between three people arrested in the city Monday and the victims of a shootout in New York that left two people dead and two in the hospital.

Acting on a tip from an anonymous caller, the Hackensack Police Narcotics Unit, assisted by the Bergen County Police Canine Unit, arrested Elizabeth Cuevas, 23, her brother-in-law, Jose Cuevas, 24, and Anselmo Pineda on drug and weapons charges at a house at 385 Summit St. at about 1:30 p.m.

Capt. John Aletta, Hackensack’s chief of investigations, said the house is owned by 28-year-old Juan Cuevas, Elizabeth’s husband. He was shot in the chest and lungs during what New York City police called a drug-related shootout Sunday.

Cuevas condition has improved from critical to stable, a spokeswoman at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City said Tuesday.

New York City police found the bullet-riddled bodies of four men, including Cuevas, in a basement apartment at 620 S. 147th St. shortly after midnight Sunday.

Two New York City men Ricardo Peguero, 25, of the Bronx, and Julio Olivero, 31, of Manhattan were dead at the scene, said Detective Joseph McConville, a New York police spokesman. Manuel Fortunato of Yonkers was in critical condition at Harlem Hospital.

Police said they found four 9mm automatic handguns in the apartment.

Those arrested in Hackensack and the victims in the New York City incident were part of a large-scale drug operation, Aletta said, adding that he expected to make more arrests.

New York City Police Detective Robert Nugent, the investigating officer, said the shooting was “definitely drug-related. ” He said the men moved as much as $200,000 a day in drugs.

Nugent said his investigation was continuing and that he was in contact with Hackensack police to check any New Jersey connections. Aletta confirmed that Hackensack and New York City police were in contact on the case.

Elizabeth and Jose Cuevas were charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a .45-caliber handgun. She was released from the Bergen County Jail on $5,000 bail, while he remained in jail with the same bail. Pineda also failed to post $5,000 bail on charges of possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Aletta said an anonymous caller phoned the narcotics unit about noon Monday and told them about the New York shooting. He said the caller said he was to help move drugs out of 385 Summit St. because police were looking for the drugs and might come to the house.

The Narcotics Unit, including Police Chief William Iurato, Aletta, Detective Sgts. Michael Mordaga and Robert Wright, Sgt. Arthur Mento, and Detective Haywood Powell, went to the residence after getting a warrant, Aletta said.

Aletta said the police did not find drugs, but found the gun, scales used to weigh cocaine and heroin, drug-packaging bags, a 1988 Ford Thunderbird with a false gas tank, and a jacket made with bulletproof material.

The house was equipped with cameras in several rooms and two cameras in birdhouses on a tree in the back yard of the house, Aletta said.

BURGLARY SUSPECT CAUGHT ON THE RUN

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, December 13, 1990

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Moments after borough police dispatched officers to The Leather Warehouse on Route 4, where a burglary was in progress, a Hackensack detective arrested one of the suspects as he ran from the scene, police said.

Luigi Stalaj, 36, of 2565 Coldan Ave., the Bronx, was released from Bergen County Jail on Wednesday on $75,000 bail.

Paramus police charged Stalaj with burglary and theft, possession of stolen property, and possession of burglary tools. A judge set bail at $50,000, Chief Joseph Delaney said.

Stalaj also was charged by Hackensack police with resisting arrest, possession of stolen property, and possession of burglary tools, and bail was set at $25,000, said Hackensack Police Capt. John Aletta.

Stalaj, working with an accomplice who scaled a fence and escaped, stole 25 coats valued at $11,000, along with $7,000 in cash from a register and a bank bag at the warehouse, Delaney said. The accomplice lost a sock and a shoe when he scaled the fence, he said.

The suspects triggered an alarm when they entered through the rear of the store about 1:20 a.m. Wednesday, Delaney said.

The chief said Hackensack Detective Sgt. Michael Mordaga, driving along Anderson Street, near the city’s border with Paramus on Route 4, responded when he heard Paramus dipatching officers.

Delaney said Mordaga saw a man carrying an armful of coats dart across Coles Street in Hackensack.

Mordaga chased the man and arrested him in the back yard of a nearby home. He was assisted by Hackensack Police Officer Vincent Pedone.

Police recovered a van, two piles of coats dumped behind houses in the area, and a bag containing burglary tools, Delaney said.

HOSPITAL ESCAPEE IS CAPTURED; FLED IN DUMP TRUCK, THEN IN STOLEN CAR

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, December 9, 1990

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A 24-year-old man who escaped from a New York mental hospital by driving a dump truck through a fence and then stole a car in Hackensack was being held in lieu of $15,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail after Atlantic City police captured him Thursday.

Hackensack police charged James Coyle of New City, N.Y., with robbery for stealing the car, and with receiving stolen property the dump truck, which he discarded at a gas station. Atlantic City police charged him with resisting arrest, driving with a revoked driver’s license, and receiving stolen property.

A spokesman for Hackensack Police Chief William Iurato said charges are also pending against Coyle in New York in the theft of the dump truck.

Coyle had been involuntarily committed to the Rockland County Psychiatric Hospital in Orangeburg, N.Y., on Dec. 3, according to a police report by Hackensack Detective Sgt. Hugh J. Farley.

Shortly after dawn Thursday, while workers from P & H Construction Co. of Wanaque were repairing the sewer system on hospital grounds, Coyle allegedly stole the dump truck, which had a trailer attached, and drove it through a fence.

At about noon that day, the truck arrived in Hackensack and pulled into the Exxon gas station at the corner of Johnson Avenue and Orchard Street, Farley said in the report. John Packard, 57, of 630 Main St. was at the pump filling his 1979 Cadillac with gas when Coyle arrived, he said.

Coyle knocked Packard to the ground, finished pumping the gas, and took off in the Cadillac, driving south on Johnson Avenue, police said. After Packard made a report of the robbery, Hackensack police alerted other police departments with a description of the car and Coyle.

At about 6:30 p.m. on the same day, Atlantic City Police Officer Donald Barker responded to a report that a patron at a gas station had refused to pay.