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COP-ASSAULT SUSPECT CAUGHT

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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

ID: 17353614 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)

August 28, 1991
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FUND-RAISING ACCUSATIONS FAMILIAR TO PAL

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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

ID: 17353625 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)

August 28, 1991
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2 ACCUSED OF POSING AS POLICE OFFICERS; SOLICITED $1,000 FROM BUSINESSMAN

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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

ID: 17353541 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)

August 27, 1991
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COP’S GUN GOES OFF; TEENAGER HIT IN ARM

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Tuesday, August 20, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page B03

A state trooper wounded a Bronx teenager in the arm Sunday when his service gun went off accidentally during a traffic stop, officials said.
Louis Mancuso, the 17-year-old passenger in a car stopped for alleged speeding, was in fair condition at Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center in Secaucus, a hospital spokesman said Monday.
Trooper Joseph Genova, a three-year veteran of the state police, was not criminally negligent in the shooting, Bergen County First Assistant Prosecutor Paul Brickfield said Monday.
“Our conclusion at this point is that it was an accidental discharge of the weapon,” Brickfield said.
The incident occurred about 8:15 a.m. Sunday in the northbound lanes of the New Jersey Turnpike in East Rutherford, said Lt. William Hillis, a state police spokesman.
Genova, on patrol in an unmarked car, clocked a 1990 Nissan 300 ZX driven by Vincent Gaudio, 18, of the Bronx at 31 mph over the 55 mph speed limit, police said.
Hillis said Genova, 23, saw a box of ammunition in an open glove compartment while examining Gaudio’s driver’s license.
“He ordered the driver to step out of the car,” Hillis said. “The passenger was ordered to place his hands on the dash. The passenger did not comply, and was again instructed to place his hands on the dash. He made a movement toward the glove box.
“The trooper, fearing a weapon may be in the glove box, drew his service weapon, and the weapon accidentally discharged and struck the passenger in the right bicep.”
No weapon was found in the car.

Keywords: EAST RUTHERFORD; POLICE; ACCIDENT; WEAPON; SHOOTING; YOUTH

ID: 17352888 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)

August 20, 1991
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A BURGLARY SPREE ENDS ON NIGHT OUT; UNION CITY POLICE ARREST PAIR OF TEENS

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, August 9, 1991

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

A nightmare ended for Roosevelt Street residents Tuesday night when they came out on their front porches to mark National Night Out against crime, Mayor Robert Menendez said.
Police led two teenagers who may have burglarized as many as 50 homes in the city including eight that night, and many of them on Roosevelt Street out of a house on the street about 30 minutes after the Night Out events began.
“One of them, a juvenile, told us they did so many he lost count,” Union City police Detective Brian Barrett said.
The juvenile, a 17-year-old boy, confessed to more burglaries 50 than police could charge him with. They could verify only 18.
Jeffrey Sweeney, 18, was arrested with the youth and was charged with eight of the burglaries. Sweeney is a student on the dean’s list at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City, Menendez said.
It was ironic that the two were arrested on National Night Out in a neighborhood where residents were beginning to feel besieged by the rash of burglaries, Menendez added.
Barrett and Detective Thomas Callahan had been investigating the burglaries since a Roosevelt Street home was broken into on May 5, the mayor said.
Barrett said the first lead came last week when an informant told authorities that the juvenile was responsible for the burglaries.
The two were arrested at an apartment the youth rented from a homeowner who found him in his hallway, about to burglarize his home last week, Barrett said. The youth had convinced the man that he wanted to rent an apartment, paid a month’s rent on the spot, and moved in Aug. 1, Barrett said.
“The juvenile told the man he was 22 years old,” Barrett said. The youth, who had lived alone for about two years and weighed about 220 pounds, looked older than his age, Barrett added.
The youth told police that when word got to him that the police were on his trail, he staged a burglary of his own apartment and the one below his on Tuesday to make himself look like a victim, rather than a suspect, Barrett said.
The plan backfired because police, while investigating that burglary, found credit cards, jewelry, and electronic and video equipment from other burglaries during the past three months in his apartment, Barrett said.
Barrett and Callahan began watching the house about 6 p.m. National Night Out events began on Roosevelt Street at 8 p.m.
McGruff the Crime Dog was on hand. The block was closed off, a searchlight went on, and a band started playing.
“We thought that would blow it for us,” Barrett said.
But they saw the two suspects going up the stairs right about then. The teens cooperated when they were confronted, Barrett said.
Barrett said Sweeney was released to the custody of a parent and that the youth was being held in the Hudson County Juvenile Detention Center.

Keywords: UNION CITY; THEFT

ID: 17351965 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)

August 9, 1991
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PA COP SHOOTS HUDSON MAN; INCIDENT FOLLOWS CHASE IN TUNNEL

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, August 3, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star B | NEWS | Page A03

A 26-year-old North Bergen man was reported in critical condition following surgery Friday for a gunshot wound suffered in a police chase that ended in the Lincoln Tunnel, authorities said.
Authorities said Brian T. Powers of 7110 Madison St. was shot in the head when he drove his pickup truck toward a police officer after leading police on a chase through the tunnel from Manhattan. The chase and the ensuing gunfire caused the tunnel’s center tube to be closed to westbound traffic from 11 p.m. Thursday until 4:30 a.m. Friday, said D. Joy Faber, a Port Authority spokeswoman.
The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office will charge Powers with several offenses, including aggravated assault on a police officer, assault, eluding police, and reckless endangerment, Faber said.
The incident began at about 10:45 p.m. Thursday when a Manhattan patrolman observed Powers, driving a 1989 Ford pickup truck, run a red light at 23rd Street and 11th Avenue and then drive along the sidewalk, Faber said.
Powers did not heed the patrolman’s signal that he pull over and was pursued by marked and unmarked New York City police cars as well as a car of the New York Transit Authority police, the spokeswoman said. Powers went onto Roadway A, into the westbound center tube of the tunnel, striking as many as six cars during the chase, Faber said.
Manhattan police got out of their cars and ran toward Powers after a bus driver ahead of the chase angled his vehicle across the roadway to block Powers path. Port Authority Police Officer Joseph Audino fired four shots, one of which struck Powers as he gunned his truck toward the officer, Faber said.
Powers was being treated at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center in Manhattan. Audino, a 12-year veteran, and another Port Authority police officer were taken to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in Manhattan for observation and were released, Faber said.

Keywords: NORTH BERGEN; SHOOTING; TUNNEL; POLICE

ID: 17351417 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)

August 3, 1991
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AUTO-THEFT UNIT REVS INTO ACTION

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, July 12, 1991

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

There’s no shortage of business for Bergen County’s stolen-car detectives.
The Sheriff’s Department auto-theft unit has been in operation four months, but already it has recovered 47 vehicles valued at more than $600,000 and arrested 23 suspects.
“We had high expectations that it would be a success, and it certainly has met all our expectations,” said Capt. Frank Benedetto, head of the department’s detective bureau. “But we realize that we are fighting a never-ending battle in the area of auto thefts.”
The program, begun March 15, has two detectives, Joseph Cacciatore and David Moody, assigned full-time to auto-theft cases. They have received about 70 cases referred by local police departments, informants, and insurance companies, said Bergen County Sheriff Jack Terhune.
The unit, Terhune said, “is solely dedicated to automobile thefts, which the municipal departments are not able to do.”
According to the state Uniform Crime Report, 4,109 automobiles were stolen in Bergen County in 1990, a 12 percent increase over 1989. Before Cacciatore and Moody began working full-time, the Sheriff’s Department had not been involved in auto-theft investigations in Bergen County for several years, Benedetto said.
In their most recent case, Cacciatore and Moody lured a Paterson man into his probation officer’s Passaic office and arrested him for receiving stolen property.
He is a suspect in a car-theft ring that authorities said took vehicle identification numbers and titles from junk cars and put them onto similar stolen cars.
People with information about a stolen car are urged to call their local police department or a state toll-free hotline on stolen cars 1-(800) 447-HEAT (4328).

Keywords: BERGEN COUNTY; POLICE; MOTOR VEHICLE; THEFT

Caption: COLOR PHOTO – LINDA CATAFFO / THE RECORD – Detectives David Moody, left, and Joseph Cacciatore checking automobile identification numbers. They are assigned to the auto-theft unit of the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department, which has recovered 47 vehicles in its first four months.

ID: 17349244 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)

July 12, 1991
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