ROBBERY VICTIM PURSUES SUSPECTS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, January 5, 1992

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

There was no smooth getaway for two Bronx men Saturday afternoon when they encountered a jeweler who chased them after the pair held up his store at gunpoint, Police Chief William Luciano said.

Officer Emma Jackson was patrolling the business district about 3 p.m. when she saw the owner of Goldfinger Jewelry Store running after two men on West Palisade Avenue.

“They just robbed my store, at gunpoint,” said the owner, whom police declined to identify. Jackson radioed headquarters for backup and followed the men in her patrol car.

Eight patrol cars raced to the area and chased the pair through McKay Park, into a nearby brook, and through back yards on Elmore Avenue, where police arrested them, Luciano said.

James Cornick and Lamonte Hampton were being held in the Englewood Police Department lockup Saturday night, awaiting a bail hearing, he said.

They were charged with armed robbery and illegal possession of handguns for unlawful purpose.

“You know the old saying: `You can run but you can’t hide’?” a jubilant Luciano asked later. “Too many blue uniforms, too many cops for them to get away. ”

For Jackson, a 16-year veteran of the department, it was the second chase in about two weeks. A robbery victim stopped Jackson’s car as she drove past a bar on West Street and, gesturing because he could not speak English, told her to follow a car occupied by four men he claimed had just robbed him.

The suspects abandoned the car and escaped on foot after crashing into Jackson’s patrol car at a traffic light.

Saturday’s suspects were not so lucky, Luciano said. Patrolman Timothy Torell chased Cornick, who was seen coming out of the window of a home on Elmore Avenue, in the direction of Lt. James Crowley, who arrested him.

Patrolman Joseph Archer saw Hampton about 100 feet down the street, walking at a leisurely pace, Luciano said. The store owner identified him later as one of the men who came into his store and robbed him and his wife, the chief said.

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

DAD SAYS MIX-UP LED TO ARREST

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, March 3, 1991

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

A Bronx man whose 16-month-old son was found alone and crying in a van at a shopping mall last week says he did not intend to leave the infant there but police arrived before he could take the child with him.
“Right when I dropped my tools off and I came back to get my kid, the cops were already there,” Godwin Chow said Saturday at the Bergen County Jail Annex, where he was being held on $75,000 bail.
Chow, 39, said that when he saw city police Sgt. Frank Lomia and Officer John Carroll next to his van at Riverside Square mall, he panicked, and decided to wait until they left before bringing the boy into the restaurant where he was to repair equipment Wednesday night.
But police and mall security officers said the infant, David Chow, had been in the van in front of Au Bon Pain restaurant at the mall for at least two hours when Lomia and Carroll found him about 9:50 p.m.
Mall security officers, dispatched to look for the van’s owner in nearby businesses because the boy was crying, returned with Chow as Lomia and Carroll were about to smash the window to get to the child, police said.
When he took the boy out of the van, Lomia said, the child appeared to be in good health but was cold, his clothing was in poor condition, and his diaper had not been changed in some time.
Chow was charged with endangering the life of a child and disorderly conduct.
A spokeswoman for Hackensack Medical Center said Saturday that the infant, who did not require treatment, had been released Friday night to the custody of the New York City Child Welfare Administration. An attorney for the agency said he could not comment on any case it might be involved in.
Chow said he usually had a baby sitter look after his son when he went to work but did not do so Wednesday because he was going to be with the infant and did not plan on working long. In the past when he went to work at the restaurant, Chow said, he brought the boy in with him.
Ray and Raphie Gutierrez, brothers who are managers at the restaurant, said Chow often brought a baby in when he came to repair stoves.
“I really cannot tell you how many times he brought the baby to work here, but I remember I’ve seen the kid a couple of times,” Ray Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez said Chow arrived at the restaurant about 9 p.m. Wednesday to repair the steamer on an oven.
“I don’t know what was going on outside,” Gutierrez said. “The only thing I know is that every five minutes he was going outside.”
Chow said he had known the child’s mother only briefly, and did not learn she was pregnant until she came to him seven months after they met while experiencing complications with her pregnancy. He said he took her to a hospital, where she gave birth, and then she abandoned the child.
Chow said he had not seen a lawyer since his arrest.
“The jail is overcrowded. Right now, I’m sleeping on a cold plastic mat. There is no pillowcase, no towel, no nothing. The only thing I have is this,” Chow said, tugging contemptuously at the collar of his jail uniform.
The officers involved in the arrest and Police Chief William C. Iurato could be reached Saturday for further comment on the case.

Keywords: HACKENSACK; NEW YORK CITY; CHILD; MOTOR VEHICLE; STORE

SHOPLIFTING SUSPECT IN MINK; TOOK 3 SLIPPERS, DUSTER, POLICE SAY

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, February 14, 1991

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

Emerson police called in the Bergen County Police Department canine unit Wednesday to catch a 64-year-old New York State woman who stole three slippers and a house coat from a clothing store and eluded police and the store owner, authorities said.
Robert Malto, the 67-year-old owner of Wendy Drew Inc., a women’s clothing store at 368 Kinderkamack Road, said Garfinkel came in shortly before noon, wearing a full-length mink coat.
“As she left the store, my wife called my attention to the fact that a duster a house coat was hanging beneath the mink,” Malto said. “You couldn’t miss it. She left the store quickly and walked at a very fast pace across the parking lot. “
Malto said he thought Garfinkel was going to her car, and he and a store manager chased after her.
“She turned around and shouted, `Why are you following me? Why are you after me? ” Malto said.
Garfinkel ran behind the department store, dropped three slippers, and ran through the woods onto Kinderkamack Road, then Highland Avenue, with Malto and the store manager in pursuit, Malto said.
“Just as police came, she disappeared from our view,” he said.
Police saw her on Kinderkamack, then on Highland Avenue and Orchard Street, before losing her in the back yards, a police spokesman said.
County Police Officer Robert DiPalma and his dog, Connie, caught Garfinkel hiding behind the bushes about 30 minutes after the chase began.

Keywords: EMERSON; STORE; WOMAN; SHOPLIFTING

2 HELD IN ARMED ROBBERY IN HACKENSACK

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, December 30, 1990

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

Two men were being held in the Bergen County Jail on Saturday on $20,000 bail each after their arrest in a city apartment building following a report of an armed robbery outside a convenience store, police said.
Bryan Miller, 26, of Ridgewood and Troy Jones, 30, of Englewood, who police say were staying at 370 Park St., were charged with armed robbery, Police Chief William Iurato said in a news release.
Iurato said that at 11 p.m. Friday, Miller held a gun to three men coming out of Simon Sez, a convenience store at 281 State St., while Jones emptied the men’s pockets and took about $40 and cigarettes. Miller and Jones then ran from the scene in opposite directions, Iurato said.
One of the victims stopped a passing police car, reported the robbery, and described the men, the chief said.
An investigation led to the arrest of the men at 370 Park St., Iurato said.

Keywords: ROBBERY; HACKENSACK; BERGEN COUNTY; PRISON; STORE

BURGLARY SUSPECT CAUGHT ON THE RUN

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

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

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.