Teaneck Archives - MICHAEL O. ALLEN

TEANECK MAN HELD AS FUGITIVE

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, May 9, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star | NEWS | A04

A 31-year-old township man, wanted by North Carolina since 1988 for trafficking in cocaine and heroin, was captured while trying to cash a check, police said Friday.

Wanted on a June 1988 fugitive warrant, Sterling Anthony Mapp surfaced two weeks ago when he tried to open a savings account and cash two checks at the Provident Savings Bank in Teaneck, Police Detective Dean Kazinci said.

Mapp, whose last known address was 443 Cedar Lane, had assumed a new identity: Victor Roberts of the same address, complete with a valid New Jersey driver’s license, Kazinci said.

Victor Roberts Social Security number turned out to be invalid, however, and the teller would not complete the transaction. The bank also reported the incident to police. The teller identified Mapp, through a photograph, as the man who was in the bank, Kazinci said. When Mapp returned to the bank at 12:30 p.m. Thursday to again try to cash the two checks, a teller called police and he was taken into custody for questioning.

An FBI fingerprint check later confirmed Mapp’s identity, although he denied that was his name, Kazinci said. He was charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance and of narcotics paraphernalia after police found marijuana and a pipe in his possession at the time of his arrest.

He was being held Friday in the Bergen County Jail on $5,000 bail on the Teaneck charges.

May 9, 1992

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IN TEANECK, A CALL FOR RACIAL HARMONY; Over 100 Gather in Peacefull Rally Against Injustice

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Laurie C. Merrill and Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writers | Sunday, May 3, 1992

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

Saying the time is right to work for racial harmony, a score of civic and religious leaders told a rally of some 100 people in Teaneck on Saturday that the Rodney King beating case underscores the injustice and prejudice that permeate society.

“We are at a very dangerous point in our society. The schism between the races is greater than ever before,” said Franklin Wilks, a lawyer for the Bergen County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

“In the absence of faith in our legal system, there is nothing left by anarchy,” Wilks added.

In apparent preparation for the afternoon rally at Teaneck’s Municipal Complex, police had barricaded the doors of police headquarters with plywood. But the mood of the interracial crowd was conciliatory, and when the rally ended, participants departed quietly.

Across New Jersey, streets were calm Saturday afternoon, and in Manhattan, the Rev. Al Sharpton led a peaceful march of about 1,000 people. There was no repeat of the violence that flared briefly in Jersey City and Newark on Friday, responses to the acquittal in Los Angeles of four white policemen who beat King and were videotaped doing so.

Several speakers bemoaned the poor attendance especially by teenagers at the NAACP rally held to speak out against injustice.

“Injustice has corrupted us all,” said Wendy Dunlap, 16, of Hackensack, a member of the NAACP Youth Board. “All of us must work to end it, especially young people.”

And many speakers, including several Teaneck council candidates, spoke of other social issues, stressing the need to improve conditions in cities, obliterate the drug trade, improve education, and increase employment.

The ghost of Phillip C. Pannell was invoked. The youth was fatally shot two years ago by white Police Officer Gary Spath, who was acquitted of reckless manslaughter in February. Pannell’s parents, Thelma and Phillip, spoke at the rally.

Thelma Pannell said she had predicted that the four officers would be acquitted, as Spath had been. And Phillip D. Pannell said: “I’m mad as hell. . . . There is no justice in this country for the people of color.”

Many at the hourlong rally sounded a similar theme: Remove President Bush. Said local NAACP President Robert Robinson, “We need to change George Bush from the White House to the poor house.”

Those who gathered under the bright sun came for different reasons. Some have attended the rallies that had been held almost weekly since Pannell was killed. Others came to express outrage over the King verdict.

William Johnson, 27, of Englewood said the Los Angeles police officers guilt was never in doubt. “What better proof do you need than that videotape?” he asked.

“I think the verdict in Los Angeles was as unjust as the verdict for Gary Spath,” said Eva Michael, 38, of Teaneck. “I believe it’s a much bigger issue than these two court cases. It’s the whole issue that is going on in the country. We have a racist society.”

Former Teaneck Mayor Bernard Brooks, 56, said that at least Teaneck faces its problems.

“I think if you look at towns like Teaneck, Teaneck tries,” Brooks said. “I’m not suggesting that Teaneck is a perfect place, but it tries. Look at this crowd. You’ve got all kinds of people here. Right after the Pannell thing, you had all kinds of people trying to get together and do things. But even then, there are still divisions.”

In Jersey City, streets were quiet and merchants said business was slower than they expected a week before Mother’s Day.

“It’s nice and calm and peaceful,” said Jay Kang, owner of Jay Discount Jewelry on Journal Square, who late Friday afternoon was locked inside his shop with dozens of customers as youths looted several stores.

Record Staff Writer Neil Reisner contributed to this article.

Caption: PHOTO – An interracial crowd rallying outside the Teaneck Municipal Complex on Saturday in protest of the Rodney King verdict. – STEVE AUCHARD / THE RECORD

May 3, 1992

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SAMARITAN TURNED ROBBER, COPS SAY

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, March 8, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | A07

A 25-year-old man who was stranded when his car broke down Saturday fought off an attacker who reluctantly gave him a ride, then drove him to a secluded spot, put a hunting knife to his throat, and demanded his money, police said.

Although both men are New Milford residents, chance threw them together for the first time Saturday, Teaneck Detective Dean Kazinci said.

After his late-model car broke down on New Milford Avenue in Bergenfield shortly before 4 a.m., the victim walked to Teaneck Road and crossed paths with David Wohllenben.

Wohllenben, 20, at first refused to give the victim a ride but he “circled the block, then came back and offered to give him a ride,” Kazinci said.

Wohllenben allegedly drove to the rear of Jobber Auto Parts at 1555 Teaneck Road. He opened the passenger door, produced a hunting knife that he put to the victim’s throat, and demanded his money, Kazinci said.

The victim used his right hand to fend off knife, sustaining a slight cut in the palm, police said. The victim then fled into a back yard and onto Teaneck Road, where he hailed Teaneck Police Officer Dennis Kleiber.

When Bergenfield Police Officer John Casper stopped Wohllenben about 4:20 a.m. at West Main Street and Franklin Avenue, he saw the hunting knife under the driver’s seat, Kazinci said.

After the victim identified Wohllenben as the attacker, Bergenfield police charged him with unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, and bail was set at $2,500. Teaneck police charged him with armed robbery, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and aggravated assault, Kazinci said.
Wohllenben was remanded to the Bergen County Jail on $75,000 bail.

Notes: Bergen page

March 8, 1992

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POLICE QUELL NEAR-RIOT IN TEANECK

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, February 2, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | A08

About 100 Englewood youths armed with sticks, stones, and bottles converged on a Teaneck High School dance, but were met by an almost equal number of police officers who quelled a near-riot.

Breaking up sporadic fights at the flanks of crowds and keeping most of the youths apart on opposite sides of Teaneck Road, officers Friday night eventually herded the Englewood youths north into Englewood to put an end to the incident, said Lt. William Broughton, head of the Teaneck Police Department Youth Bureau.

Three juveniles from Hackensack, Englewood, and Teaneck taken into custody were released to the custody of parents or guardians about 1 a.m., he said. Andre Devon Perrin, 18, of West Hudson Avenue, Englewood, was arrested. He was charged with possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose, rioting, and resisting arrest, Broughton said.

Perrin, who had a heavy 18-inch fire hydrant wrench when he was arrested, was in the Bergen County Jail on Saturday on $7,500 bail, he added.

Broughton, who was injured when he was hit on the head by a piece of thrown metal, said the only other injuries were to Detective Dean Kazinci, who was hit on the shin with a bottle, and Sgt. Mark Tiernan, who suffered bruised ribs. Neither was taken to a hospital, he said.

Broughton said he did not know why the Englewood youths came to Teaneck, but said they may have been retaliating for a past incident or some perceived slight by Teaneck youths. Sgt. Robert Adomilli said there may have been a dance at Englewood’s Dwight Morrow High School.

“The type of behavior we saw last night is not going to be tolerated by the Teaneck Police Department or the residents of Teaneck,” Broughton said Saturday.

Also responding were about 75 to 100 police officers from the Dumont, Bergenfield, Englewood, Tenafly, Haworth, Palisades Park, Paramus, and Bergen County departments, he said.

Uniformed Teaneck officers went to the corner of Washington Place and Sunrise Terrace about 10:45 p.m., as the Teaneck dance wound down, on a report from residents that youths were fighting, Adomilli said. Officers saw a group of youths but did not see any fighting, he said.

The students at the dance, meanwhile, were told to stay at the school.

A few minutes later, police cars blocked off the Margaret Street bridge when they heard a report that a large group of youths were headed into the township from Englewood.

Police soon heard another report that another group of Englewood youths was coming from Forest Avenue.

“At that point, we knew they were coming to the high school,” Broughton said.

Despite discouragement from police, Adomilli said, a group of about 60 Teaneck youths formed and was ready to meet the Englewood youths.

“It’s a fortunate thing we were there, in the number we were there,” Adomilli said. “I’m telling you, somebody would have gotten hurt. . . . It was very bad scene. We got good support from the surrounding towns.”

Michele March, a member of the Concerned Citizens of Teaneck, was at the scene with her husband, Curtis, who was a chaperone at the dance, helping police calm the youths.

March expressed frustration at what appear to be continuing fights between rival youths in different local communities, especially between Teaneck, Englewood, and Hackensack youths.

“You know what I see? I see a lot of nice kids who just need somebody to point them in the right direction, to tell them that this is not what we are about as black people,” March said.

March commended the police for their professionalism, quick response, and the efficient manner in which they quelled the incident.

“There is a total misfocus here on racism; it’s a black-on-black thing,” she said. “This is a thing that the black community has to solve for itself. We have to reach out to our kids and tell them that we love them, but that we do not accept this kind of behavior; that it is not a way for them to enjoy their future, that they might end up dead or injured.”

Notes: Bergen news page

February 2, 1992

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SPECTATOR SEATS AREN’T ALL NEEDED BUT PRESS OVERFLOWS COURTROOM

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, January 16, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A11

Although spectators started gathering outside the Bergen County Courthouse about 7 a.m. on Wednesday, several of the 53 seats set aside for the public went begging on the day of opening arguments in Gary S. Spath’s reckless manslaughter trial.

The spectators who lined up before a double-glass door leading to the first-floor courtroom were waved in 10 at a time by Sheriff’s Officer George Kellinger shortly before the 9 a.m. start of the trial.

The initial seating included 39 spectators, plus six representatives of families of Spath and Phillip C. Pannell, as well as members of the press. Only 31 spectators attended in the afternoon.

Everyone entering the courtoom was frisked, sent through a walk-through metal detector, and then reinspected with a hand-held metal detector. Bergen County Undersheriff Jay Alpert attributed the tight security to anticipation of heavy demand for seats and the number of witnesses expected to testify at the trial.

All of the 19 seats set aside for the press were taken, and a special media room was set up on the second floor to handle the overflow. Nearly a score of reporters, cameramen, and technicians crammed into the 12-foot-square room to stare intently at two television monitors tuned to coverage of the trial provided by Court TV, a cable network. Space was so tight many sat cross-legged on the floor.

Several of the spectators including Beverly Lefkowitz, president of the Teaneck Parent-Teacher Association said they were drawn to the trial because they had closely followed the case since Spath shot Pannell in April 1990.

“The case reflects a lot of turmoil in the town that many of us are trying to address,” she said.

Lloyd Riddick, 57, a retired Teaneck resident, said he was attending to show support for the Pannells.

“Something happened to a friend of mine, an African-American, and I see the way the system is leaning. So, if my appearance here evens the scales of justice a little bit, then I’ll do so. Anything I can do to help,” he said.

Caption: PHOTO – AL PAGLIONE / THE RECORD – The trial of Teaneck police Officer Gary S. Spath getting under way in a Hackensack courtroom Wednesday morning.

Notes: MAIN STORY FILED SEPARATELY – OPENING ARGUMENTS FOCUS ON ISSUE OF PANNELL’S GUN. DID SPATH KNOW OF WEAPON? THE SPATH TRIAL – Page a01

January 16, 1992

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2 ARRESTED IN USED-CAR DISPUTE

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, January 15, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | Page B03

A mechanic and his son-in-law face charges following a yearlong dispute with a Teaneck man over a used car that disappeared and a check that bounced.

Theft charges have been filed against George Nicolaou of 26 E. Madison Ave., Dumont. Nicolaou was released Saturday on $2,500 bail from the Bergen County Jail, said a spokeswoman for the county Sheriff’s Department. His son-in-law, Anthony Mamalian, who faces fraud charges in the case, also is out on bail.

Dumont Police Detective Sgt. Robert Fischer said Nicolaou, 53, who owns G. N. Auto Electric in Dumont, sold a 1971 Mercedes-Benz to Carmello Bellia in December 1990. The car, for which Bellia paid $3,000, was supposed to have a rebuilt engine and transmission, Fischer said.

Bellia told police that after he got home, “he went to his own mechanic to check the car out,” Fischer said. “He found out that the car did not have a rebuilt engine or transmission. ”

Bellia returned it the next day and asked that it be repaired or that his money be refunded, Fischer said. About a month later, Bellia was given $1,000, but a $2,000 check written by Mamalian bounced, Fischer said.

Fischer said Bellia told police he tried three times but was unable to cash the check because of insufficient funds. A civil court awarded Bellia, 51, a $5,000 judgment in June, but he has not collected, Fischer said.

Then, Fischer said, Bellia noticed that the car, which had been sitting in the lot at G. N. Auto Electric during the dispute, was missing. Bellia signed complaints against Mamalian and Nicolaou. .

Mamalian was arrested Dec. 28 on a complaint of fraud for the bounced check, and Nicolaou on Jan. 11 on complaint of theft for the missing car, Fischer said. The men will appear in Dumont Municipal Court at a date to be determined, Fischer said.

January 13, 1992

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MAN CHARGED IN REVENGE ATTACK ON TEANECK TEEN

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, January 11, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star B | NEWS | Page A05

A man who retaliated for an alleged assault on his brother by attacking a Teaneck High School student with a bat was charged Friday with criminal trespass, police said.

Kimathi Knox, 19, also known as Kimathi Muhammad, was released on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond, said Detective Lt. William Broughton, who added that police are considering other charges against him.

On Thursday, Knox, of Griggs Avenue, hit the 16-year-old student on the right arm with an aluminum baseball bat but did not injure him, police said. He pulled a fire alarm to get students to the school parking lot, where the attack occurred, a vice principal said.

The night before, two 16-year-old high school students, one of whom was Knox’s brother, were attacked by other Teaneck students as they got off a school bus returning from a basketball game, police said.

Charges may be brought against the youths identified as the attackers, Broughton said. The victim of Thursday’s assault was identified as one of the attackers in Wednesday night’s incident, police said.

January 11, 1992

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MAN HELD IN HANDGUN ATTACK ON WIFE

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, January 4, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star B | NEWS | Page A04

Yvone Kaiser told police her husband returned home a few days ago with a 9mm handgun he had just bought on the street in the Bronx and pointed it at her.

“It only takes one shot, right between the eyes,” Kaiser, 29, told police he said to her at the time.

On Thursday, after a dispute over money, Kaiser stood six feet away and fired the gun at his wife as she sat on a living room couch holding their 15-month-old daughter, Jacklyn, police Capt. Gary Fiedler said. The shot missed.

The couple’s other daughter, Julie, 4, was standing nearby, as were Yvone Kaiser’s two daughters from a previous marriage Crystle, 9, and Monique, 11. Her husband then left the room, and she called police.

Kaiser, 27, was being held in the Bergen County Jail Annex on Friday on $500,000 bail. He was charged with attempted murder, simple assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and possession of a firearm without a permit.

Teaneck Municipal Judge James E. Young also issued a temporary restraining order against Kaiser, barring him from going to the couple’s Alpine Drive home, and granted temporary custody of the children to Yvone Kaiser. As mandated in the new Domestic Violence Prevention Act, a hearing will be held in two weeks to determine whether the order should become permanent.

The incident began shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday, when the self-employed transportation consultant closed his office, which is in the house. He sat next to his wife on their bed and asked her how much money they had. She took the money out of her purse and counted $2,200, Fiedler said.

“Impossible, it should be $3,200,” she told police he screamed, then slapped her. “You stole my hard-earned money. Where did you spend it?”

She then went into the living room, where her husband followed her with the gun.

Police later found the gun that they say was used in the shooting, along with empty shell casings and two other handguns. They also found ten $100 bills in the bedroom, but Fiedler said he did not know if that was the missing $1,000 that the couple were fighting over.

January 4, 1992

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3 NEWARK BOYS HELD IN CAR THEFTS AT MALLS; APPREHENDED AFTER CHASE IN TEANECK

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

Byline: By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, December 28, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A02

Three Newark youths drove a stolen car to Bergen Mall on Thursday, abandoned it in favor of two other cars, and were arrested when the cars collided in Teaneck after a chase on Route 4, police said.

The boys 15, 16, and 17 years old were charged with receiving stolen property and eluding police and were being held Friday in the Bergen County Juvenile Detention Center.

“It’s a gang,” Hackensack Deputy Police Chief John Aletta said. “Every year we get this. After questioning by youth officers, it was learned that they arrived at the mall together in a car stolen from Linden, which they left, and stole two other ones.”

About 2:20 p.m. Thursday, Hackensack Police Officer Mart Kobin heard a report of a theft of a 1990 Pontiac and chased a car matching that description on Route 4, Aletta said.

The car exited Route 4 at Queen Anne Road in Teaneck, where it crashed into a 1989 Chevrolet Cavalier, which was later determined to have been stolen from the Toys “R” Us parking lot adjacent to the Bergen Mall parking lot, where the Pontiac was stolen, he said.

The 17-year-old driver of the Pontiac and the two youths in the Cavalier abandoned the cars and fled on foot, Aletta said. They were arrested after a foot chase that ended on Minelli Place and Allan Court.

December 28, 1991

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N.Y.C. GANG SUSPECTED IN ROBBERIES; ARE VICTIMS FOLLOWED HOME?

By michael o. allenHomepage, The RecordNo Comments

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, November 27, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 2 Star | NEWS | Page B01

A New York City gang that preys mainly on Hispanic business owners may be responsible for four robberies in Bergen County in which the victims sometimes were followed home from their firms in the city, authorities say.

In two incidents in Englewood and two in Teaneck, residents who own businesses in New York or their family members were robbed in their homes.

The robbers have been armed in three incidents, and the victims, who were not hurt, were Hispanic, police said. In the fourth attack, the victim was beaten in the basement of his home. It could not be determined whether he was Hispanic.

Teaneck police Detective Tom Sikorsky said Tuesday that there is a strong possibility that the attackers belong to a gang wanted by New York City police for about 100 robberies in the past year.

Township police developed the link when they talked to officers from the Bronx robbery task force about descriptions of suspects and the New York license plates on a brown Dodge used in a robbery on Darien Terrace, Sikorsky said.

“These men will not hesitate to use violence,” he said. “You have nothing to gain by resisting these guys. I will say just go along with the robbery.”

About 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 13, two men knocked on the door of the Darien Terrace home. When a woman baby-sitting her 10-month-old grandson peeked through the door, a man asked to be let in, saying he was a police officer. Three men entered and ransacked the home, taking jewelry, cash, and a videocassette recorder, Sikorsky said.

They were seen getting into a four-door, brown Dodge with New York license plates.

About a month before, three men identifying themselves as police officers to the owner’s mother entered a Cooper Avenue home and ransacked it. Sikorsky said police are developing an inventory of items stolen in the robbery.

Englewood police Detective Capt. C. Kenneth Tinsley said his department is following several leads, including the possibility that the victims were followed from New York.

About 12:45 a.m. on Nov. 8, a 63-year-old Englewood resident who worked in the city was beaten and robbed in the basement of his Windsor Road home and was hospitalized. Two gold rings and a brown briefcase were taken.

In September, three armed, masked men entered a Kenwood Road home whose owner worked in New York. They tied up the maid and the son of the homeowner, who was not present. They took $400, a videocassette recorder, and jewelry, but left without a safe that they ransacked the home looking for.

Police Detective Hector Beauchamp in the Bronx said descriptions and a composite drawing of a suspect in the Nov. 8 Englewood robbery fit a member of a gang from the Dominican Republic that has robbed several city business owners.

New York police have photographs of eight men who allegedly belong to one or more gangs of Dominicans believed responsible for the robberies, Beauchamp said.

The robbers, who are based in the Bronx and the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, also have followed victims to New Rochelle, N.Y., and Greenwich, Conn., where two weeks ago they pistol-whipped a money broker and stole more than $80,000, Beauchamp said.

Anyone with information is asked to call police. In Teaneck, call the detectives bureau at 837-2565 or Crimestoppers at 833-4222. To reach Englewood police, call 568-2700.

New York police have set up a 24-hour hot line at -(212) 822-5474.

November 27, 1991

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