BOY, 15, DIES AFTER SNIFFING BUTANE IN CAR ELMWOOD PARK YOUTH PASSED OUT AT MALL

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, June 27, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A01

A 15-year-old Elmwood Park boy died Tuesday about an hour after he passed out while sniffing butane gas in the back seat of a friend’s car in Paramus, authorities said Wednesday.
Thomas Prokap was pronounced dead at 10:46 p.m. at Kennedy Memorial Hospitals at Saddle Brook, Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said.
A spokeswoman for the Bergen County Medical Examiner’s Office said an autopsy Wednesday failed to determine the cause of death. Toxicology tests, which usually take six to eight weeks, will be performed, she said.
Prokap was in the friend’s car at Garden State Plaza with three friends, whom Fahy declined to identify because they are juveniles. The prosecutor said they began “hanging out” in the mall’s parking lot about 7:45 p.m.
Sometime after 9 p.m., they drove to a store on Main Street in Hackensack, where Prokap bought a 2 1/2-ounce canister of Ronson butane fuel, Fahy said.
The other youths told authorities that, as they had seen Prokap do on occasion within the past week, he inhaled butane from the spray top on the canister, Fahy said.
They said they noticed he was drooling and appeared to be sleeping. When they couldn’t wake him, they drove to the hospital, he said.
The youths were not drinking and there was no evidence of drugs in the car, Paramus Police Chief Joseph Delaney said. Police do not anticipate charging the youths with any crime at this point, he said.
The investigation points pending the medical examiner’s toxicology tests to the butane, Delaney said.
Elmwood Park Police Chief Byron Morgan II said that he has heard of teenagers using inhalants to “achieve a high,” but he knew of no other cases in which a local youth had used butane.
“Any accident like this is a tragedy, a little more so when it involves the life of a child or a teenager,” he said.
Dr. Joseph Boyle, an associate professor of physiology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, said butane causes excitement, exhilaration, and delirium when inhaled. He also said it could act as a depressant.
“They get intoxicated, similar to alcohol,” he said of users.
Butane also causes a condition known as hypoxia, a depletion of oxygen in the body tissue to a point where it cannot sustain life, he said. And it does not take inhalation of a large quantity of the gas for it to occur, he added.
Boyle said another effect of butane, a volatile organic substance, is an irregular heartbeat.
Residents in the tight-knit Elmwood Park neighborhood where Prokap lived spoke highly of his family, whose other two sons attend Rutgers University, and of Prokap, whom they described as a tall, lean, “good-looking” boy.
“They’re great people. I don’t understand what went wrong,” a neighbor said.
Prokap, who was a sophomore at Elmwood Park Memorial High School who died 22 days short of his 16th birthday, was a former member of the Elmwood Park Little League and St. Leo Boy Scout Troop 80.
Among his survivors are his parents, John and Gloria, and two brothers, John and Gordon, all of Elmwood Park.
Record Staff Writers Jim Consoli and Wendy Zentz contributed to this article.

Keywords: ELMWOOD PARK; PARAMUS; YOUTH; FUEL; ACCIDENT; DEATH; VICTIM; TEST

Caption: PHOTO – PETER MONSEES / THE RECORD – A can of Ronson butane fuel, which carries warning against inhalation.

PRESS COVERAGE OF DEAD TEEN ASSAILED

By Laura Impellizzeri and Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writers | Sunday, May 5, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A06

Fair Lawn residents said Saturday that autopsy results showing that alcohol played no role in the death of a local 15-year-old at a New Year’s Eve party also indicate that her family and the party hosts were treated unfairly by the press and the justice system.
They agreed, however, that teenage drinking is a dangerous problem and should not be ignored by parents or prosecutors.
Autopsy results released Friday show that Coleen Draney, captain of Fair Lawn High School’s junior varsity soccer team, died of heart failure while attending a party given by a classmate, Susan Gennat.
Susan’s mother, Gisela Gennat, was ordered in March to pay a $1,000 fine, perform 25 days of community service, and write an essay on “Why One Should Not Serve Alcohol to Minors,” which was published in The Record on Friday. Gennat declined to comment Saturday.
Fair Lawn Prosecutor Ira Levine said Gennat was prosecuted because alcohol was made available to minors, not because of Draney’s death. Fair Lawn police initially suspected that Draney died of an alcohol overdose after drinking and consuming “Jell-O shots” gelatin laced with vodka.
Margaret Wilde, a neighbor of both families, said: “The media . . . crucified the Gennats. That same thing that happened to the Gennats and the Draneys could have happened to anyone who has teenage kids. “
“It’s unfortunate they had to be in the spotlight for no reason,” agreed another neighbor, who would not give her name.
Prosecutor John J. Fahy said: “It’s the media that made that portrayal, not my office. We didn’t have the toxicological report, and I know I was very careful not to say what the cause of death was. “
Draney’s father, Robert, criticized the release of the autopsy report, but would not elaborate. He, too, complained about press coverage, which he said “crucified” his daughter.
Jerome Weiner, president of the Fair Lawn Board of Education, said: “I certainly hope that it’s a lesson, whether it’s a teenager or adult, what might happen when you are not careful. I would really hate to think that students would have the perception that it was OK [to drink] since it [Draney’s death] has not been related to drinking. “

Keywords: FAIR LAWN; ALCOHOL; ABUSE; YOUTH; FAMILY; DEATH; VICTIM; HEALTH; FINE

2 CHARGED WITH SELLING PHONY IDS TO MINORS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, April 27, 1991

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

A 32-year-old Jersey City man who police said sold “several hundred” fake New Jersey driver’s licenses to underage students in four states was released Friday from a Delaware jail on $15,000 bail.
For the past two years, Howard A. Lubowsky produced and sold the bogus licenses to high school students in the Cresskill area and to college students in Delaware, Philadelphia, and New Rochelle, N.Y., police said.
“The only purpose of a 17-year-old getting one of these is so they could get served in bars and liquor stores,” said Cresskill Detective Sgt. William Macchio, noting that 17-year-olds can obtain legal New Jersey driver’s licenses. Charges are pending against Lubowsky in Cresskill.
About a month ago, Cresskill and Newark, Del., police discovered that they were investigating the same man, Macchio said, when Newark police called borough police about a fake New Jersey license they had confiscated. The license bore a borough address.
On three separate occasions, Macchio said, Lubowsky came to Cresskill for photo sessions at a teenager’s house. At least 20 students would pay $25 to have their pictures taken, then pay $25 a week later at a license-signing and laminating session, Macchio said.
At a University of Delaware dormitory Wednesday night, one of the people Lubowsky photographed was an undercover Newark, Del., police officer, a university security official said. Lubowski had sold 58 licenses at the school in October and was prepared to sell 55 Wednesday, the security official said.
In Delaware, charges against Lubowsky include 12 counts of forgery, unlawful production of driver’s licenses, and possession of forgery devices. A Morris Plains woman, Claudia Silverberg, 31, also faced similar charges. She was being held Friday in a Delaware correctional facility, authorities said.

Keywords: JERSEY CITY; CRIME; LICENSE; YOUTH; SALE; CRESSKILL

VANDALISM INCIDENTS PROBED IN TEANECK

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Saturday, April 13, 1991

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

Township police are investigating five incidents of vandalism along Teaneck Road in which windows at two businesses, a private residence, and the Bryant School were broken Thursday night.
In the first incident, about 5:30 p.m., a woman reported that someone threw a rock through the passenger side window of her car parked on Sherman Avenue, near Teaneck Road.
The vandalism occurred in the wake of an impromptu march Wednesday by students marking the first anniversary of the death of Phillip C. Pannell, a black 16-year-old who was shot by a white township police officer. The window of a police cruiser was shattered.

Keywords: TEANECK; DEMONSTRATION; ANNIVERSARY; VANDALISM; POLICE; SHOOTING; YOUTH; DEATH

TEACHER CHARGED WITH ASSAULT ON GIRL, 13; OTHER DUMONT STUDENTS MAY BE INVOLVED

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, April 7, 1991

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

A math and science teacher at the Selzer School for the past 21 years was charged Saturday with aggravated sexual assault on a 13-year-old student, officials said.
James J. Walls, 48, was arrested about 2 p.m. Saturday at his home at 88 Pine St., Haworth, said Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy. Walls was to be held in the Bergen County Jail on $25,000 bail, he said.
It could not be determined Saturday what action school officials would take.
Between Dec. 15, 1989, and June 22, 1990, Walls committed “numerous acts of aggravated sexual assault” on the girl by touching her breasts and buttocks during school hours, Fahy said.
Fahy said the girl graduated from the kindergarten-to-eighth-grade school in June 1990, but that she told a school counselor about the assault only a few days ago. The counselor informed authorities, he said. The Dumont Police Department and the Bergen County Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit investigated the charge, he said.
Fahy said that when the case goes to a grand jury, Walls would be charged with aggravated sexual assault for each time he allegedly touched the girl.
“As of right now, the investigation is continuing,” Fahy said. “It’s possible other kids were involved. He’s only charged with sexual assault on the one girl. “
If convicted, Walls could face 20 years in prison and fines of up to $100,000, Fahy said.
Dumont Schools Superintendent Thomas Roberts and Selzer School Principal James Kennedy were not at home Saturday and could not be reached. No members of the school board could be reached Saturday.
Lee Brauer, director of public relations for the Dumont school district, said she was not aware of the charges against Walls or of his arrest. She said she did not have the telephone numbers of any school official with her at home.
Fahy said school officials, including the principal, were aware of the investigation, but did not know if they had heard about the arrest.
Dumont Mayor James Moriarty said he was hearing of the charges for the first time.
“This is a shock. I really don’t have a comment at this time,” he said.

Keywords: TEACHER; ASSAULT; YOUTH; SCHOOL; SEX; DUMONT; STUDENT

Notes: Bergen page version

2 FACE SEX CHARGES IN ATTACK ON BOY, 16

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, March 31, 1991

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

Two Rutherford men were charged Saturday with sexual assault and criminal sexual contact with a 16-year-old boy.
Richard Amato, 32, of 10 Ayre Place was arrested about 9 p.m. Friday at his business, Big Rich’s Music at 114 Park Ave., and was being held on $20,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail, said First Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Paul Brickfield.
John Capodanno, 36, of 346 Union Ave. was arrested about 4 a.m. Saturday at his home, but posted the $20,000 bail and was released, Brickfield said.
Rutherford police detectives and the Bergen County Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit are investigating, Brickfield said, declining to discuss the case further.
Brickfield said the investigation of Amato and Capodanno is unrelated to that of another Rutherford man, Charles W. Confer Jr., 30, of 53 Feronia Way, whose case is now before a grand jury.
Confer was charged March 3 with two counts of sexual assault on a minor after two youths reported incidents a day earlier to police.
He was being held on $50,000 bail. Authorities at the jail would not confirm whether he was still there.

Keywords: SEX; ASSAULT; YOUTH; RUTHERFORD; ABUSE

ASSAULT PROBE LOOKS AT PAIR; ENGLEWOOD MAN, TEEN ARE SUSPECTS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, January 30, 1991

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

A 20-year-old city man and a 16-year-old accomplice who have been charged with robbery are being investigated in connection with 12 other assaults in the past two weeks, police said.
Malik McKinnon of 210 First St. was being held Tuesday on $10,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail. The juvenile, whom police declined to identify because of his age, was released to the custody of his parents.
A 20-year-old employee of Chicken Magician of Teaneck had just delivered food to a West Palisade Avenue residence when he was accosted by two males about 9:15 p.m. Sunday and robbed of about $100, Englewood Detective Capt. C. Kenneth Tinsley said.
Police arrested the juvenile later that night after the victim, who recognized the juvenile from a playground basketball game, gave police a description.
McKinnon turned himself in Monday, Tinsley said.
The money was returned to the victim, he said.
Starting with a Jan. 7 mugging of a 50-year-old man in the parking lot of a church, 13 people were assaulted in separate incidents, Tinsley said, and eight of them were robbed in dark and isolated areas in the 1st and 3rd wards.
“We haven’t confirmed it yet but we are checking to see if they [the two suspects] were involved with the other incidents,” Tinsley said.
He added that increased patrols in the 1st and 3rd wards would continue.

Keywords: ROBBERY; ASSAULT; PROBE; ENGLEWOOD; YOUTH

DRAG RACING CITED IN FATALITY

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, November 21, 1990

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

North Bergen police Tuesday charged a Plainfield youth and issued a warrant for the arrest of a 27-year-old Jersey City man in connection with a fatal collision that police now say was the result of drag racing.

A Ridgefield woman was killed instantly in the head-on collision Nov. 7, and her mother-in-law remains unconscious and in critical condition from the accident.

The youth, a 17-year-old whom police would not identify because of his age, was charged with death by auto and assault by auto in the crash at 49th Street and Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen.
An arrest warrant on the same charges was issued for Antonio Castella of 135A North St. in Jersey City.

Police said Castella was driving with a suspended license, and the youth was driving without a license. Four people were packed into the red 1985 two-seat Porsche that the youth was driving, police said.

The two “wantonly, willfully, and carelessly drove their vehicles . . . with disregard for life or property,” said North Bergen Police Officer George Alburtus. “According to witnesses, they were traveling at a high rate of speed, leaving smoke and screeching tires. “

Carmela Berardo, 49, of 414 Abbott St., Ridgefield was killed instantly when the Porsche crossed into the northbound lane on Tonnelle Avenue and struck the car she was riding in. Michelina Berardo, 69, of the same address, remained Tuesday in St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City with a fractured skull and two broken legs.

The youth, who also was injured in the crash, was in stable condition Tuesday at Jersey City Medical Center.

In all, six cars were involved in the pileup that followed the collision, and six people were injured.

Berardo’s husband, Florindo Berardo, 50, left the hospital Nov. 12 to attend his wife’s funeral.

Berardo, who was driving when the collision occurred, suffered a broken right foot and facial abrasions.

Madeleine M. Sheldrick, 30, a pregnant North Bergen resident, and Tamburas Ortiz, 18, brother of the arrested youth, were treated and released the same day. Allen Betancourt, 19, of Piscataway was released Nov. 14 from Jersey City Medical Center.

“No one is interested in retribution,” De Vito said Tuesday. “We are interested in justice, but justice here pleads out for severe penalties to be imposed and incarceration.

“Words like disgusting, tragic, and senseless don’t even begin to define the horror and the loss to this family. “

The family was returning in two cars from visiting an aunt in Jersey City at about 10:30 on the night of the accident.

The Berardos 27-year-old daughter, Michelle Sosa, who was driving ahead of her parents, said she was stopped at a light at 51st Street when she noticed the Porsche and Castella’s Mustang.

“As soon as the light changed, they pulled out, like, they peeled out so fast that there was smoke and noise and everything,” she said.

“It was just overwhelming how much smoke and noise. And all of a sudden I looked in my rearview mirror. I noticed that the red Porsche was in the opposite side of the lane, in the northbound lane. He must have hit my parents then.”

CABBY NABS HIT-AND-RUN SUSPECT; TRAPS CAR HE SAW STRIKE PEDESTRIAN

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

The Record (New Jersey) | Two Star | NEWS | Page A01

A cabby who witnessed a hit-and-run accident that injured an elderly pedestrian Wednesday pursued the fleeing driver and repeatedly tried to talk him into returning to the scene.

But Peter Byrne of Ridgefield Park, who works for Mr. Taxi Yellow Cab Co. of Hackensack, said the youth kept pulling away, so he continued to follow him.

Finally, at Harvey Avenue in Rochelle Park, he bumped the youth into a corner driveway and blocked him off as a state police cruiser that also was involved in the chase pulled up. A 17-year-old Hackensack youth, whom authorities declined to identify because of his age, was arrested.

Byrne said he had just dropped off passengers at about 1:40 p.m. when he saw the youth’s car strike Arthur Dehardt Jr. as he crossed West Passaic Street in Rochelle Park. The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office said the youth ran a red light at the intersection.

Dehardt, 77, of Rochelle Park, was taken to Hackensack Medical Center with head and rib injuries and was in stable condition Wednesday, authorities said.

“The driver pulled up on the sidewalk, looked at him, and then took off,” Byrne said. “I thought he was going to stop. Then when he pulled away I pulled up next to him and said, `Hey, where you going? You just hit the man. But he just took off. So I made a U-turn and just went after him. “

Byrne, 46, who started working for Mr. Taxi 11 months ago after 25 years as an offset printer, said he kept after the youth, trying unsuccessfully to get him to go back.

After chasing him for about a mile, and jumping out at red lights to urge him to return to the scene, Byrne said he bumped the rear of the youth’s station wagon and forced him into the driveway.

The youth was charged with driving without a license, leaving the scene of an accident, reckless driving, and disregarding a traffic signal. He was driving his mother’s car, authorities said.

Rochelle Park Police Chief William Betten called Byrne a hero.

“We are extremely pleased with the efforts and cooperation [of Byrne] because it was his effort that resulted in the arrest of this hit-and-run driver,” Betten said. “He deserves all the credit he can get. “

Byrne said he did not consider himself a hero.

“I feel like I’ve just done something that anybody would do,” said the cabby.

Caption: PHOTO – PETER BYRNE, Shuns hero label

2 CHARGED IN CITY BURGLARIES

By MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Friday, September 7, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page A01

Two homeless men were charged with three city burglaries after police caught one of them after he emerged from a second-floor window with stolen money, police said.

Pedro Cordeiro, 20, and Frank Hidalgo, 22, were to be sent to the Bergen County Jail on Thursday on $2,500 bail.

Cordeiro was caught stepping onto a ladder after emerging from the window of a Hudson Street home. He was found with $154.90 allegedly stolen from the residence. Officers Richard Melber and Vincent Pedone had come to the home after receiving a call about a suspicious person about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Cordeiro’s alleged accomplice, Hidalgo, fled when he saw the officers. They captured him about 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

The men admitted stealing a 21-inch color television from a Lodi Street home last week and $50 and an unknown quantity of cigarettes from a Hudson Street store two weeks ago, said Capt. Emil Canestrino.

The two were charged with burglary and theft.