Oct. 17
• A Coeyman Avenue resident reported receiving a check from the U.S. Treasury in their mailbox but noted that the check wasn’t addressed to anyone living at that residence. Police took the check as evidence in a suspected scam.
• Investigating a noise complaint at a Union Avenue location at 8:21 p.m., police said they spotted a group of juveniles hanging out behind a vacant building. Police advised them to leave.
• An individual walked into headquarters at 6:19 p.m. to report that purchases had been charged to their credit card without their authorization. The victim canceled their credit card and closed the account, police said.
Oct. 16
• A former patient at an area hospital had several surprise visitations with local residents during the early morning hours. Police said a woman about 5-feet-seven, thin, between 50 and 60, rang a Valley Road resident’s doorbell at 1:23 a.m. and asked to use the phone. After being denied access, police said the woman began walking down Church Street Police initiated a search but couldn’t find her. Then, at 6:56 a.m. police said they got a call about what sounded like the same person who had rung another doorbell but was now in the basement of a Bloomfield Avenue apartment complex where the woman told officers that her legs hurt from walking so long. Noticing that she was wearing a hospital bracelet, police confirmed the woman had been a patient at Mountainside Hospital but had been discharged earlier this month. Police took her to the hospital where a nurse contacted her family.
Oct. 15
A Washington Avenue resident had a surprise encounter with an unexpected guest. The resident told police he heard a noise at the door at 8:30 a.m. and when he went to check, he saw a screwdriver wedged into the door frame. When he asked who it was, the intruder replied: “It’s your neighbor.” Police said the intruder then began running away and the resident followed him to the rear of the building from Hancox Avenue The intruder was described as 5-feet-eight, wearing a light blue shirt and dark blue sweat pants, with a “funny walk.” The resident told police that he and his girlfriend have seen the man around the building several times previously. Detectives are investigating.
Oct. 14
• A woman came to headquarters to report the theft of her pocketbook, a black Furla bag, containing a mobile phone, eyeglass case, personal planner, checkbook and wallet, from her vehicle while it was parked on Union Avenue on Oct. 7 between 4 and 11 a.m. The victim told police she may have left the car unlocked. The victim canceled her accounts.
