KPD: Shoplifting? Oh boy

At 11:30 p.m.,  Oct. 30, Sgt. Jack Corbett and Officers Jason Rodrigues and Michael Gontarczuk responded to Walmart, where security reported that a shoplifter — identified as Ivonne Intriago, 29, of Bloomfield — had been observed taking the tags off a laptop bag and then placing her own computer into same.

Police said the suspect was uncooperative, initially ignored commands to go to the security office and resisted their attempts to handcuff her, to the point that she had to be subdued with OC spray. She was brought to KPD headquarters, where Kearny EMS treated her for the OC aftereffects, and where she was booked on charges of shoplifting and resisting arrest and on a $675 disorderly-conduct warrant out of Bloomfield.

She was also charged with employing a juvenile during commission of a criminal offense. And that is the rest of the story.

According to Walmart security, Intriago had been in the company of a male juvenile, approximately 10 years old, who was seen secreting objects into a backpack he was wearing. The boy fled prior to the KPD’s arrival, and Intriago reportedly denied any knowledge of the child. However, the police viewed the security video and Gontarczuk spotted a boy matching his description in the electronics department.

Police said he again tried to run but was caught after a short chase. In his backpack, they said, were  several electronic items and articles of women’s clothing.

The boy was also brought to HQ and turned over to an adult family member, and Child Protective Services was notified. (You may speculate that  suspect and child were mother-son, but that was not confirmed.)

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Other recent reports from the Kearny police blotter included the following:

Oct. 28

Officers Michael Alvarez and Mina Ekladious, on patrol at 2:30 a.m., stopped a 2003 Dodge Durango that was travelling on the wrong side of Fish House Road.  Police said that when operator Terence Worthy, 49, of Newark, exited the vehicle, a crack pipe and two vials of suspected cocaine were visible on the driver’s side floor.  A search incident to arrest found him to also be in possession of a piece of Brillo.

Worthy was charged with possession of a CDS and drug paraphernalia, including the Brillo. (Please file for future reference: Brillo/steel wool is associated with the ingesting of cocaine — it’s used as a filter or to clean up residue of the drug. Besides, there were no pots, pans or sinks in the immediate vicinity on Fish House Road.)

He was also charged with careless driving, driving while suspended and on three warrants: East Orange, $350, and Newark, $250, both for driving while suspended, and a no-bail drug-related one from the Essex County Sheriff.

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At noon, Officer Jordenson Jean’s attention was drawn to Ernesto Rosabal, 49, of Kearny, who was scattering bits of paper as he walked along Chestnut St. at West Hudson Park. As Jean approached from behind, police said he observed Rosabal fumbling with a black bag from which protruded several hypodermic needles, a burnt glass pipe and a piece of (!) Brillo. A search incident to arrest reportedly revealed two more hypos in one of his socks.

There’s more: Police said the post-arrest inventory of Rosabal’s accoutrements included: four partially burnt glass pipes containing Brillo; 32 hypodermic needles; 19 glass vials with white powder residue believed to be cocaine; 17 wax folds of “Hot Sauce” heroin, and 158 empty wax folds bearing various markings, e.g. “Hit & Run,” “1-2-3 Night Night,” “Purple Reign” and “Pikachu.”

He was charged with possession of drugs, paraphernalia and hypos.

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Back on Fish House Road: At 6:30 p.m., Sgt. Brian Wisely and Officers Jason Ward, John Donovan and Alan Stickno responded to a four-car accident, one of the vehicles being a Pennsylvania-tagged 2015 Nissan operated by Alexander Masharsky, 56, of Brooklyn. Police said his front-seat passenger was an open bottle of Jim Beam. Following field sobriety tests and an Alcotest, Masharsky was charged with DWI, reckless driving, operating an unregistered vehicle and the open-container-of-alcohol offense.

Oct. 29

At 11 p.m., after HQ received reports of an erratic driver in the area of Bergen Ave. and Belgrove Drive, Officer Jon Dowie spotted a 2017 Hyundai swerving northward on Belgrove. Officer Rodrigues, driving south on that street, cut it off and brought it to a halt. After FSTs and an Alcotest, Frank Escate, 28, of Paterson, was charged with DWI and reckless driving.

Nov. 1

Officers Alvarez and Ekladious, on patrol in the Walmart lot at 8:30 p.m., reportedly observed three wax folds, commonly associated with CDS use, in plain view on the dashboard of an occupied Florida-registered parked car. Police said these were found to contain suspected heroin, and front-seat passenger Daniel Machado, 33, of New York City, was arrested for possession of the drug and paraphernalia.

Nov. 2

At 1:45 p.m., Det. Mark McCaffrey and Officers Ward, Stickno and Sean Wilson were dispatched to Kearny Ave. and Afton St. on reports of a fight involving a large group of juveniles. When police arrived, any combat had ceased, but a rowdy crowd was at the scene. The officers proceeded to disperse them, but three Kearny youths — ages 14, 15 and 16 — reportedly ignored repeated admonitions to leave the area and became aggressive and profane.

When Ward advised the 15-year-old he was now under arrest for disorderly conduct, police said the boy tried to pull away but was eventually cuffed and taken to a patrol car. At this point, another group of juveniles came out of a store and began to taunt the officers.

Police said the 14-year-old, who had engaged in a confrontation with McCaffrey, started to flee up the avenue, was caught by McCaffrey and Stickno and had to be forced to the ground. Police said the 16-year-old, his fists clenched, then approached those officers from behind, was grabbed by and elbowed Wilson, tried to run, was cuffed and, as he was being led to a patrol car, kicked the cop.

Back-up units arrived and dispersed the remaining crowd. All three youths were charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The 16-year-old was additionally charged with aggravated assault on an officer. And all three were later released to their parents.

Nov. 3

Officers Gontarczuk and Derek Hemphill responded to a 4 a.m. report of a hit-run accident on the 400 block of Kearny Ave., where they found a heavily damaged parked 2006 Hyundai — along with a bumper conveniently left behind by the vehicle that had fled. Gontarczuk checked the area and spotted a bumperless Ford Explorer at Chestnut and Liberty Sts. Hemphill then brought the crash debris to that site and matched it to the Ford, police said.

Its driver, Marco Antonio Galeano-Magdalino, 38, of Kearny, was given FSTs and an Alcotest and was charged with: DWI, leaving the scene of an accident, failure to report an accident, reckless driving, being an unlicensed driver, failure to produce vehicle documents, operating an unsafe vehicle, operating an uninsured vehicle, failure to maintain his lane, and having an open container of alcohol in an MV.

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