KPD: Cops were kept busy at Walmart

A Newark woman who tried to sneak two 40-inch TV sets past security at Walmart got herself arrested, not only for that but also on three outstanding warrants, including one carrying a $20,000 (full) bail requirement, Kearny police reported.

Hajill Hill, 35, was taken into custody April 26 by Sgt. Chris Levchak and Officer Jason Rodrigues, who had been called to the store at 1:30 a.m. after she allegedly tried to leave with a cart full of $781.45 worth of unpaid-for merchandise the TVs and clothing.

Police said a warrant check revealed she had three: $150 from Newark for an ordinance violation; $350, Bloomfield, driving while suspended; and the biggie, from the Essex County Sheriff’s Office on charges of aggravated assault, weapon possession and making terroristic threats.

Hill was processed at KPD headquarters on the shoplifting charge, and the aforementioned jurisdictions were notified of her arrest. 

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

April 25

At 4:10 p.m., Officers Jason Ward and Sean Wilson were dispatched to Walmart on a report of individuals trying to pass forged $50 bills at that store and others in the mall. Security reported that one of the suspects may have entered a white Saturn, and Ward stopped such a vehicle near Taco Bell.

Police said they could not confirm that driver Laquan White, 30, of Linden, was one of the funny-money perps, but he ended up in cuffs anyway, on a charge of driving while suspended and on three MV warrants ($100, $100 and $200) out of Newark.

Police said Wilson recovered three of the counterfeit $50s that had been passed at Walmart by a customer who used them to purchase approximately $140 worth of merchandise, including a 14-piecepacket of Trident gum (96¢) and a $124 Hitachi computer. The guy also bought a two-year replacement plan for the Hitachi. [Why not? Technically, it was free.] 

April 28

Officer Jordenson Jean, on patrol in the Walmart lot at 1:30 p.m., reportedly observed William Newton, 55, of Elizabeth, drinking from a 24 oz. can of Bud Light, approached him to issue a town-ordinance violation and also did a warrant check. Police said he had 12 all but one for shoplifting: three from Hillside, $750 each, and eight from Elizabeth, $250 and $100. The 12th was a no-bail NCIC warrant out of Georgia on charges of theft and property damage. 

After booking at HQ, Newton was remanded to the Hudson County Jail.

April 30

At 6:15 a.m., Officers Ben Wuelfing and Tim Castle responded to a report of an accident on the 200 block of Sanford Ave. and found that a 2013 Toyota had apparently struck a parked car. Police said the Toyota driver Suellen DosSantos, 26, of Kearny was passed out in the vehicle and, after being roused and given field sobriety tests, was charged with DWI, DWI within 1,000 feet of a school, careless driving, refusing an Alcotest, and having an open container of alcohol in the car.

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At 8:30 p.m., Officer Rodrigues with backup Officers Andre Fernandes, Jonathan Dowie and David Bush located and confronted a suspected Walmart shoplifter in the area of the Wawa store. Police said Terence White, 30, of Newark, began “acting out”: yelling, swinging his arms at the cops and ignoring repeated advice to calm down, and finally had to be put in a compliance hold.

Police said Walmart security confirmed that White was the man who had left the store with a $71.30 Chromecast Ultra device concealed in his pants. [We have no idea what this is, but we are guessing it is fairly small.] He was charged with shoplifting, resisting arrest, hindering apprehension (for allegedly initially giving a phony name), and on a no-bail, Essex County Sheriff’s contempt-of-court warrant.

May 2

Vice detectives, on the 20 block of Chestnut St. at 9 p.m., spotted a 2007 Honda occupied by three individuals and reportedly emitting the odor of marijuana from its open windows. Police said the back-seat passenger, Gregory Banks, 26, of Kearny, volunteered that he was in possession of the drug and the officers recovered one bag of suspected pot. A search incident to arrest reportedly produced three alprazolam pills. Banks was charged with possession of pot and paraphernalia and of a prescription drug.

May 3

Sgt. Levchak and Officers Fernandes, Chris Manolis and Jose Castillo responded to Midland Ave. and Elm St. at 11:30 p.m. on a report of a 34-year-old Kearny woman having been struck in the face several times by a man who was known to her. Kearny EMS also responded. The officers checked the area and on Forest St. located the suspect, Hector Reyesvendrell, 35, of Newark. He was arrested for aggravated assault and on a $1,000 drug-related Belleville warrant and was remanded to the Hudson County Jail.

Karen Zautyk

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