KPD: Intake officer orders car thief, 15, to home confinement, he didn’t stay home, tried to burglarize home and got home confinement again

Last week, we reported on a 15-year-old Kearny boy who allegedly stole a car from a gas station repair shop, crashed it in Belleville and fled, and then burglarized a home in Belleville. He was apprehended by Belleville and Kearny authorities and a court intake officer ordered him released to home detention.

Well, he went out.

On Oct. 29 at 10:43 a.m., Sgt. Jay Ward and Officer John Donovan responded to a Chestnut Street home where a 60-year-old resident reported that while she was in her bathroom, she heard her kitchen window open. She then looked into the kitchen to see a male attempting to pull himself up to and through the open window. When the suspect saw the resident, he reportedly dropped from the window and fled on foot.

At 11.17 a.m., police got a call of a second burglary in progress at a Forest Street home. Officer Ellesse Ogando responded there and found the 15-year-old suspect still on scene. The homeowner reported that his home had been burglarized two days prior and his car keys had been stolen.

A thief that day also stole one of the victim’s cars, later crashing and abandoning it in Newark. On this day, the resident walked outside to see the 15-year-old boy peering into his family’s other car’s window and confronted him.

Sgt. Ward came to the scene having just reviewed surveillance camera footage from the Chestnut Street burglary and identified the 15-year-old boy as the male who had attempted to climb through the Chestnut Street kitchen window.

Officers took the boy into custody and found the Forest Street resident’s car keys in his pocket. He was charged on juvenile delinquency complaints with criminal attempt burglary, burglary, and receiving stolen property.

After a detective confirmed that the boy was still on home detention, a court intake officer ordered him held on home detention (Editor’s note: that home confinement seems to be working really well, Mr. Intake Officer — perhaps a journey to Union County is better suited here?) – with a GPS ankle bracelet.

On Oct. 29 at 5:55 a.m., Officers John Fearon and Ruben Rivera were dispatched to 590 Kearny Ave. where a citizen reported that a woman broke a business’s window with a blunt object and then fled via an awaiting blue Honda Civic being driven by a man. Officer Rivera found the Honda Civic and pulled it over on Kearny Avenue and recovered a wooden baseball bat from the back seat. This was believed to have been the object that broke the window.

After further investigation, Officer Rivera arrested Mecca M. Horton, 24, of Piscataway, and Tyron A. Fields, 20, of Newark. They were both charged with criminal mischief and conspiracy and later released with summonses.

It is believed that one of the defendants knew the owner of the business.

On Oct. 29 at 9:11 p.m., Officers Anthony Oliveira, Jose Perez-Fonseca and Pedro Pina were dispatched to an apartment complex parking lot for a report of a man and woman arguing inside a car. Both parties reported they had a verbal disagreement and did not need police intervention.

Moments after the police left, they were again dispatched to see the same couple. The man, a 34-year-old Hackensack resident, reported his girlfriend ripped the rearview mirror off his car and damaged the center console. The woman reported she only did that after her boyfriend hit her in the face and smashed her iPhone. The woman had a swollen lip with a small cut.

Officers arrested the man on domestic violence charges of simple assault and criminal mischief. The woman, however, was reported to have been throwing things and disturbing apartment residents by screaming profanities. After pleas to cease the public disturbance went unheeded, Officer Bryan San Martin also arrested her.

Search incident to her arrest revealed the woman possessed several debit cards and a driver’s license in the names of various men. The driver’s license number was later found to not correspond to an actual New Jersey license.

The woman was charged with criminal mischief, possession of a false government document and disorderly conduct. She was released with a summons while the man was charged on a warrant and held at the Hudson County jail.

On Nov. 1 at 4:29 p.m., the Street Crimes Unit addressed a complaint about a man allegedly handling a crack pipe by the corner of Woodland Avenue and John Street. An off-duty correctional police officer reported having seen two men acting suspiciously in a driveway on John Street. When he approached to investigate, he found Juan E. Ramirez, 25, of Kearny, allegedly scraping the inside of a crack pipe with a twig. The other man fled before he could be positively identified.

The detectives responded to the off-duty’s call and found that Ramirez was wanted on an East Newark warrant carrying a $500 bail. He was charged in Kearny with possession of drug paraphernalia and lodged in the county jail in South Kearny.

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Capt. Timothy Wagner | Kearny Police Department

Capt. Timothy Wagner is the Kearny Police Department's public-information officer and the commander of the department's Internal Affairs Unit. He contributes the KPD Blotter weekly and writes it completely.