On April 20 at 3:20 p.m., Officer Mina Ekladious was dispatched to a shipping company on Harrison Avenue on a report of a suspicious incident involving marijuana. Officer Ekladious learned from the freight forwarding company they had received a trailer containing a pallet of marijuana.
Assisted by other officers and detectives, police seized several boxes containing 117 smaller sealed bags of what later weighed in at 136.4 lbs. of marijuana.
On April 22, detectives received information an employee of the shipping company had allegedly stolen some of the marijuana before police seized it. After further investigation, detectives arrested the employee, Jorge M. Fernandez, 25, of Kearny. Detectives applied for a search warrant for Fernandez’s Devon Street home, which they executed the same day.
From Fernandez’s home, detectives seized 18 bags of marijuana, 20 bags of edible THC candies, 21 grinders, two digital scales, a vacuum sealer, six glass bongs, empty vacuum seal bags, 56, 9mm ammunition cartridges, $1,825 cash, a loaded “ghost gun” handgun without a serial number, a loaded Pietro Beretta .380 caliber handgun, an LG cellular phone, eight iPhones, 49 Samsung cellular phones and 46 Nokia cellular phones.
Fernandez was charged with two counts of possession of a firearm (second degree), possession of marijuana over 25 pounds (first degree), possession of a controlled dangerous substance in a school zone (third degree), theft (second degree) and possession of drug paraphernalia (a disorderly persons offense). Fernandez was held at the Hudson County jail.
On April 20 at 6:24 p.m., Officer Taylor Latka and several backup officers were dispatched to Laurel Avenue and Beech Street where it was reported three males were breaking into parked cars. Upon arrival, Officer Latka was given a description of the three males who reportedly had been inside the caller’s neighbor’s Dodge Durango. Latka quickly found three Newark teens, ages 15, 16 and 16 walking south on Beech Street, but they ran when approached.
One boy was found hiding in a backyard on Beech Street and was taken into custody by Latka and Sgt. Ben Wuelfing. Several other officers found the two remaining boys hiding in a residential backyard on Elm Street and took them into custody.
All the boys were charged on juvenile delinquency complaints with burglary, conspiracy and defiant trespass. Two were additionally charged with obstructing the administration of law. All were later released into the custody of guardians.
On April 21 at 2:43 p.m., Officer John Fearon responded to the parking deck at 206 Bergen Ave., for a report of a group of men looking into parked vehicles. On the fourth deck, Officer Fearon found Tyshaun Techeira and Timothy Thomas, both 18 and of Roselle, sitting inside a white Mercedes Benz that did not belong to them and holding a half-smoked marijuana cigarette.
Both were arrested for burglary and later released with summonses.
On April 24 at 12:29 a.m., Officer Kevin Matos was dispatched to a Forest Street home on a report of an aggravated assault involving a knife. There, an 18-year-old resident reported having had a social guest over who allegedly became violent when asked to leave and punched the resident.
On his way out, the assailant then allegedly wielded around and attempted to slash the resident’s abdomen with a box cutter before kicking him three times and fleeing.
Officer Ryan Wilson found the alleged fleeing assailant on Seeley Avenue. Later identified as 31-year-old Vinicio A. Mejia, of Newark, Wilson arrested Mejia on charges of aggravated assault and weapon offenses. Mejia was held at the county jail, South Kearny.
On April 27 at 3:32 p.m., Officers Anthony Nunez and Ryan Stickno were dispatched to Seeley Avenue and Forest Street. Multiple calls were received from that area reporting alternatively that a male was passed out in a car at the intersection and that a male was driving erratically.
When the officers neared the scene, they found the offending Honda Civic being driven up Seeley Avenue on the wrong side of the road after having failed to stop at the stop sign at Seeley and Beech Street. Officers pulled over the Civic and saw signs of impairment in its driver, Ryan W. Decker, 32, of Kearny. Decker was arrested after failing field sobriety tests.
Decker was charged with DWI, careless driving, and a stop sign violation, and released to a local hospital for treatment.
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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.