For a couple of weeks, on numerous occasions, when Ozzie Shahzad would come to work in the morning at the Exxon station he owns at Passaic Avenue and Belgrove Drive in Kearny, he would quickly learn a significant amount of cash and merchandise had been stolen.
He made reports to the Kearny Police Department and ultimately, the case was referred to the Detective Bureau.
And now, after a few weeks of a lot of losses for Shahzad, the man who had been burglarizing the store ad nauseam has been arrested — twice, in fact — and after the second arrest, he was finally held without bail.
Det. Sgt. Mike Gontarczuk, the Kearny PD’s public-information officer, says there were four burglaries that happened between late July and early August at the Exxon. The suspect would enter the business through a side panel that can be easily manipulated to get into the garages.
Gontarczuk says the man, ultimately identified as Hubert Coloman, 55, of Newark, would steal a plethora of merchandise, including cigarettes, register money and various other items.
It all allegedly amounted to thousands of dollars in proceeds.
Meanwhile, police were investigating case as the burglaries continued and as they were developing Coloman as the suspect using increased surveillance.
Then, a fifth burglary occurred Aug. 13 and Coloman was finally caught exiting the Exxon as Lt. Jay Ward and Officer Renzo Sosa were surveilling the property. When taken into custody, Coloman reportedly had narcotics paraphernalia and 13 debit/credit cards that belonged to 13 different people, typically proceeds of vehicle burglaries and wallet thefts.
Police also determined Coloman was wanted by the Newark Police Department for criminal mischief, but Newark gave him a new court date without taking him into custody.
That day, Coloman was charged with burglary, theft, criminal mischief, credit card theft and possession of drug paraphernalia and was sent to the Hudson County Jail in South Kearny. However, as is almost always standard practice these days thanks to bail reform, Coloman was released.
To absolutely no one’s surprise, two days after being arrested (and then sprung), Coloman was at it again — at the very same Exxon.
On Aug. 15, he went right back and burgled station, but he was again caught — by Officers Montero, Witt, Collins, Rivera and DeJesus.
This time, Gontarczuk says, Coloman had crack cocaine on his person and was charged with burglary, drug possession, drug paraphernalia, criminal mischief and theft of proceeds from within the business.
Once again, he was sent to the Hudson County Jail — but this time, he was remanded to await trial — for now.
And Shahzad, meanwhile, can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.