North Bergen

Allegedly tried to flee stolen car

North Bergen Police Capt. Gerald Sanzari said last week that Gregory Messinger, 36, of Toms River, was arrested on Aug. 1 after police spotted him in an allegedly stolen vehicle.

Sanzari said that Officer Victor Queiro was patrolling the area of Dell Avenue at 9:25 a.m. when he noticed a suspicious vehicle idling with five occupants inside.

As he approached the vehicle, a 1997 white Toyota 4Runner, he was able to see that the vehicle’s ignition had been tampered with, Sanzari said.

Messinger, the driver of the vehicle, allegedly exited and began to flee on Tonnelle Avenue toward Patterson Plank Road, while the passengers of the vehicle remained in the truck, said Sanzari.

Officer Greg Costanza was able to nab Messinger, who was charged with receiving stolen property. None of the passengers were arrested, said Sanzari, who said that Messinger allegedly admitted to being the “only one who had knowledge that it was a stolen vehicle.”

The vehicle had been reported stolen earlier in Jersey City.

Caught with phony I.D.

A Bronx woman was arrested last week in a North Bergen bank after police said she allegedly tried to withdraw $4,200 with a phony driver’s license.

According to Sanzari, Janronuwa Dunn, 48, of the Bronx, N.Y., entered a Tonnelle Avenue bank on Aug. 2 around 2:40 p.m. She allegedly gave the teller a Texas driver’s license and allegedly attempted to withdraw the funds with a counterfeit Capital One Visa debit card which had the name of a real client, police said.

The teller suspected the license was a fake and detained the woman by saying she was having computer problems, police said. The teller confirmed her suspicion with a scanner and notified police, said Sanzari.

Allegedly struck cop

According to the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, a North Bergen woman was arrested for aggravated assault against an officer after she allegedly hit a cop who approached her car. The car was allegedly double-parked.

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said that a corrections officer who was on loan to the prosecutor’s office was heading south on Kennedy Boulevard last Thursday when he noticed a double-parked beige Cadillac with its hazard lights flashing.

After the detective approached the vehicle and identified himself, Linda Kennedy of North Bergen allegedly told him to “Get the [expletive] away from me,” said DeFazio. She allegedly swung her hands at the officer, hitting him in his arm.

Kennedy was arrested and charged with aggravated assault against a police officer. DeFazio said that the matter will be handled in North Bergen Municipal Court.

Clothing store’s computers, cameras stolen

The owner of a North Bergen clothing store discovered that the shop had been broken into on Aug. 2 after arriving that morning.

Sanzari said that the owner called police, then allowed the cops to make sure the building was empty before entering. The owner said that two computers valued at $1,500 each and two Sony digital cameras worth $500 each had been stolen.

The office had “everything thrown all over the place,” said Sanzari. A wall was damaged, possibly by several file cabinets that had toppled over.

Police were able to lift six latent prints. They were submitted to FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS).

Drycleaners broken into, cash taken

Sanzari said that a dry cleaning business located on Kennedy Boulevard was reported broken into some time overnight, after the owner arrived on Aug. 1 and saw that the front entrance door had been broken into. Police believe that the front door’s padlock had been cut, allowing the intruders to roll the security gate up. The alarm system and phone cables had also been cut.

Sanzari said that $200 had been removed from the cash register.

Police were able to lift two latent prints, which they submitted to IAFIS.



Beverage company burglarized

According to Sanzari, a beverage company located on Dell Avenue was burglarized sometime overnight on July 31.

He said that the owner found his three-room office ransacked that morning, and noticed that two GPS devices and a fax machine, worth $600 total, had been taken. Sanzari said that the thieves gained entry into the office by ripping the metal bars off of one of the windows and pushing the air conditioner in.

He said that police were able to lift some fingerprints, which they sent to IAFIS.

Got information about the three overnight burglaries? Contact the police at (201) 392-2100.

Tricia Tirella may be reached at TriciaT@hudsonreporter.com.