Drizzle Fog/Mist 45°
Police & Fire
Motorcyclist Killed In Crash With State Trooper Guitarist For Hackensack Band Motorcyclist Killed In Crash With State Trooper Guitarist For Hackensack Band
Motorcyclist Killed In Crash With State Trooper Guitarist For Hackensack Band They called him Frankie Fender. Frank Lando, that is: The 65-year-old Toms River motorcyclist, guitarist, and father killed in an April 9 crash in Southampton with a New Jersey state trooper. On Friday, April 19, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin released Lando's identity, as well as that of the trooper involved: Anthony Fernandes. Fernandes was conducting routine patrol duties along Route 70 around 11:35 a.m. in Southampton that day, when his marked patrol car collided with Lando's motorcycle near Burrs Mill Road, Platkin said. Lando was taken to Virtua Mount Holly …

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by Cecilia Levine
Business
'Chopped' Champion From Bergen County Opens Third Restaurant In Morristown 'Chopped' Champion From Bergen County Opens Third Restaurant In Morristown
'Chopped' Champion From Bergen County Opens Third Restaurant In Morristown Morristown is about to get a taste of Hawaii. Shaka Kitchen, which has two locations in Hoboken, opened their third location in Morristown at 62 South St. this month. The restaurant is run by sisters Kiersten and Krista Gormeley, who spent a year in the Aloha State a decade ago that changed their lives. Enjoying the local cuisine, Kiersten, who won an episode of Food Network's "Chopped" in 2021  started formulating recipes in her head. Kiersten realized there were no poke and acai bowl restaurants in the United States so she decided to start one, opening the original Shaka Kitchen in 2…

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
BREAK IN, RINSE, REPEAT: Recidivist With 30-Year Sheet Busted For Burglaries In 4 Bergen Towns BREAK IN, RINSE, REPEAT: Recidivist With 30-Year Sheet Busted For Burglaries In 4 Bergen Towns
Break IN, Rinse, Repeat: Recidivist With 30-Year Sheet Busted For Burglaries In 4 Bergen Towns It never ends with some guys. Mark C. Todd, most recently of Hasbrouck Heights, just turned 50 amid what has been a three-decade-long string of burglaries, thefts and police pursuits in nearly a dozen Bergen County towns. It got to the point that detectives from Maywood, Carlstadt and Hasbrouck Heights all went together to arrest the ex-con at his home last Friday morning, April 12. He was charged with break-ins in Maywood, Carlstadt, Elmwood Park and Fair Lawn. Tood has remained held in the Bergen County Jail this past week based on the likelihood that he’ll be returned to prison. He sp…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Wayne Motorcyclist, 37, Killed In Route 23 Crash: Morris County Prosecutor Wayne Motorcyclist, 37, Killed In Route 23 Crash: Morris County Prosecutor
Wayne Motorcyclist, 37, Killed In Route 23 Crash: Morris County Prosecutor A 37-year-old Wayne man was killed after his motorcycle collided with a truck on Route 23 in Morris County on Tuesday, April 16, authorities said. At 7:40 p.m., Mojtaba Kahn's motorcycle collided with the pickup truck at an intersection at Route 23 South and Alexander Avenue in Pequannock, the Morris County Prosecutor's Office said.  When first responders arrived on scene, Kahn was unconscious and not breathing and he was ultimately pronounced dead at the scene, the Morris County Prosecutor's Office said.  The driver of the pickup truck remained at the scene, the Morris…

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
GOTCHA! East Orange Fugitive Caught, Charged With Shooting Prospect Park Woman On New Year's GOTCHA! East Orange Fugitive Caught, Charged With Shooting Prospect Park Woman On New Year's
Gotcha! East Orange Fugitive Caught, Charged With Shooting Prospect Park Woman On New Year's State and federal authorities captured a 23-year-old fugitive from East Orange who was wanted for shooting a woman on New Year’s Day in Paterson. It was just before 5 a.m. this past Jan. 1 that the 25-year-old victim from Prospect Park arrived at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center via private vehicle.  She’d been shot near the corner of Market Street and East 33rd Street, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Paterson Police Department Officer-In- Charge Isa Abbassi said in a joint announcement. Eudys Santios-Toribio was subsequently identified as the shooter and a manh…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Lifestyle
Emma Roberts Has Piece Of Montclair In Her Grown-Up Los Angeles Dollhouse Emma Roberts Has Piece Of Montclair In Her Grown-Up Los Angeles Dollhouse
Emma Roberts Has Piece Of Montclair In Her Grown-Up Los Angeles Dollhouse Emma Roberts' Los Angeles home is all things vintage. And not without a little piece from her favorite vintage store in Montclair. The 33-year-old actress gave Grayford's on Bloomfield Avenue a shoutout in her home tour with "Architectural Digest." The "American Horror Story" star explains she got the framed, red, "Hopalong Cassidy" button down from Grayford's and knew from the moment she saw it that it would one day hang in her son Rhodes' room. Grayford's has been around since 1931 and is owned by history buffs with a penchant for curating vintage apparel, antiques, and more, its w…

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by Cecilia Levine
Obituaries
North Wildwood Restaurant Worker, 21, Dies From Fall North Wildwood Restaurant Worker, 21, Dies From Fall
North Wildwood Restaurant Worker, 21, Dies From Fall Melissa E. O'Malley, a Delaware County native and University of Tampa student, died "following a tragic fall" on Sunday, April 14, loved ones wrote in her obituary. She was 21.  Born in Philadelphia, O'Malley attended Marple Newtown High School and was a junior studying marketing and public relations at UT, her obituary says.  She held a part-time job at Dairy Joy, an ice cream shop in Tampa, and worked at the Surfing Pig in North Wildwood, NJ, according to the restaurant. Friends, coworkers, and loved ones posted tributes on social media.  It is with great sadness…

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by Mac Bullock
Police & Fire
Passaic County Jail Officer Admits Bringing Inmate To 'Blind Spot' For Beating By Colleagues Passaic County Jail Officer Admits Bringing Inmate To 'Blind Spot' For Beating By Colleagues
Passaic County Jail Officer Admits Bringing Inmate To 'Blind Spot' For Beating By Colleagues 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A Passaic County correctional officer admitted that he brought an inmate to a "blind spot" at the county jail so two colleagues could beat him for squirting one of them with urine. Officer Lorenzo Bowden, 39, initially agreed with Sgt. Jose Gonzalez and Sgt. Donald Vinales not to talk after they'd received federal grand jury subpoenas two years ago this month, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said. Bowden eventually had a change of heart. The pretrial detainee was "transported through an area of the PCJ that does not have a video surveillance camera, which correctional officers …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Politics
Former President Trump To Hold Beachfront Campaign Rally In New Jersey Likely Mid-Trial Former President Trump To Hold Beachfront Campaign Rally In New Jersey Likely Mid-Trial
Former President Trump To Hold Beachfront Campaign Rally In New Jersey Likely Mid-Trial Former President Donald Trump will hold a reelection campaign rally on a New Jersey beach while likely in the middle of a criminal trial up the Atlantic coast in New York City. Trump's rally will be held on the beach in Wildwood on Saturday, May 11, according to a news release from the city on Thursday, Apr. 18. City commissioners passed a resolution on Monday, Apr. 15 approving the 45th President's second campaign visit to Wildwood. The Trump campaign website listed the address for the rally as 3601 Boardwalk, which is next to Morey's Piers & Beachfront Waterparks. The event will …

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by Chris Spiker
Police & Fire
NJ Teacher Who Posed As Woman To Lure 70 Boys Into Sending Him Nudes Gets 17½ Years: Feds NJ Teacher Who Posed As Woman To Lure 70 Boys Into Sending Him Nudes Gets 17½ Years: Feds
NJ Teacher Who Posed As Woman To Lure 70 Boys Into Sending Him Nudes Gets 17½ Years: Feds UPDATE: It's a measure of how despicably and disgustingly a former Union County grade-school teacher and youth soccer coach from Morristown abused dozens of boys he'd met online that a plea bargain got him "only" 17½ years in federal prison. Steven Brooks, 37, must serve at least 85% of the negotiated sentence handed down in federal court in Newark on Thursday, April 18, for posing as a woman to lure at least 70 underage boys into sending him nude photos and videos. That means he'll be in his early 50s before he'll be eligible to experience freedom again. FBI agents who investigated Brooks…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
North Bergen Man Charged With Collecting Child Porn: Prosecutor North Bergen Man Charged With Collecting Child Porn: Prosecutor
North Bergen Man Charged With Collecting Child Porn: Prosecutor A 25-year-old North Bergen man was caught collecting pornographic images of children, authorities said. Nicholas Sanchez, 25, was taken into custody by members of the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force following an investigation, they said. He's charged with child endangerment through the possession of sex abuse material, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said. A tip last December led task force members to an account controlled by the defendant on an online server that Suarez said contained “child sex abuse material.” She didn't say whether …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
6-Car Crash Kills 41-Year-Old On Garden State Parkway: State Police 6-Car Crash Kills 41-Year-Old On Garden State Parkway: State Police
6-Car Crash Kills 41-Year-Old On Garden State Parkway: State Police A 41-year-old North Carolina man was killed in a multi-car crash on the Garden State Parkway in Essex County early Wednesday, April 17, authorities said. Tarron Francis was heading north in a Nissan SUV when he was struck by a Dodge passenger vehicle around 12:45 a.m. in Irvington, said Jeffrey Lebron, a spokesman for the New Jersey State Police. The impact caused a chain reaction crash involving four other vehicles, two Toyota SUVs, a GMC SUV and a Kia passenger vehicle, Lebron said. Francis died as a result of the crash, and the driver of the Dodge sustained moderate injuries and was tak…

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by Sam Barron