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The robbers hit the Wells Fargo bank branch in Hopewell on Jan. 22 and a second bank on Feb. 21 in Langhorne, Pa.
HOPEWELL -- The FBI has released surveillance photos from a pair of armed robberies at Wells Fargo bank branches in Hopewell Township, Mercer County and Langhorne, Pa. earlier this year to help identify the suspects.
On Jan. 22, two masked men robbed the Wells Fargo bank at 2 Washington Crossing-Pennington Road in Hopewell. After announcing the robbery at around 10 a.m., one of the men vaulted the counter and took money while the other man brandished a handgun near the entrance in the public area of the bank, police said.
The men left the bank and police believe they fled in a car parked in a nearby shopping center.
A second Wells Fargo branch on East Lincoln Highway in Langhorne, Pa. was robbed by two masked men wearing gloves under nearly identical circumstances on Feb. 21. One of the robbers carried a silver semi-automatic handgun and remained in the public area of the bank while the second robber jumped over the counter and piled cash into a red bag with black drawstrings, authorities said.
The amount of money taken in the two robberies was not disclosed.
During the Langhorne robbery, the man standing guard with the gun was also carrying a red plastic five-gallon container, but the robbers never made reference to the container and its purpose in the robbery is unknown, the FBI said.
The men are described by the FBI as black males, in their mid-20s to mid-30s, and approximately 5-feet, 10-inches, and 6-feet tall.
Hopewell Township police previously said the first suspect was wearing a black ski mask, blue jumpsuit and Timberland-style work boots during the January bank robbery. The second suspect was wearing a black ski mask with a yellow stripe on it, blue jeans, a light-colored sweatshirt, and black sneakers with white striping.
Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at (215) 641-8910. Wells Fargo is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the subjects’ arrest and conviction.
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Constantine A. Solomos, 58, of Media, Pa. allegedly began his thefts in March 2005 through May 2010, stealing a total of $921,268.72.
HAMILTON—The former CEO of Mercer-Bucks Orthopaedics headquartered in Hamilton was charged with stealing more than $900,000 from the company over the course five years after he turned himself in to detectives Monday morning, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office announced today in a statement.
Officials at Mercer-Bucks Orthopaedics discovered several financial discrepancies in October 2012 involving 58-year-old Constantine A. Solomos of Media, Pa., who left the group in May 2012 as the company’s CEO, the statement said. The discrepancies were reported to Hamilton police who conducted an investigation with the county prosecutor’s Economic Crime Unit.
Solomos is a accused of stealing a total of $921,268.72 between March 2005 and May 2010. During the course of the investigation, detectives uncovered fraudulent transfers and checks from Mercer-Bucks Orthopaedics to Solomos, who allegedly created fictitious companies under names similar to those of vendors Mercer-Bucks Orthopaedics would routinely use.
He then allegedly prepared checks in the names of the fake companies and requested signatures from members of the practice, all orthopaedic surgeons. Solomos then deposited the checks into bank accounts controlled by him, the statement said.
Solomos is charged with one count of second-degree theft, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in state prison and a $150,000 fine, the statement said. He posted $125,000 bail Monday.
Mercer-Bucks Orthopaedics has additional offices in Lawrence and Marlton in New Jersey and Langhorne, Pa.
Contact Nicole Mulvaney at nmulvaney@njtimes.com.
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Darren Morris, 31, has no obvious connection to the school for disabled and troubled youths and was not a student there, Capt. James Stevens said today.
HAMILTON — A Trenton man is facing charges of false public alarm after he allegedly tried to call in an alien invasion to the county’s special services school district twice in nine days, police said.
Darren Morris, 31, has no obvious connection to the school for disabled and troubled youths and was not a student there, Capt. James Stevens said today.
It was unclear why Morris made phone calls on Feb. 25 and March 6 on a main line an administrator wound up answering.
In the calls, Morris said he was being followed by aliens, that they had taken people, and they were coming to abduct more, Stevens said.
“And he was warning the school that there were ‘robot aliens,’” Stevens said.
The school called police following both the first call at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 25 and again around 7:30 a.m. March 6. At neither point was the school evacuated or put on lockdown, but officials wanted the calls reported.
“And no one at the school wanted to take the chance,” Stevens said.
“There was definitely some concern when he called a second time,” Stevens added.
The school’s caller ID recorded the number Morris was using on the second call, and Detective Len Gadsby traced it to a pay phone at the Trenton train station. NJ Transit police pulled video camera footage that identified Morris as a suspect, and he was arrested at the station Saturday morning.
The single charge of false public alarm is an indictable offense, Stevens said, and Morris is being held at the county workhouse in lieu of $5,000 bail.
Mercer County spokeswoman Julie Willmot confirmed school officials received two calls within weeks of each other.
“Both calls were nonspecific and noncredible,” she said.
Staff writer Nicole Mulvaney contributed to this report.
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Markquice R. Thomas, also known as “Tank,” is accused of standing on Martin Luther King Boulevard near the intersection of Rossell Avenue around 3:45 p.m. Sunday and firing a handgun several times at Joseph Gaines, who was seated in the vehicle parked outside a memorial set up outside the club.
TRENTON—A 28-year-old city man has been charged with the attempted murder of a 45-year-old Trenton man shot in the head Sunday while sitting inside an SUV parked outside an illegal after-hours club on the 900 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard, where another city man died and others were seriously injured early Saturday morning, officials said.
Markquice R. Thomas, also known as “Tank,” stood on Martin Luther King Boulevard near the intersection of Rossell Avenue around 3:45 p.m. Sunday and fired a handgun several times at Joseph Gaines, who was seated in the vehicle parked outside a memorial set up outside the club, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office announced today in a statement.
Gaines remains at Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton in critical condition.
Another man, identified as a 21-year-old city resident, was shot in the hand Sunday while standing in a group of about 20 mourners gathered near the memorial site, Police Lt. Steve Varn said. That victim was taken by ambulance to Capital Health Regional, treated and released, said Casey DeBlasio, a spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.
Additional charges for Thomas are possible pending further investigation, DeBlasio said.
Police are trying to determine whether there is a connection between Saturday’s shootings and Sunday’s incident, she said.
An investigation by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force developed information on a tan Mercury Montego connected to the Sunday afternoon shooting on the 900 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard, the statement said.
Off-duty Trenton Police Officer Nathan Bolognini spotted the vehicle Tuesday afternoon and reported it, the statement said.
Trenton patrol officers Victor Miranda and Howard Watkins went to Parker and North Olden avenues and located the Mercury. As they approached Thomas, who was standing outside the vehicle, he allegedly dropped heroin on the ground. He was taken into custody and transported to the prosecutor’s office, the statement said.
Thomas was charged Tuesday night with attempted murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a weapon and certain persons not to possess a fireman, the statement said.
Thomas was additionally charged by Trenton police with possession of a controlled dangerous substance and possession with the intent to distribute, the statement said.
Bail on the attempted murder was set at $250,000 by Mercer County Superior Court Judge Janetta D. Marbrey.
In Saturday’s attack at the after-hours club, Charles White, 43, was shot in the head and pronounced dead hours later, DeBlasio said.
Several others were injured, including a 30-year-old Ewing man shot in the heart, lung and lower extremities who remains in critical condition at Capital Health Regional, DeBlasio said.
Police were called out to the establishment just before 5 a.m. on Saturday and found four people shot, First Assistant Prosecutor Angelo Onofri said.
A 23-year-old city woman who was shot in the right shoulder and a 30-year-old Trenton man who was shot in the ankle were released from the hospital, DeBlasio said.
A 28-year-old city woman was severely burned by grease from a deep fryer she bumped into while fleeing the gunfire Saturday. She was taken to St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, Onofri said.
A 26-year-old city woman also suffered minor burns on her legs from the grease, Onofri said.
Contact Nicole Mulvaney at nmulvaney@njtimes.com.
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Laura Gallagher, 21, was sentenced to a three-year prison term for her role in the fatal hit-and-run that killed 54-year-old Carl Wilkins, of Trenton.
EWING — A former Rider University student was sentenced today to a three-year prison term for her role in a fatal 2011 hit-and-run, in which she struck a Trenton man and fled the scene, and then another driver hit the same man.
Laura Gallagher, 21, pleaded guilty last year to one count of leaving the scene of the crash that killed 54-year-old Carl Wilkins. The courtroom debate over how heavy her sentence should be included a discussion of how much alcohol she had imbibed that night, Oct. 28, as she drove home from a party.
Ultimately, Judge Thomas Brown ruled she had suffered too much already for the five year sentence the prosecution had sought. “She has done an about-face from the time of this unfortunate incident to today,” Brown said. “She has exhibited substantial hardship and the court finds that extended imprisonment would entail excessive hardships.”
Gallagher, of Mount Olive, would have to serve at least a year of her sentence before she is eligible for parole.
The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office dropped a death by auto charge in exchange for the guilty plea.
“I spent so many nights replaying the accident in my head, wishing I acted differently,” Gallagher said through tears today, sobbing and requiring a moment to compose herself before addressing the Wilkins family.
“There’s nothing I can do that will change what happened. I just wish I would have acted differently. ... This is just a truly terrible accident and I’m taking full responsibility for my actions. I just hope you can forgive me.”
Gallagher said she struck Wilkins on Parkside Avenue in Ewing while she was coming home from a party around 10:30 that night in October 2011. Wilkins, a Trenton resident, was walking from a bus stop to his brother’s apartment to have dinner. Gallagher didn’t stop after realizing she hit him, and instead panicked and returned to her Trenton home, she said today.
Wilkins was struck moments later by Ewing resident Marie Jean, who pleaded guilty to a disorderly persons offense after she lied to police and didn’t mention her own role in the accident. It was never officially determined which of the two vehicles delivered the fatal blow. Attorneys for both prosecution and defense placed the blame on different drivers in court today.
Brown called Gallagher’s sentencing “the most difficult sentencing since I’ve been on the bench.”
Brown said Gallagher’s actions since the crash — including going into and out of a deep depression and coaching a youth softball team — weighed more on him than the “aggravating factors” of the crash, including the fact that Gallagher had been drinking alcohol that night. Gallagher’s attorney said she only had one drink and wasn’t intoxicated, but the prosecutor argued she was over the legal limit.
Assistant Prosecutor Skylar Weissman argued for Brown to impose the five-year prison term called for in the plea deal, reciting witness testimony from a passenger in Gallagher’s car whom she asked to “take (the hit-and-run) to the grave.”
“Her actions after this incident cry out what kind of person she was,” Weissman said.
Wilkins’s brother and sister both made statements to Brown before the sentencing, asking the judge to note the severe consequences of Gallagher’s actions, regardless if they were unintentional.
“When you hit someone and keep going, that’s murder,” said Eddie Wilkins. “You might as well have a gun because it’s the same result.”
“I hope (Gallagher) thinks about what she’s done and uses her other time to help anyone else that’s caught in this situation or to help someone that was hurt,” said Elven Murphy, Wilkins’s sister.
Contact Mike Davis at (609) 989-5708 or mdavis@njtimes.com.
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Fuquan Alexander, 29, an N.J. state prison inmate, was indicted for attempting to murder Eligia Then, an N.J. corrections officer who suffered brain trauma after Alexander beat and choked her last month, officials said.
TRENTON — A 29-year-old New Jersey state prison inmate has been indicted in the attempted murder of a female corrections officer after he beat and choked her during an attack last month, the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office announced today in a statement.
Fuquan Alexander punched senior corrections officer Eligia Then in the head and face numerous times and choked her as she led him from his cell to the shower, causing her brain trauma, officials said.
Then was hospitalized for about two weeks undergoing therapy to regain motor coordination, said Lance Lopez Sr., the president of the Policemen’s Benevolent Association Local 105, in an interview with The Star-Ledger.
As Then tried to fight Alexander off, an unidentified person pulled the riot alarm, summoning more officers to the unit, Lopez said.
Then was initially taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton before being transferred to the hospital’s New Brunswick location. She was treated for cuts to her cheek and eyebrow, bruises to her nose and right eye, and pain on her upper lip and the back of her head.
Then's cognitive skills began to deteriorate as hours and days went on, Lopez said.
Alexander is serving a 30-year sentence for a February 2008 carjacking and kidnapping incident in Essex County, the statement said. He was transferred out of the prison for his own protection in accordance with standard procedures, Lopez said.
Alexander was indicted on one count of first-degree attempted murder and one count of second-degree aggravated assault, the statement said.
The Star-Ledger contributed to this report.
Contact Nicole Mulvaney at nmulvaney@njtimes.com.
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Damien Johnson and Brian Johnson, who are not related, allegedly shot and killed Joseph Costanzo Jr. in 2008.
TRENTON — The trial of two Trenton men accused of murdering a 38-year-old Trenton man during a 2008 home invasion began today, with attorneys giving opening statements in criminal court.
Damien Johnson and Brian Johnson, who are not related, allegedly shot and killed Joseph Costanzo Jr. while robbing the home of a known drug dealer on South Clinton Avenue, assistant prosecutor Al Garcia told the jury.
Assistant prosecutor Al Garcia said Brian Johnson had planned to rob the home, which was home to at least one heroin dealer, and Damien Johnson had purchased and shown a large, silver handgun to witnesses in the months before the killing.
“(Johnson and Johnson) faced Joseph Costanzo and said something to him. His last words were, ‘I don’t have any money,’” Garcia said. “And they shot him with a large, shiny silver, .44-caliber handgun.”
Garcia said the Johnsons robbed a heroin dealer at the home before leaving Costanzo bleeding to death from a gunshot wound to the chin.
Garcia said the prosecution’s case will center around witnesses who allegedly saw Damian Johnson purchase the handgun, who can identify him — even with a mask over his face during the killing — by his lazy eye and by those to whom he sold the stolen heroin to after the murder.
Another witness is expected to testify to Brian Johnson’s plan to “run up in” the South Clinton Avenue home, just a few doors down from his own residence, when he realized that drugs were likely being sold there.
“He knew the traffic going in and out of 1429 South Clinton Avenue,” Garcia said. “He told someone, ‘You know what, I think they’re making money in there. I might have to run up in there,’ meaning rob them.”
Both men were indicted in the killing and pleaded not guilty. They posted bail of $750,000 each.
Contact Mike Davis at (609) 989-5708 or mdavis@njtimes.com.
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Markquice Thomas shot at Joseph Gaines on Martin Luther King Boulevard near the intersection of Rossell Avenue at about 3:45 p.m. Sunday, officials said yesterday.
By Alex Zdan and Nicole Mulvaney
TRENTON — A 28-year-old city man who police say was found with heroin in his car Tuesday has been arrested in connection with the shooting of Joseph Gaines outside an illegal club in the North Ward on Sunday, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said.
Markquice “Tank” Thomas stood on Martin Luther King Boulevard near the intersection of Rossell Avenue about 3:45 p.m. Sunday and fired a handgun several times at Gaines, 45, who was seated in the vehicle parked outside the club, the prosecutor’s office said yesterday.
The shooting of Gaines, who remains in critical condition at Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton, was just a day after a fatal shooting at the same location. A memorial had been set up at the site, and Thomas is under investigation for possibly wounding a mourner Sunday with a gunshot to the hand, the prosecutor’s office said.
Mayor George Muschal said Gaines was shot through the right eye, lost the eye and is paralyzed on his right side due to the damage from the bullet.
Gaines, whose street name is “Power God,” had been arrested numerous times in the same neighborhood earlier in his life for drug dealing. Recently he had signed on as a paid outreach worker for the state’s Trenton Violence Reduction Strategy, officials said.
Although Gaines had a criminal record, he was considered valuable to the program because of his street knowledge.
“In order to be credible with the community, it’s someone who he or she can penetrate the targeted group we’re going after,” said Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office. “They’re perfect advocates to say, ‘I’ve lived the life you live, and there’s a better way.’”
With a record that includes assaulting a Hamilton tow company owner with a battery charger, a portable electric heater and a canoe paddle in 2001, Gaines has been known to city police since his younger days, retired Capt. William Seaman said yesterday. Gaines’ brother Odell basically ran the drug scene in Donnelly Homes before Odell Gaines was sentenced to a lengthy prison term, Seaman said.
“He’s been at it since he was a young kid; he followed in his brother’s footsteps,” he said.
Seaman, who headed Trenton’s Pro-Active unit chasing down street level drug dealers, said in the late 1980s and early 1990s Joseph Gaines was selling drugs up and down Martin Luther King Boulevard, often at the intersection with Beakes Street. He was caught as far as downtown with heroin by police, and at times he would employ drug runners.
“To me, he was just a street thug,” Seaman said.
Another man, identified as a 21-year-old city resident, was with Gaines and was shot in the hand Sunday while standing in a group of nearly 20 mourners gathered near the memorial, Lt. Steve Varn said. That victim was taken by ambulance to Capital Health Regional, treated and released, said Casey DeBlasio, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office.
Additional charges for Thomas are possible pending further investigation, DeBlasio said. Police said Thomas was shot in 2013 and arrested and charged with kidnapping his uncle in 2011.
An investigation by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force determined that a tan Mercury Montego was connected to the Sunday afternoon shooting, officials said. Off-duty Trenton Police Officer Nathan Bolognini spotted the vehicle Tuesday afternoon at Parker and North Olden avenues and reported it, the prosecutor’s office said.
Trenton patrol officers Victor Miranda and Howard Watkins went there and spotted Thomas standing outside the vehicle. Seeing the officers, Thomas allegedly tried to dispose of the heroin he was carrying by dropping it on the ground, the prosecutor’s office said. He was then arrested and later charged with attempted murder and various counts of unlawful weapons possession, a statement said.
Thomas was additionally charged by Trenton police with drug possession and intent to distribute, the statement said. Police seized 16 envelopes of heroin. Bail on the attempted murder was set at $250,000 by Superior Court Judge Janetta D. Marbrey.
Detectives are trying to determine whether there is a connection between Sunday’s shooting of Gaines and a murder 36 hours earlier, where 43-year-old Charles “X” White was shot and killed at an illegal club he operated on Martin Luther King Boulevard. Four others were wounded in that early Saturday shooting. Gaines was shot mere feet away from that club, with his SUV parked just up the street from it.
Seaman said Gaines’ past may offer another clue. Police linked White and Gaines as business partners. They were involved in Club Envy, a nightclub inside an old bank building on South Broad Street and Hudson Street that closed in July 2002.
“I don’t know what their affiliation is now, what they may be up to,” said Seaman, who retired in June 2008.
State officials who vetted Gaines for TVRS were ready for him to go to work with the budding program, paying $16.13 per hour for seven hours per week interceding in the lives of young people involved in street crime. With the program only in its second month, Police Director Ralph Rivera Jr. and acting Attorney General John Hoffman visited Gaines’ bedside Monday, Loriquet said.
Many of the police who tangled with Gaines in the past are still on the force, and they are angry with the visit.
“Our guys are livid,” said George Dzurkoc, president of the Policemen’s Benevolent Association local.
Seaman said he is always skeptical of drug dealers and others who promise a life turnaround.
“How many guys you see, you think they’re turned around, but they’re not?” Seaman asked.
Contact Alex Zdan at azdan@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5705. Contact Nicole Mulvaney at nmulvaney@njtimes.com.
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Prosecutors alleged Darren Maglione engaged in sexual conduct with a 12-year-old West Windsor girl on several occasions between May and November 2009 and installed a spyware program on her computer to track her activity.
A Robbinsville man today was acquitted of charges he sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl in 2009.
Darren Maglione, 41, was acquitted of all charges except a charge of endangering the welfare of a minor. The jury could not reach a decision on that charge.
Prosecutors alleged Maglione engaged in sexual conduct with the girl on several occasions between May and November 2009 and installed a spyware program on her computer to track her activity.
"Had the police investigated this case the way they should have, they would have realized it's a bunch of crap," Maglione's attorney Robin Lord said after the verdict was read.
Prosecutors will determine if they want to retry the case, but Maglione is facing another trial for a contempt charge after prosecutors allege he had contact with the girl after authorities told him not to.
Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley said he was surprised the jury acquitted Maglione.
"I'm astounded," he said.
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The jury that decided the case involving Darren Maglione, 41, could not reach a decision on one charge: endangering the welfare of a minor.
A Robbinsville man was acquitted today on charges that he sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl in 2009.
The jury that decided the case involving Darren Maglione, 41, could not reach a decision on one charge: endangering the welfare of a minor.
After the verdict was read, Maglione cried and embraced his family, who have been at the trial every day. His attorney, Robin Lord, said the family is considering filing a lawsuit against “everyone involved.”
“It’s a shame it took five years for Darren to move on with his life,” Lord said.
The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office could decide to retry the case because the jury was hung on the endangering charge, Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley said.
“It’s not my call to make,” McCauley said.
He said he was “astounded” the jury acquitted Maglione.
Prosecutors alleged Maglione engaged in sexual conduct with the girl on several occasions between May and November 2009 and installed a spyware program on her computer to monitor her activity.
West Windsor Police Lt. Robert Garofalo testified last week that he found the spyware program on the computer after the girl submitted it for a search in November 2009. The program was designed to record all activity — including conversations had around the computer’s microphone — once the computer was turned on and send it to an e-mail address at Maglione’s home, he said.
The program could not have been easily found because in order to bring it up, the user needed to type a special code.
“It’s designed for individuals who are being spied on to not know they’re being spied on,” Garofalo said of the program.
Lord argued that the computer used to belong to Maglione, and the program could have been installed by his wife to track his online activity. The program was not set up to send any of the information to the e-mail address at the time Garofalo secured the computer, she said.
The girl initially told investigators from the prosecutor’s office that she and Maglione did not have a sexual relationship, but a year later admitted they did, Lord said.
“When that question was asked of her, if they were having sex, her answer was not only, ‘No’ but was, ‘Eww, no,’” Lord said of the initial interview.
Lord said the girl lied about the relationship because she was in love with Maglione, who was a friend of her father’s. The girl also sometimes baby-sat Maglione’s children, and Maglione would sometimes play manhunt with neighborhood children, Lord said.
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If he accepts the deal, Louis Alvarado, 23, could spend five years in prison on a charge of receiving stolen property.
TRENTON — Prosecutors today offered a plea deal to a man they say helped to steal a car used in a deadly January 2012 drive-by shooting that shut down Route 29 for 16 hours while police investigated.
If he accepts the deal, Louis Alvarado, 23, could spend five years in prison on a charge of receiving stolen property.
The sentence could be lowered if he agrees to cooperate in the case against the four men who were in the car and are alleged to have shot and killed 23-year-old Daquan Dowling, Assistant Prosecutor Jim Scott said.
“The state believes Mr. Alvarado has very important information,” Scott said. “We would be willing to accept counter offers as well.”
Alvarado, of Hamilton, was not in the stolen car when Andre Romero, 21, Anthony Marks, 24, and William Mitchell, 24, all of Trenton, and Jamar Square, 19, of Lawrence are alleged to have pulled up alongside a car driven by Dowling on the northbound side of Route 29 at Cass Street at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 30, 2012.
Romero, who was driving, and Mitchell, who was in the passenger seat, allegedly shot into the car, prosecutors have said.
Dowling, who was driving his friend’s car and was not believed to be the intended target, was killed nearly instantly when a bullet struck him in the head, prosecutors said. The man in his passenger seat, Morris Satchel, tried to regain control of the vehicle while at the same time keeping his head down to avoid the gunfire. The car eventually hit a bridge near Memorial Drive, police said.
Route 29 remained closed through the night and into the next day, as police investigated the scene, and major traffic delays affected commuters coming into the city.
Alvarado’s case was severed from the cases of the others, so if he rejects the plea offer, his trial would not be affected by the other trials, Scott said. Prosecutors have video surveillance as well as fingerprint and DNA evidence that links Alvarado to the car, Scott said.
“The case against him is very, very strong,” Scott said.
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U.S. marshals today arrested James Robert Jones, who had been living as Bruce Walter Keith in South Florida since shortly after his escape.
The last time anyone heard from James Robert Jones, he was in prison.
A U.S. Army private stationed at the former Fort Dix, Jones was convicted in 1974 of killing Lonnie Eaton, a fellow private, and wounding another soldier at the base, which is now Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
Three years later, as he was serving a 23-year prison sentence at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Jones failed to report for a prison check after working in a prison cafeteria, the Leavenworth Times reported in 1977.
“Whether he went up or down or sideways, I don’t know,” Lt. Col. Lynn Harvey said at the time. “The chances are pretty high that he’s inside the walls somewhere.”
Thirty-seven years later, U.S. marshals today arrested Jones, who had been living as Bruce Walter Keith in South Florida since shortly after his escape. The authorities used facial recognition technology to match a 1970s image of his face to a 1981 driver’s license photo Jones had obtained under his Keith alias.
“The first words out of his mouth were, ‘I knew this would catch up with me someday,’” U.S. Marshals Service senior inspector Barry Golden said today.
Fingerprints confirmed Jones’ identity, which he acknowledged while being detained by police, a press release from the U.S. Marshals Service said.
He is being held without bail at the Broward County Jail in Florida, awaiting transfer back to Fort Leavenworth.
Jones was the only fugitive from the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, nicknamed “The Castle,” still at-large. The 10 other prisoners who escaped between 1977 and 1998 had all been recaptured.
Public records show that Jones, 59, and his wife, Susan Keith, had been living at the same light-gray home in Deerfield Beach, Fla., since 1984.
Susan Keith was not aware Jones was living under an assumed name, Golden said.
No one answered the door at the Florida house today, where, parked in the driveway, was a red pickup with a Miami Dolphins logo. A fishing boat on a trailer was visible behind a fence.
“They are nice people. That’s what I don’t understand. I couldn’t understand that he ever got involved with something like that. I just can’t believe it,” said Joe Onischuk, who has lived across the street for more than 30 years.
“We would all get together. It’s a friendly quiet neighborhood. Good neighbors,” said Tammy Deangelis, Jones’s next-door neighbor. “Didn’t even know he was in the military. If we had any air conditioning problems, we would go to him.”
Eaton, the slain soldier, was stationed at the Wrightstown entrance to Fort Dix.
One man approached Eaton and Private Thomas White as they returned from a bar and asked if they had any marijuana to sell, White told investigators. Suddenly two other men sprung from a nearby clump of trees and attacked the two soldiers.
They were found lying in the roadway later that night by a passerby. Eaton died soon after while White recovered from multiple stab wounds.
Jones, 20 years old at the time, was convicted of murder while Private Timothy Hofbauer was convicted on an assault charge and served a one-year prison sentence.
Another soldier, Private Terry Bailey, was acquitted of all charges.
It was the advancement of technology in the 37 years since Jones’ escape that aided in his capture, with federal authorities eventually matching Jones’ photo to a Florida database of driver’s license photos.
After he was arrested today, Jones initially wouldn’t answer to his real name, Golden said.
“Capturing a cold case fugitive who has been on the run for almost 37 years is a great arrest for law enforcement,” said William Snelson, assistant director of the U.S. Marshals Service Investigative Operations Division. “But it also is comforting to the families of the original victim to know the person who escaped from custody is now behind bars again.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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No corrections officers injured in the incident, a county spokeswoman said
HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP - A fight between two inmates at the Mercer County Corrections Center this afternoon left one with puncture wounds, a county spokeswoman said.
The apparent stabbing occurred in the general population area of the facility off Route 29 around 1:10 p.m., Mercer County spokeswoman Julie Willmot said. The injured inmate was taken by ambulance to St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton for treatment.
No corrections officers were injured in the assault on the victim by at least one other inmate, she said. Corrections authorities are investigating.
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William Nobles, 40, allegedly stabbed Celeste Pernell, whom he was living with in Trenton, as many as 18 times on June 1, prosecutors have said.
TRENTON — A city man has been indicted in the June 2013 murder of his girlfriend, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office announced.
William Nobles, 40, allegedly stabbed Celeste Pernell, whom he was living with in Trenton, as many as 18 times on June 1, prosecutors have said.
Nobles was indicted March 7 on murder and weapons charges, the prosecutor’s office announced today, and remains in jail on $1 million bail.
The slaying was discovered after Trenton police received a call from a Camden resident on June 2 saying that Nobles said he had killed his girlfriend in Trenton.
Police tracked Pernell to a Southard Street address that day to check on her, prosecutors said. Pernell’s brother, who also lived in the house, arrived at the home after police and unlocked the door. When police opened it, they found Pernell on the other side with a pair of scissors in her neck, prosecutors said.
Camden County police tracked Nobles to a crisis center where he had been earlier on June 2, but he was gone by the time they arrived. They later found him at a house in the area and arrested him, authorities said.
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Police are urging residents to take precautions as they continue to investigate a string of burglaries in the Battlefield district.
PRINCETON — Police are urging residents to take precautions as they continue to investigate a string of burglaries in the Battlefield district.
On Feb. 11, the homeowner of a townhome on the 200 block of Bullock Drive reported that the door to her home was opened and her dogs were missing, police said.
The initial investigation revealed that more than $11,000 worth of jewelry was stolen. It is unknown if the dogs were taken at the time of the theft or ran away, but police spokesman Sgt. Mike Cifelli does not believe that they have returned home.
On March 7, cash and jewelry were taken from a home on the first block of Newlin Road between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m., police said. There was no sign of forced entry.
Sometime between 4:30 p.m. on March 6 and 9 a.m. on March 10, someone entered a home on the 100 block of Springdale Road and attempted to force open a locked interior door, police said.
They gained entry by forcing open a rear window, police said. It remains unknown if anything was taken from the home, Cifelli said.
Police are reminding residents to take precautions: lock all doors and windows; lock cars at night even if they are parked in the garage; look after each other’s homes, especially when someone is away; set alarms when leaving the house and have them serviced regularly, and make sure outside nighttime lighting is adequate and working. In the event of an emergency, call 9-1-1.
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Less than $200 cash was taken in the two Friday night robberies, according to police.
TRENTON — City police are investigating whether two gas station armed robberies reported four minutes apart Friday were a coincidence or committed by the same person.
No one was injured and less than $200 in total cash was stolen during the two hold-ups, according to police. Believing it is possible both robberies were committed by the same suspect, detectives from the robbery unit are taking the short amount of time between the crimes into consideration.
“Obviously, we’re investigating it, during the time frame and similar description, and we’re looking at them to see if they’re related,” Lt. Steve Varn said today.
The first armed robbery was reported at 11:06 p.m. Friday at the Road Runner on Brunswick Avenue and Southard Street, Varn said.
A suspect approached on foot and pointed a handgun at the station attendant. While holding the attendant at gunpoint, the suspect rummaged through the victim’s pockets and took cash from him, police said.
The suspect then fled on foot across the Southard Street bridge and out of sight. Police described the suspect as a black male, 5-foot-10, 25 years old, thin build, wearing a dark hoodie and black pants.
At 11:10 p.m., the Riggins gas station at Calhoun Street and West Hanover Street was reported robbed in a similar manner, according to police. There the suspect went up to the station attendant, pointed a handgun at him and demanded money. The attendant gave up cash, and the suspect took off running on Hanover Street toward Prospect Street.
In that case, the suspect is said to be a black male, medium complexion, 21 or 22 years old, 5 foot 2 to 5 foot 5, wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans.
Though the descriptions of the suspects are not identical, Varn said it does not rule out the crimes were committed by the same people. Two people may describe the same people in different ways, he said.
“What perception is, is a big part of it,” he said.
Anyone with information on these crimes can call police at (609) 989-4170, or the Confidential Tip Line at (609) 989-3663.
Contact Alex Zdan at azdan@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5705.
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Four men, including three township residents, are facing charges in more than 20 burglaries committed since December.
HAMILTON — Reports of burglaries in progress led to arrests in three separate strings of burglaries throughout the township that have been occurring since December, police said today in a press release.
Four men, including three township residents, are facing charges in more than 20 burglaries committed during that time; two of them were allegedly working together, police said.
Two men who were working together were arrested in February, police said. Leroy Dunston, 19, of Hamilton, was caught Feb. 26 when police responded to a burglary in progress on Mervine Place. Further investigation identified 32-year-old Hamilton resident Christopher Lewis as a second suspect and they arrested him as well.
Eventually police connected the two men to six other robberies in and around the Bromley section of town that occurred between Dec. 11 and late February. Both men are being held in lieu of $350,000 bail.
James Mulvan, 21, of Hamilton, was arrested early on the morning of March 8 when police responded to a burglary in progress on Sunnybrae Boulevard.
He has been charged with six car burglaries, one attempted home burglary and one robbery, all allegedly committed on March 7 and 8, police said. He is being held in lieu of $163,000 bail.
And the fourth man, Jeffrey Jolin, 28, of Mansfield Township, was arrested March 10, when police responded to a burglary in progress on Hempstead Road. A homeowner called police when he returned home and found a burglar inside, police said. The burglar fled, but police were able to use the homeowner’s description to find a suspect on the corner of Arena Drive and Gropp Avenue, police said.
That suspect, Jolin, led police on a foot chase through a number of backyards, but was eventually apprehended and found to be carrying a backpack full of items believed to be stolen from the home, police said.
Police charged Jolin in connection with six burglaries that occurred between Feb. 19 and March 10, mostly occurring in the White Horse area of town, police said. Jolin is being held in lieu of $420,000 bail.
Anyone with additional information on these crimes is asked to call Hamilton police at (609) 581-4008.
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Troy Negron and Linda Tesauro Hillman were both present when prosecutors allege Damien Johnson and Brian Johnson shot and killed Joseph Costanza Jr. in 2008.
TRENTON — Two witnesses to the shooting death of a 38-year-old Hamilton man in 2008 testified today they have had psychological issues since the homicide.
But an attorney for one of the defendants challenged both witnesses on cross-examination, suggesting at least one was motivated to give more details after his arrest on a probation violation.
Troy Negron and Linda Tesauro Hillman were both inside a home on the 1400 block of South Clinton Avenue on Dec. 1, 2008, when prosecutors allege Damien Johnson, 38, and Brian Johnson, 44, who are not related, shot and killed Joseph Costanza Jr.
The Johnsons are standing trial before Judge Robert Billmeier on charges of murder, first-degree felony murder, robbery, burglary and weapons charges. If convicted, each defendant could face life in prison.
Costanza, a U.S. Navy veteran of the Persian Gulf War and student at Middlesex County Community College, was watching Monday Night Football in the living room of the home when two masked men entered through an arched entryway from the kitchen and shot him, Negron said.
“Before I knew it, I heard the gunshot. I glanced up real quick and I see two guys under the archway,” he said.
Negron said he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder following the incident, and was treated for it by a psychologist in 2012.
It was during that treatment, he said, that he remembered more details about the event, including that one of the masked men had a lazy eye.
Kelly Anderson Smith, Brian Johnson’s attorney, challenged Negron on cross examination, pointing out that he told prosecutors more details about the incident in November 2013 after he was arrested on a probation violation.
“You’re telling me that, five years later, when you’re facing a recommendation of jail time, your mind gets better,” Smith said.
Negron said his psychiatrist helped him to uncover the details over a 10-month period.
“They don’t try to make you recall too much at one time,” Negron said.
Hillman, who said she was at the home to drop off food from a church food pantry at the time of the murder, said she has been consumed by thoughts of the incident and has sometimes been unable to do simple things such as sleep or cook for her family.
“I haven’t been getting much sleep. I’ve sat and tried to think of every little detail,” she said. “I’ve been consumed by this.”
In the five years since the incident, Tesauro Hillman said she has forced herself to remember new details about the murder, but she said today she couldn’t remember some of what she told police the day after.
Hillman said it was only within the past year that she remembered that the man who shot Costanza had a large hand that covered most of the gun. But she could not say if the man was wearing gloves, or what kind of gun he was holding.
“You testified today that the person doing the shooting had a large hand. You didn’t tell police there was a large hand,” Smith said to Hillman. “You can remember this big hand covering the gun, you can picture this big hand, but you don’t remember if this big hand had gloves on.”
The Johnsons are being held in the Mercer County Correction Center in lieu of $750,000 bail each.
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Ellen Henkle, who was 52 at the time of the accident, required multiple surgeries and was disabled from the March 9, 2006 crash on Nottingham Way
HAMILTON -- The estate of a Hamilton woman seriously injured in 2006 when she was struck by a car was awarded $378,000 in damages today by a jury that determined the driver was negligent, in part, due to a Garfield stuffed animal hanging from a rearview mirror and blocking his vision.
"Plaintiff argued that the stuffed animal was a distraction, an obstruction, in violation of law requiring unobstructed windshield," said Dennis Brotman, an attorney at Lawrence-based Fox Rothschild.
Ellen Henkle, who was 52 at the time of the accident, required multiple surgeries and was disabled from the March 9, 2006 crash on Nottingham Way. Henkle, who worked for the state Department of Environmental Protection, died four years later of natural causes.
In addition to the $378,000 verdict for Henkle's estate, the jury awarded $95,000 to her husband Mark Henkle, who cared for her after she was disabled in the crash. Brotman represented the Ellen Henkle's estate and Mark Henkle during the two week trial.
The jury found that Thomas Hill of Hamilton, operated his 1998 black Ford Mustang negligently at the time of the crash. Hill was driving eastbound on Nottingham Way in the left lane and made a lane change into the right lane, where his car hit Ellen Henkle as she was crossing.
Hill's attorneys contended that he checked his rearview and side mirror, then looked over his shoulder before making the lane change, and did not see Henkle soon enough to stop when he returned his vision forward.
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