Guttenberg Police apprehended 23 individuals last weekend on drugs, domestic violence, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct, and weapons charges. According to Capt. Joel Magenheimer, the most serious incident involved an alleged MS-13 gang member, whose arrest quickly escalated to a standoff at police headquarters.
On Saturday, April 25 at 1:50 a.m., police arrested Dennis “D-Money” Oyola, 28, of Union City, after they witnessed him allegedly screaming in the street near 68th Street and Bergenline Avenue. Police believed Oyola to be allegedly under the influence of a controlled dangerous substance. They said he was arrested for possession of a CDS after they found PCP allegedly on his person.
Magenheimer said police had reason to believe Oyola was a member of a gang called MS-13. When police were arresting Oyola, other alleged gang members surrounded them as they were putting him into the police car, Magenheimer said.
Another alleged gang member went to police headquarters and demanded that they release Oyola, Magenheimer said. Magenheimer said that police were finally able to get the individuals out of the building, but a crowd outside became rowdy.
“The next thing you know, there were two outside, three outside, four outside, up to about 12 [alleged] gang members making phone calls,” said Magenheimer.
Magenheimer said despite being told numerous times to “disperse,” people in the crowd told cops to release Oyola first.
“That was ready to turn into a bath out there.” – Police Capt. Joel Magenheimer
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Another gang passes by
Magenheimer said that police from surrounding municipalities arrived in the nick of time, because three members allegedly from another gang, the Bloods, happened to pass by.
“[Both gangs] got into a [verbal] battle with them just as the cars pulled up,” said Magenheimer. “That was ready to turn into a bath out there.”
From the dozen people outside of headquarters, six individuals were arrested on charges of allegedly failing to disperse and promoting organized street crime.
Arrested were: Jorge “Papo” Villa, 32, of Union City; Edwin “Animal” Ramos, 23, of Guttenberg; Angelo Santiago, 25, of Hoboken; Miguel “King Manifest” Ortiz, 25, of Roselle; Maximo “King Murda” Morillo, 26, of Union City; and Jeremy Perez, 30, of Hoboken.
Magenheimer said that they all had criminal histories, and that Oyola and Villa had recently been released from prison after serving about six years and had only been on probation for a couple of weeks.
Magenheimer said that individuals came to headquarters to post $5,000 bail for each of the seven arrestees, but claimed that they did not know any of them personally.
Even more surprisingly, when an individual came to the precinct to pick up a car that was driven by the group, he told police that he did not know who had driven it. The individual said that it was his girlfriend’s car, and that another alleged gang member, after hearing that Oyola was arrested, took the car keys and left, Magenheimer said.
Magenheimer said that gangs rely on nicknames so that no member can ever truly “rat” on another.
Unrelated arrests
The other individuals arrested over the weekend included juveniles, domestic violence incidents, routine motor vehicle stops that found suspects with active warrants, and criminal mischief.
In one case, on Sunday morning, police received a phone call from a resident who said someone was shooting a gun in the Anna L. Klein school yard.
When police arrived at 7:05 a.m. they witnessed Tiron Singleton, 21, of Guttenberg, leaving the school yard.
When they stopped and searched Singleton, he allegedly had a black C/O 2 powered pellet gun in his pocket, which they confiscated.
Singleton claimed he was shooting at cans, but police did not find any cans in the schoolyard, according to Magenheimer.
Magenheimer said that the “BB gun” could have easily passed for a 9 millimeter handgun.
Singelton, originally from Brooklyn, allegedly had a history of weapons charges, said Magenheimer.
Magenheimer praised the Police Department for their work this past weekend, saying this volume of arrests, with only four police officers on duty, indicated valiant police work.
Tricia Tirella may be reached at TriciaT@hudsonreporter.com.