Update on robberies
Over the past two weeks, there have been at least five reported robberies or burglaries in downtown Hoboken. Sgt. Sam Williams of the Hoboken Police Department Detective Bureau said last week that police are still investigating but haven’t arrested any suspects.
Williams said victims have been brought into police headquarters to look at photos of suspects of previous crimes in the area in an attempt to identify the attackers, but police are still working on the open cases.
Williams also said police are not certain if the crimes are connected at this point. See the continually updated breaking news at the top of www.hudsonreporter.com for more.
Was ‘suspicious male’ in park just being nice?
On March 30 at 4 p.m., police were dispatched to the children’s park at 300 Madison St. on a report of a “suspicious man.” Officers approached a man fitting the description, who was also the only male in the park. According to the caller, the man had offered to buy the young children ice cream and pushed a child on a swing. None of the women in the park, who were all nannies, knew who he was or why he was there, which prompted them to call the police.
Police said the man said he was trying to be nice and meant no harm. Police then checked the man for warrants, which came back negative, and also did a search in the Megan’s Law database for sex offenders, which also came back negative. Since his I.D. check revealed no improper behavior with children, the man was sent on his way.
Woman waits for ‘Tuscan police’
A 43-year-old woman who was reportedly highly intoxicated entered police headquarters at 1 a.m. on March 31 saying she had been assaulted, according to police.
Police called the Hoboken Volunteer Ambulance Corps because of how intoxicated the woman was when she arrived, according to a police report. The woman told police she had been assaulted and was waiting for the “Tuscan Police Department” to come pick her up, according to police.
Police say she then changed her story and became enraged, and would not provide her name. She said she had a letter in her purse from a lawyer and was “freaked out about it,” according to police, but she couldn’t find the letter. She then attributed the alleged assault to an ex-friend who possibly smacked her in the face, according to police.
She was transferred to Hoboken University Medical Center, where she reportedly told nurses she had consumed an unknown quantity of alcohol, and also told them she had a restraining order against the Hoboken Police Department, according to police.
The police told her when she was sober to return to the Detective Bureau to address the alleged assault.
Five watches valued at more than $5K stolen
At approximately 3:20 p.m. on Tuesday, police responded to the report of a burglary on the 300 block of Monroe Street.
The victim told police an unknown person pried open the apartment door and deadbolt. The suspect then went into the bedroom and into a dresser, and stole five watches valued at over $5,000, the victim said.
The incident is under investigation.
Midtown burglary thwarted by late-night TV watching
On March 31 at 1:45 a.m., police were called to the 700 block of Monroe Street on a report of an attempted burglary. The victim told police an unknown male entered her apartment by way of the second floor balcony. The woman said she had friends over watching television, and after the man entered the apartment through the second floor balcony and saw the girls, he jumped from the balcony and fled.
The incident is currently under investigation.