Knife-wielding robbers sought
Bayonne police are investigating three armed robberies in the month of July that may or may not be connected. The alleged attackers in each case fit the same general description.
On July 5 at about 3 p.m., officers were approached by a female who said her 14-year-old son had been robbed near Kennedy Boulevard and West Third Street.
The victim described the attackers as a black male between 16 and 18, about 6 feet tall, wearing black sneakers and black and red checkered shorts, who allegedly held a knife to the victim’s neck, and a Latino companion with “a Caesar-like haircut” who allegedly wielded a box cutter. Police said the robbers took $50 from the victim’s back pack and a pair of Sony headphones and fled towards the nearby Kill Van Kull Housing project.
On July 19 at about 8:30 p.m., a man ran up to a police patrol car near Humphrey Avenue and said he had just been robbed by a black male and a Latino near the access ramp to Route 440 at Kennedy Boulevard.
The victim, according to Police Captain Walter Rogers, said a black male and Latino male ranging in age from 16 to 18 had taken $20 and a cellular phone at knife point. The victim said the black male allegedly put an open folding knife to the victim’s face and demanded money.
The robbers then fled through a local business parking lot towards 7th Street. The victim described them as both about five foot eight, both with short hair, the black male wearing a white t-shirt and shorts, and the Latino wearing a black shirt and back pack.
On July 22, at about 10:30 p.m., police officers responded to the Citgo gas station nearly 17th Street and Avenue E after the gas station attendant said that two males, one black, the other Latino, both about six feet, allegedly attacked him after leaping out from behind a soda vending machine along side of the gas station.
The black male dressed in a blue t-shirt and yellow shorts allegedly struck the clerk in the face, knocking him to the ground. One attacker allegedly held him down while the other rifled through the victim’s pockets, taking $50 in singles.
The victim suffered a bruise to the right elbow and left knee, but refused medical treatment.
Police said anyone with information should contact the detective bureau at (201) 858-6925 or the confidential tip line at (877)-900-8477.
Bayonne man charged with alleged luring attempt
After investigating a report that a man allegedly tried twice to lure a 14-year-old girl to his home, police arrested Roluardo Bonilla last week.
Police Detectives John Balance and Kevin Lapinski began the investigation after the mother brought the 14-year-old girl into the police station on July 24 claiming that the same man had approached her daughter on two separate occasions.
The victim told police that Bonilla had allegedly approached her on July 21st near 22nd Street and Broadway. Police said Bonilla allegedly asked the girl’s age, and after she said she was 14, he allegedly invited her to his home where he allegedly offered alcohol, and then tried to hug her. The victim said she refused and left the area.
On July 24, the victim said Bonilla allegedly approached her again, and after this, she told her mother, who brought her to the police.
A police spokesperson said detectives recognized the description from a previous encounter and were able to get a positive identification using photographs. Bonilla, according the police, later said he did not recall talking to the victim.
Bonilla has been charged with luring, enticing a child, stalking, harassment and endangering the welfare of a child.
Bayonne man, 38, found face down in pool
Efforts to revive Michael J. Hudak, 38, of Bayonne, failed after police found him floating face down in an Isabella Avenue swimming pool on July 21 at about 7:26 p.m.
Police Lt. Janine Foy said the patrol officers pulled the man from the water and attempted to revive him. Fire Department First Responders arrived soon after and took over, and these were relieved by EMTs from McCabe Ambulance Service, and finally paramedics.
He was pronounced dead at Bayonne Medical Center at 8:16 p.m., Foy said.
The Hudson County Medical Examiner’s Office did a toxicology and autopsy on the body to determine the exact cause of death, although, Foy said, it is believed to be drowning. The results of the tests will not be available for a few weeks.
Bar dispute ends in assault charges
An argument between a man and woman at Eddie’s Bar on July 25 ended up in violence, and it was the woman who wound up being sent to the Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny.
Leticia Jenkins, 25, of Bayonne has been charged with aggravated assault after she allegedly hit a 26-year-old man in the face with a glass, causing lacerations above his eye.
Both parties told the police that they were having a verbal dispute that resulted in her throwing a drink in his face and he throwing a drink in hers.
According to a police spokesperson, the victim claimed Jenkins struck him in the face with the glass that required him to go to Bayonne Medical Center for treatment.
Jenkins, in a statement to police, claimed the man struck her first, and then she allegedly struck back with the glass still in her hand. She apparently suffered a scratch over one eye and cuts to her hand from the glass.
Child allegedly locked in car on hottest day of the year
Peter Kleinmann, 40, of Jersey City, has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child after police responded to the parking lot of the Frank Theatres in Bayonne on July 23 on the report that a child was in a car alone.
A police spokesperson said the officers saw an 8-year-old boy inside the car who appeared to be unresponsive. The temperature outside was in excess of 100 degrees.
The windows were closed and the engine was not running, nor was the car’s air conditioning. The officers knocked on the windows and the doors but the child did not seem to respond. The officers were about to break into the car to get the child.
They said that at that point, Kleinmann returned to the car and opened the door. The child was treated on the scene by EMTs from McCabe Ambulance Service.
Kleinmann was arrested and later released on a summons. The police released the child to the custody of his mother, a Manhattan resident, after notifying the state Division of Youth and Family Services.
Pit-bull bites its owner and two other people
Apparently set off by other dogs barking across the street, a pit-bull attacked its owner, two other people, and the dogs it was being walked with, then caused injury to two police officers seeking to subdue it during an incident on Avenue E on July 27.
A woman who was walking her dog, a police spokesperson said, tried to break up a dispute between the three dogs she was walking, only to get bitten in the leg. A female friend who came to her aid was also bitten on the arm and the breast. A man rushing to their side received bites on his calf, arm, and tricep.
Police officers seeking to tranquilize the pit bull were injured when the dart misfired and sprayed the chemical into the eyes of one officer and into the mouth of the other.
The Bayonne Animal Control Officer eventually took possession of the dog, which will be quarantined pending an investigation, a police spokesperson said.
The dog owner and the man were treated at Bayonne Medical Center for their injuries. The third victim refused medical attention. Both police officers were treated for exposure to the chemicals from the dart.