Four men were arrested recently in two different incidents in Guttenberg. In both cases it was the alertness of the police that led to the arrests.
At about 12:45 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 23, Officer Frank Pelaez and Officer Martin Rysiec spotted a vehicle traveling north on River Road. Police say the car was traveling at a high rate of speed and had a tail light out.
The two officers pulled over the car in a routine traffic stop. Inside were three males, all of whom lived in Union City. But that wasn’t all, the policemen discovered. “There were [allegedly] drugs in the car,” said Sgt. Juan Barrera of the Guttenberg Police Department. “And there was [allegedly] a rifle in the rear of the vehicle.”
The owner of the car was charged with possession of the rifle. One of the passengers was charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance, the intent to distribute a controlled dangerous substance, and possession of a controlled dangerous substance a controlled dangerous substance within 1,000 feet of a school.
“One was also charged with hindering apprehension for giving a fake name, due to having open warrants from another township,” said Barrera.
Robbery suspect pursued
It was past 1 a.m. on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 19 when a Guttenberg resident heard a noise outside and discovered a male behind his house.
“According to what the victims told us, they’ve been victimized in the past,” said Barrera. “They heard the noise in the back and they saw this guy [allegedly] going through their stuff in their shed. They came out and confronted him and he started running.”
“There were drugs in the car. And there was a rifle in the rear of the vehicle.” – Sgt. Juan Barrera
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“The officer saw the commotion, saw them running, and ran after him,” said Barrera. “There was a small foot pursuit and he caught the guy on Adams near 72nd.”
The suspect was a juvenile, age 16, from Union City. He was taken into custody.
“They’ve been getting hit with burglaries in that area,” said Barrera.
It was unknown if the suspect was involved in any other incidents.
Focusing on quality of life
In the River Road incident, a standard traffic stop led to a drug and weapons arrest when attentive officers spotted violations.
In the robbery incident, a policeman on his rounds spotted something out of the ordinary and chased down an alleged perpetrator.
“Our guys are doing a lot of good work out there,” Barrera pointed out. “Our focus is on more proactive policing. That’s why we’re out there doing motor vehicle stops and handling quality-of-life issues. Our guys are out here looking for violations.”
Art Schwartz may be reached at arts@hudsonreporter.com.