Alleged sex offender nabbed in Hoboken park
Hoboken police said on Thursday that they had nabbed a man with a record as a sex offender and violent kidnapper on Tuesday in Pier A Park on the waterfront.
According to a police report, around 9 p.m. on Tuesday, four officers went to Pier A Park to locate a man whom they had been told was wanted for a parole violation. They found the man “on a blanket on the grass [who] appeared to be getting ready to go to sleep,” according to the report.
The man said his name was Samuel Perez, 38, and he produced a Puerto Rican identification, according to the police report.
The man said he had arrived in Hoboken from Atlantic City the previous day, and had been “trying” to stay at the Hoboken homeless shelter, according to the report. He also said that he was “attempting” to go to New York so he could get transportation to Seattle, Wash., where he was preparing to move.
Police did a background check and determined that the man was a sex offender who was required by law to register. Police asked if he had registered, to which the man replied that he was registered in Atlantic City, according to the report. The man also presented paperwork stating he had been granted a change of address from Atlantic City to a location in Seattle. But the document was dated July 8. Based on that information and the fact that Perez allegedly said he had been in Hoboken for at least two days, police arrested him on a charge of failure to register as a sex offender.
Police said that after arresting him, they discovered a Western Union receipt on Perez that was dated July 22, showing that the money was picked up in Hoboken, meaning he had been in town at least since then.
Then, according to Police Sgt. Anthony Falco, police learned that there apparently were more troubling incidents in his past.
“Through further investigation it was determined that he [allegedly] had an extensive violent criminal history in the state of Florida,” Falco noted in an e-mail on Thursday with the report, “which included [alleged] aggravated kidnapping, false imprisonment and carnal intercourse, which constitutes having intercourse with an unmarried and underage female according to Florida State Statute and is a second degree felony in Florida. He also had several violations of probation and was also charged with failing to register as a sexual offender in Florida during the year of 2007.”
“The diligence of the Anti-Vice Squad paid off by putting a[n alleged] violent person back behind bars,” Falco said, “and possibly thwarting a sexual/violent attack on an innocent Hoboken citizen.”
Vietnamese visitor knocked unconscious in alleged bias attack
At 2:39 a.m. Sunday morning in Hoboken, police aided a man who was apparently knocked unconscious near First and Newark streets in Hoboken. The man and two of his friends were visiting the area from Florida.
The man’s two friends told police that they were minding their own business when a Toyota pulled up with four men inside, at least one of whom allegedly yelled anti-Asian slurs at the victim, who is Vietnamese, according to the police report. (The two friends of the victim are not Asian.) According to witnesses, one of the men in the car got out, allegedly struck the victim, got back in, and sped away.
The victim was found bleeding from his head. He woke up and said to police that “first thing I know, we were having a good time and the next thing I know my friends were standing over me trying to wake me up….. I remember nothing,” according to the report.
The victim was taken to Jersey City Medical Center and received stitches.
The victim’s friends got the license plate number, which came back to a vehicle in Bayonne owned by a woman.
Subsequent investigation led to the arrest of Charles Lee of Bayonne. According to the police report, “Once at Headquarters, Mr. Lee said that he was sorry for [allegedly] punching the victim and didn’t mean for him to get hurt.”
Lee, 23, was charged with aggravated assault and bias intimidation.
Woman says $3K swiped from top of dresser
A woman told police on Tuesday, July 27 that someone burglarized her apartment on Madison Street and took $3,000 that was on her dresser, as well as her laptop computer.
When police arrived, they saw a hole above the upper lock of the apartment door. The tenant said that the hole hadn’t been there earlier in the day when she left around 10:30 a.m. She said that she realized her money was missing when she came home.
She shared the apartment with two roommates. The roommates share a bedroom and told police that they were missing $250 in currency that they’d kept on top of their desk, as well as their own laptop computer.