Crime & Safety

Landscaping Equipment Stolen From School Sheds

The following information has been provided by the West Orange Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction.

 

May 8: The operations foreman of the West Orange Board of Education told West Orange police sometime between April 17 and May 8 someone stole various pieces of landscaping equipment from a shed behind Roosevelt Middle School.
According to the official, a Redmax backpack leaf blower, valued at $400, a Little Wonder push blower, valued at $700, a Redmax hedge trimmer, valued at $200 and a Stihl weed wacker, valued at $150, were locked in the shed at all times.
There was no sign of forced entry and the official said only five board of education employees have keys to the shed.
The official said each of the five has had keys to the shed for approximately five years and there were never any prior thefts. The official told police he believes the shed was accidentally left open and he didn’t suspect any of his employees.
The equipment was last used on April 17 to lay stripes on the Roosevelt baseball diamond.

May 8: A business owner on Columbia Street reported three broken windows on the side of his business when he reported to work.
The double glass pane windows, approximately 2 feet by 1 foot in size, are located 18 feet off the ground.
The windows sustained baseball-sized holes with damage estimated at between $400 and $500.
The business owner told police neighborhood children use the side wall of his business to throw baseballs.

May 10: A Mountain View Street resident told police someone broke into his 2004 Grand Prix between 10:30 p.m. on May 8 and 7 a.m. May 9 and stole a GPS and cell phone.
The resident said the unlocked car was parked in the rear driveway of the home and it appeared the suspect also pushed in a window of the resident’s garage to see what was inside. The suspect is not believed to have entered the garage.
The estimated value of the stolen items is approximately $130.

May 10: West Orange police have arrested a 62-year-old wheelchair-bound West Orange woman and charged her with aggravated assault following a 9:30 a.m. incident at Omni Eye Services.

According to a store employee involved in the incident, Catherine Polite was overheard arguing with her aide when she reached over the employee’s desk and grabbed a pair of scissors before threatening the employee.

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The employee screamed and asked Polite to drop the scissors, but instead Polite turned away and walked into the waiting room to attack the aid.

Polite was then asked to sit down in the wheelchair, but she punched the employee in the chest near her pacemaker. Polite then returned and picked up the scissors a second time, causing other patients to flee from the office, according to police reports.

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Polite allegedly then said “I’m going to kill you,” before she was told to get back in her wheelchair. This time she complied.
Polite was taken to police headquarters and charged with one count of making terroristic threats, one count of aggravated assault, one count of unlawful possession of a weapon, one count of possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and one count of simple assault.
Further investigation revealed a $500 outstanding warrant from Newark.
Polite was released on her own recognizance and transported to East Orange General Crisis.

May 10: Police are investigating the theft of several pieces of jewelry from an apartment at a West Orange assisted-living facility.
Police said five pieces of jewelry — including a diamond necklace, three gold chains and a gold bracelet — worth $9,000 were taken from the apartment.
Pry marks were evident to the apartment’s wooden door, latch and strike plate.

May 10: West Orange police are investigating the discovery of a black canvass bag containing various beauty products and a pair of DKNY prescription glasses on Greenwood Avenue at 5:41 p.m.
The woman who found the bag told police she found the bag on the curb in front of 17 Greenwood Ave. The woman said a young girl seen in the area with a boy might have left the bag.
The bag contained no identification or papers, police said.
Police took custody of the bag.

May 10: A Robert Court woman called headquarters after she said she saw a man in the backseat of a car on the street brandishing a handgun behind building no. 9 at 6:31 p.m.
The woman said the car, described as a light blue 1990 Honda Civic, left the area. Police arrived and saw the car heading north on Valley Way before stopping it.
After the car was stopped, police questioned the occupants, who said they did not possess any weapons.
During questioning, police saw two empty cans of beer on the floor. Front seat passenger Saheed Aly Baksh told police the beer was his.
After further questioning, Baksh was arrested for outstanding warrants totaling $1,438 as well as given a summons for an open container in the car.

May 11: An Orange woman was arrested for shoplifting cosmetics from a CVS Pharmacy located at 12 S. Valley Road, West Orange police said.
Roxanne Petroche-Franco was seen by store security concealing 12 items, worth $79.48, in her purse and exiting the store.
Security brought the woman back into the store and searched her purse, discovering the cosmetics.
Petroche-Franco was charged with shoplifting and disorderly conduct. A court date was set for May 17.
In addition, further investigation revealed Petroche-Franco was found to have an outstanding warrant from Chatham Township for $235.
Petroche-Franco was then turned over to Chatham Township.

May 11: West Orange police are searching for the brother-in-law of a township resident who lent him his car while the man was on vacation.
According to police, when the man left for vacation, he agreed to let his brother-in-law use the car for minor errands.
However, when the man returned to his Whittingham Place home on May 11 after his vacation expecting to see the car, it was not there.
A relative said he last saw the car and brother-in-law on May 9 at approximately 1 a.m., with the car in the Whittingham Place driveway.
Neither the brother-in-law nor the car have been seen since then and the car has been registered as stolen.

May 11: West Orange police are investigating the theft of landscaping equipment from the Hazel Avenue Elementary School sometime between April 9 and April 18.
According to school officials, someone entered the shed and, once inside, stole a REDMAX backpack blower valued at approximately $500.
School officials are studying videotape from the incident and plan to contact police if a suspect is identified

May 11: Two women were arrested at 1 p.m. and charged with shoplifting perfume and jewelry from a store located in the Kmart Plaza, 235 Prospect Ave., West Orange.
Linda Gardner, 53 and Betty A. Gardner, 54, were stopped after store security saw them enter the health and beauty department of the store and take two bottles of perfume, valued at $53.48, one pair of gold ball earrings, valued at $9.99 and another bottle of perfume, valued at $13.99.
Both women were arrested and taken to police headquarters for processing.
During their investigation, police found Linda Gardner had two outstanding warrants from East Orange for $500 and $805 with no 10 percent option and
a $100 warrant from Irvington.
Police also found Betty Gardner had three warrants from East Orange totaling $1,810.
Betty Gardner was charged with shoplifting and will appear in municipal court on May 22.
Linda Gardner was charge with shoplifting and will appear in municipal court on May 22.
Both women were released on their own recognizance and transferred to East Orange for their warrants.

May 12: A 19-year-old West Orange man was arrested by West Orange police on drug charges after a police stop at the entrance of the Eagle Rock Reservation.

Police said they saw Kevin Bourgeaud speeding on Eagle Rock Avenue just east of Prospect Avenue at 9:54 p.m. Police said they could hear the car’s tires screeching and being driven erratically.

When police stopped the car and asked Bourgeaud for his license and registration, they said they smelled marijuana.

In the center console, police found a small bag of what is believed to be marijuana and arrested him. During a search, officers found drug paraphernalia in the trunk.

Borgeaud was charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of drug paraphernalia as well as issued a summons for careless driving. He was released with a municipal court date of May 31.

May 13: A guest at Club 4-Sixty-6 told police at 2:33 a.m. someone entered his car and stole several items.
The guest said he arrived at the club at 10:15 p.m. and had his silver 2010 Acura TSX parked by a valet and locked. The keys were then placed in a key box located at the front entrance of the club.
When the guest left the club at 2:33 a.m. and attempted to get his car, the key was missing from the key box.
The guest found his car with the doors unlocked. In addition, missing from the car was a GPS, his wallet and a pair of Prada sunglasses.
The wallet and GPS were found in the parking lot, not far from the victim’s car.
Security and police said security tapes showed two people walking to the car, which was located out of the view of the security cameras. The pair then reappear on camera leaving the area of the car.


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