EXCLUSIVE: The lawyer for a man who police said tipped a Lyndhurst bartender $20 after holding up the place told a judge today that she’s seeking to keep her client’s previous convictions out of evidence.

“I’m desperate. I don’t want to hurt anyone,” Lyndhurst police said Donald Tuohy told the barmaid while pointing an illegal .25-caliber handgun at her during the April 20, 2012 robbery.

She gave him $138. He gave her a twenty back, police told CLIFFVIEW PILOT at the time.

Tuohy pleaded “not guilty” today in Hackensack through his attorney, public defender Jaclyn Medina.

Medina (left) told Judge Edward A. Jerejian she intends to file a motion to keep jurors — if the case goes to trial — from hearing about Tuohy’s prior convictions in Bergen County for narcotics offenses in 1999 and 2000.  He also has charges currently pending against him in two other counties.

Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Maria Rockfol declined to offer a plea bargain, citing charges against Tuohy for an attempted robbery – this one 11 days earlier in Rutherford.

Rockfol told Jerejian that she and the prosecutor handling that case intend to consolidate the charges and make a single offer.

Tuohy, 49, of Lyndhurst, is charged with one first degree count of armed robbery and two second degree counts of illegal weapons possession and use in the Lyndhurst holdup.

It was a Saturday night around 6:15 when, police said, he walked into The Locker Room on Stuyvesant Avenue.

After using the bathroom, he asked the 26-year-old barmaid for a tap beer, Lyndhurst Police Chief Jim O’Connor told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. She said they had only bottles, so he ordered a Budweiser, the chief said.

As she was getting it, O’Connor said, Tuohy pulled a handgun from his left jacket pocket — then began apologizing for robbing her.

Tuohy then took a twenty from the fistful of cash she’d just handed him and left it on the bar for her, the chief added.

Later that night, Detective Ronald Guirland and Detective Sgt. John Kerner reviewed surveillance video from the tavern and nearby businesses and canvassed the neighborhood. They quickly identified the car the robber was driving, which police said had distinctive damage.

They then arrested Tuohy at his home without incident. They also recovered the gun, which the indictment says he didn’t have a permit for.

Rutherford detectives soon became interested in Tuohy in connection with the April 9 attempted holdup of a Delta gas station on Park Avenue.

In that case, the attendant told police a man drove up in a four-door silver sedan — possibly a mid 90’s Toyota — then got out and asked for $20 worth of gas.

The attendant said the driver then asked whether he could break a hundred-dollar bill, and he said he did.

At that point, he said, the man demanded all of his cash. The attendant said he told him the money was in a safe, but then he “motioned to his pocket” and said he’d shoot him if didn’t comply.

He said the would-be robber fled empty-handed after he threatened to call police.

Rutherford Detective Kevin Scannell later found the gas cap to the driver’s car, Capt. Patrick Feliciano told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Tuohy remained held in the Bergen County Jail on $700,000 combined bail.

STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter

SHOUT OUT: A 17-year-old Mahwah boy who rescued a couple in their 80s from a trailer home fire – carrying the woman to safety in his arms — got a special shout out from their grandkids.

“Grandma was recently diagnosed with congestive heart failure,” Beverly Vriesema told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “She spent several days in the hospital and rehab center due to congestive heart failure and had not been home long when the fire broke out.”

It was around 12:15 a.m. Sunday, as Morgan Herndon — days short of his 18th birthday, with plans of becoming a firefighter – saw the flames from the couple’s trailer as he pulled into his driveway at the Bogert’s Ranch development.

Herndon told CLIFFVIEW PILOT that he escorted Henry Vriesema, 89, from the doorway, then ran into the burning mobile home and scooped up 87-year-old Pauline Vriesema. Dressed in her pajamas, she was searching in vain for her three cats, who died in the fire (SEE: Aspiring firefighter saves elderly couple from Mahwah trailer home blaze).

Herndon (above, left) turns 18 this Friday. On Monday, he said, he’s headed to Fire Company No. 4 in Mahwah to discuss fulfilling his dream of becoming a firefighter.

“I was just thinking about them and their safety,” he said. “I asked them both if they were all right. Then I told them, ‘Don’t worry.’ Then the police pulled up. It was later on that I felt really happy about what happened.”

Beverly and her husband, Darrell (above), stayed with his grandparents a few years back before moving to Ohio. Darrell, who grew up in this area, was previously known in town has having worked as an EMT volunteer with Mahwah Co. #4’s ambulance squad for several years.

“They take great pride in their volunteers – that’s for sure,” he said.

He and his wife remember Morgan, his brother and sister as “great kids.”

“We would see a lot of Morgan out skateboarding,” Beverly Vriesema said. “Anytime he would crash, we would always ask if he was OK. He would just smile, get up, brush himself off and continue on, nodding his head.”

Darrell Vriesema had to leave the ambulance squad after contracting a liver disease. His own unit had to rush him to The Valley Hospital after a particularly acute attack in February 2010, a day after the Super Bowl. He was later transferred to Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center.

“After he got released from the hospital, I remember Morgan asking me if my husband was OK,” Beverly Vriesema said. “I told him he was doing better but not out of the woods yet. It will take some time before he is fully recovered. He will need a liver transplant soon.

“Morgan expressed his concern and said he’d be thinking of us.”

“We are planning on coming out in November to visit our grandparents there and other family members and to also say a personal ‘thank you’ to Morgan for his heroic efforts,” she added.

“We are so blessed that Morgan jumped right into helping our grandparents out and glad that he wasn’t injured in doing so,” Beverly Vriesema. “He went above and beyond in doing what was right.

“Mahwah Fire Co. #4 will have a great asset added to their team if Morgan surely does decide to join.”

YOU SAW IT HERE FIRST: A container truck carrying 15 tons of metal lost its rear wheel on Route 17 in Lyndhurst around noon today, closing the northbound highway for nearly an hour.

Northbound traffic was diverted at Orient Way while the container was separated from the chassis, and each was removed, Lyndhurst Police Chief James O’Connor told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

UPDATE: Ongoing repair work on the fire alarm system at the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack today inadvertently led to mid-afternoon alarms suddenly sounding in two courtrooms, clearing the building for roughly a half-hour.

The alarms went off in courtrooms 424 and 414 just after 3:10 p.m., Dave Martinez of the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

City firefighters quickly responded, then gave the all-clear for people to return just before 3:40 p.m., he said.

The fire alarm system in the building has been under repair and wasn’t put on bypass this morning, Martinez explained.

STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Secret Service agents are interested in a pair of Bronx man who were chased down by Hasbrouck Heights police last night after allegedly trying to pass a “pretty good” bogus $100 bill.

The clerk at the new 7Eleven at the Route 17 Exxon station on the highway’s northbound side refused to accept the bill after the pair tried buying some small items around 10:20 last night, Detective Michael Colaneri told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this afternoon.

The two then took off, as the clerk called police.

Officers quickly found both behind a nearby Holiday Inn. One of the men — identified as 28-year-old Najee Sanders (above, left) — immediately surrendered.

The other took off, Colaneri said.

Moments later, Detective John Behr located the suspect — later identified as Julio Oliveras, 22 (right) — behind a building at 377 Route 17.

He ran again, but Behr quickly collared him.

Each man was carrying a bogus Benjamin, Colaneri said.

It brought Secret Service agents who interviewed both.

“The bills were pretty good — even passed the marker test,” Colaneri conceded. “But the hologram wasn’t in the proper spot.

Both men were being held on $20,000 bail each in the Bergen County Jail pending initial court appearances.

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: An Upper Saddle River woman already facing drug charges connected to an illegal gun used in a shootout with police was being held on $250,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail this morning following her arrest last night by Ridgefield Park police, who said they found her with a variety of drugs for sale in a car parked outside a Route 46 auto repair shop.

Cristiana Lea Cyriax, 22, had “more than the usual amount” of pot, along with heroin, cocaine and LSD, when Officer Bradley Gilmore found her while following up on an 8:30 p.m. call of a suspicious car in the lot of STS Tire and Auto Center, Ridgefield Park Police Capt. Daniel Hippe told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this morning.

A passenger who was with her was released and her vehicle was impounded, Hippe said.

Last month, detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office charged Cyriax on a summons with possession with intent to distribute marijuana, possession of Ecstasy and possession of psilocybin.

Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said at the time that Cyriax was “involved in the distribution of drugs” with her boyfriend, 23-year-old Sean Stark of Paramus.

Stark was being held on $750,000 bail after Molinelli’s detectives charged him with giving an illegal handgun to 22-year-old Robert Leonardis, also of Paramus – who they said then used it in a shootout with Hackensack police while being chased before dawn on July 22.

*     *     *     *     *

RELATED:

Robert Leonardis

Authorities trace gun in Hackensack police shootout, make 5 arrests

Gunman, 22, in Hackensack police shooting has criminal record

Hackensack police shooting: Here’s what happened

*     *    *     *     *

One round fired by Leonardis hit the hood of a police cruiser and another went through the windshield, narrowly missing the officer driving, Molinelli said. Officers returned fire, striking him several times.

Leonardis has remained in critical condition at Hackensack University Medical Center since then. He is charged with a variety of offenses, including attempted murder of a police officer.

Stark bought the .45-caliber handgun for $500 from Jerry “Angel” Nunez, 21, of Cliffside Park, who had it shipped here from Florida via UPS, Molinelli said.

Among others charged in the case are Jorge Alberto Rodriguez, 21, of Pembroke Pines, Florida, who the prosecutor said sold and shipped the gun to Nunez.

Alexander J. Kim, 23, who lives with Stark, was charged with possession of Ecstasy and drug paraphernalia.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE

YOU SAW IT HERE FIRST: Someone dumped a cleaning fluid into a storm drain near a Fair Lawn school, which was closed today for the Jewish holiday.

Fair Lawn police, Heavy Rescue, and hazardous materials unit responded to the area of Westmoreland School around noon on reports of a chemical odor.

The chemical was tested and determined to be a neutral cleaning agent, not environmentally harmful.

However, authorities thought it best to flush the drains to dissipate the substance.

A storm drain cover was removed on school property, a hose was hooked up to a nearby hydrant, and the system was flushed with a significant amount of water.

Several youngsters in a nearby playground apparently weren’t bothered by the smell.

STORY / PHOTOS: Boyd A. Loving

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A Dumont supermarket cashier was sentenced to 45 years in prison today for shooting his ex-girlfriend dead with a semi-automatic rifle, in what both the judge and a Bergen County prosecutor said was the culmination of an escalating pattern of domestic violence.

Jordan Turner, 25, barely flinched as Presiding Superior Court Judge Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi issued his plea-bargained murder sentence in Hackensack. Under the deal, he must serve 38¼ years before he is eligible for parole. He’d be 64.

Heather Reyes

Although relatives insisted the two had broken up, Turner in June told DeAvila-Silebi that he caught 22-year-old Heather Reyes cheating on him, “so I went to New York and bought a gun.”

A Del-Ton DTI-15 assault-type rifle, to be exact.

After asking her to come by to pick up some clothes on Feb. 26, 2011, Turner said, he got into an argument with Reyes (at right).

He said he then went to his car, retrieved the rifle and shot her twice.

Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Danielle Grootenboer said it didn’t happen quite that way.

“He decided three weeks ahead of time that if he couldn’t have her, no one could,” Grootenboer (below) told the judge today.

Looking at Turner, she said: “Three weeks before you killed her, you went online and arranged for purchase of an assault rifle in New York. You told the [pre-sentencing] investigator you bought it in case you had to kill Heather.”

DeAvila-Silebi then revealed a prior incident that came to light during the pre-sentencing preparations:  “Six months before the murder Jordan tried to throw Heather out of a car during a dispute, injuring her arm,” she said.  “I wish Heather had seen this for the danger sign it was.  Six months later, she was killed at his hand.

“This is a lesson for the public to be aware,” the judge emphasized. “Domestic violence crimes rarely consist of one incident.  In every domestic violence case, there are always signs before.  There are always warnings.”

After killing Reyes, Turner went to the Garden State Plaza and called police. They found him waiting for them outside the AMC multiplex movie theater minutes after midnight.

Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Danielle Grootenboer reads from letter to the judge from victim’s 7-year-old nephew (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)

He couldn’t recall the exact address of his apartment — he’d lived there barely a month — but he told police it was white and “just east of a stop sign” on East Quackenbush Avenue. They quickly found the house, got the apartment key from the owner and found Reyes’s body.

She’d been shot in the chest and abdomen with the rifle, which they said they found nearby.

Turner — who was on probation for theft and conspiracy convictions at the time — could have faced life in prison if convicted at a trial of murder, unlawful weapons possession and illegal possession of an assault weapon.

Instead, he accepted the plea deal.

That he did so was the one and only factor in Turner’s favor, DeAvila-Silebi said, explaining that it spared Reyes’ family the trauma of a trial.

That agreement nearly hit a snag when Turner told the judge this afternoon that he hadn’t discuss the parole violation with his lawyer.  However, Grootenboer conducted the proceeding on the spot so that the sentencing could proceed.  The parole violation and murder sentences will be served at the same time.

Public Defender Francis Meehan asked DeAvila-Silebi to consider Turner’s mental condition and sentence him to “less than a maximum” term.  He said Turner suffers from “Axis I and Axis II” mental disorders, consisting of psychotic episodes and a personality disorder.

“Mr. Turner accepts his responsibility,” Meehan (below) said.  “He is very remorseful, although I am sure that’s no consolation to the victim’s family.”

For his part, Turner said: “I want to apologize to Heather’s family and friends. I am very sorry for what I did.”

Francis Meehan with his client

Grootenboer wasn’t having it.

“It’s too little, too late,” said the former chief of the county’s Domestic Violence Unit.

“This case is not about mental illness, not about a heartbroken man,” Grootenboer said. “It’s about domestic violence that plagues our society, even in the 21st Century.

“People have the right to leave relationships,” she added.  “The court has to remind the community that domestic violence will not be tolerated.”

Grootenboer also told the judge that Turner, after buying the assault rifle, wrote on  his Facebook page: “I’m going to be famous.”

“Winston Churchill is famous, Derek Jeter is famous,” the prosecutor said.  “Jordan Turner is not famous. He is infamous.”

The type of gun used in the killing: Del-Ton DTI-15 rifle

Grootenboer read several victim impact statements from members of Reyes’ family, many of whom were in the courtroom today.  Her sister-in-law, mother, father, and 7-year old nephew all explained how her death had impacted them.

In a letter dictated to his mother, the little boy wrote, “Tia, I miss you, I love you.  I really wish you would come back down from heaven so I could see you. Do you like the balloons we send to you in heaven?  Jordan hurt my feelings when he hurt you.

“I hate him, he’s stupid.  I miss you and I love you more than anything.”

The youngster’s remarks then turned to the judge:

“Jordan is mean,” the boy wrote. “Please don’t ever, ever let him out.”

STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT photos

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: An alleged incident of “tea-bagging” by two Glen Rock High School wrestlers against a pair of 11-year-olds has sparked a lawsuit against the borough Board of Education by the mothers of the alleged victims.

Although the lawsuit doesn’t go into detail, district sources told CLIFFVIEW PILOT at the time that two middle-schoolers were subjected to a domination tactic used by schoolyard bullies and inspired by a popular video game.

Playing off what for some is an accepted sexual position, the darker practice involves at least one person holding the target down while another rubs his crotch into his or her face.

The parents’ suit, filed in Superior Court in Hackensack, contends that the boys – who were members of the middle school wrestling team at the time – suffered “severe and permanent injuries,” including “permanent and irreparable post[-]traumatic stress disorder and emotional harm requiring ongoing counseling,” as a result of what it alleges was the district’s negligence.

What wasn’t publicly explained at the time was why the then-freshmen wrestlers were left unsupervised with the much younger boys for what CLIFFVIEW PILOT was told was 20 minutes during a joint practice at the middle school on Jan. 24, 2012.

Tea-bagging became part of mainstream culture, in part, because of the 1998 John Waters film “Pecker” and after conversations about the practice among characters during an episode of “Sex and the City.”

Over the past several years, however, youngsters throughout the country have been suspended, placed in detention or expelled for incidents that mimic the act — most of them based on a fully-outfitted soldier’s hostile stamp of final humiliation over a slain enemy in Bungie’s “Halo” series of shooter video games (image, above).

When the behavior is considered flagant, as in Glen Rock, it is treated by school administrators and police as the juvenile equivalent of a felony.

As one school official said, it wasn’t akin to stuffing a kid into a trash can, or pulling such juvenile pranks as wedgies. To them, the official said, it is sexual harassment at the very least and assault in the extreme, given the defenseless of the victims and the nature of the act.

Local police issued a brief statement when the incident occurred, saying that juvenile delinquency complaints that were signed against the two freshmen would be the adult equivalent of aggravated sexual contact and lewdness offenses if they were adults.

Both boys were brought to Family Court in Hackensack to answer the complaints. Such matters aren’t made public, however, because of their ages. Unlike adult courts, the overriding goal in the juvenile justice system is to keep youngsters from growing into criminals – in part, by not stigmatizing them through public disclosure of their deeds.

In their 10-point lawsuit, dated Aug. 26, the mothers are seeking damages, attorney’s fees, the cost of suing and “such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper.”

IMAGE: Courtesy Bungie.net

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A manhunt was underway for a fourth suspect in the shooting of two men in Bergenfield during a home invasion on Sunday, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli announced this afternoon.

Prosecutor’s detectives were searching for 24-year-old Hassan “Smoke” Sly, an alleged Crips gang member who Molinelli said “was present during the home invasion/robbery, was armed with a gun and was an active participant in the robbery/shooting.”

TOP: Zakeer Roberts (left), Mario Ferreira BELOW: Christian Nova (PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia)

Newark SWAT team members led a raid on Sly’s apartment yesterday, but he wasn’t there, the prosecutor said.

However, the search turned up a TEC-9 assault weapon, as well as heroin and packaging material for heroin distribution, he said.

“It is not believed that the TEC-9 was used in the shootings,” Molinelli said. “The weapon(s) used in the shooting have yet to be recovered.”

Arrest warrants charge Sly with two counts of attempted murder, as well as armed robbery, armed burglary and several other offenses.

“He should be considered armed and dangerous,” Molinelli said. “Anyone with information concerning his whereabouts should contact their local police immediately or the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit at 201-226-5651.”

Two of  his accused associates – Zakeer Roberts, 24, of East Orange and Mario Ferreira, 22, of Succasunna, NJ – were also armed when the victims were shot at a Westwide Avenue home, the prosecutor said.

Roberts and Fereira were arrested the next day by Bergen County prosecutor’s detectives with help from East Orange police and a Newark police SWAT team. Both were being held on $1 million bail in the Bergen County Jail.

A third man, 21-year-old Christian Nova of Englewood, was arrested the night of the incident and charged with arranging the holdup.

Authorities investigating the case made no mention of a third assailant entering the house — apparently in an attempt not to tip him off.

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CLIFFVIEW PILOT was the first to report both the shootings and the initial arrests:

• YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Two men were shot and wounded, one seriously, in the south end of Bergenfield this morning. READ MORE….

  Mario Ferreira, Zakeer Roberts, Christian Nova (MUGSHOTS: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY SHSERIFF’S OFFICE)

• YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Three men have been arrested and charged in a drug robbery gone wrong that led to the shootings yesterday of two Bergenfield men, one seriously, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said shortly before 6 p.m. READ MORE….

RELATED:

• YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A lawyer for a man accused of arranging a Labor Day weekend drug and cash robbery in Bergenfield that ended with two men shot — one seriously — asked a judge today to lower his client’s bail, citing his ties to the community and his family. READ MORE….

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Nova had told Ferriera that one of the victims, 21-year-old Gilbert Mercado, “was known as having sold narcotics in the past and would have both money and narcotics in his possession,” Molinelli said. Nova “had some past dealings with Mercado” and “arranged for Mercado to be robbed by both [men.]”

Bergenfield police responded to a 911 call at the house Sunday morning and found both Mercado and 20-year-old John Newcomb, who also lives there, shot.

Mercado was hit several times and was hospitalized in serious condition. However, Molinelli said this afternoon that he’s expected to survive. Newcomb was shot once in the lower torso. He, too, was expected to pull through fine, the prosecutor said.

IMAGES: Courtesy BCPO

EXCLUSIVE: Ridgewood Police Chief John Ward kept a young boy calm and at times smiling, rendering first aid until ambulance workers arrived, after two cars collided at a village intersection today.

The boy was in a Volkswagen Routan mini-van that struck a Nissan Versa on Ackerman Avenue as it emerged from Bellair Road, Ward said.

The Nissan, driven by an 85-year-old Hawthorne woman, then crashed into a nearby fence.

The Ridgewood boy’s 42-year-old mother, who was driving the mini-van, wasn’t injured.

The elderly woman complained of pain in her side, however, and the boy had a bump on his forehead, the chief said.

Ward (below) was one of the first on the scene. He comforted the boy and helped get him on a backboard.

“He was a little shaken up,” the chief told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Ward was an EMT in New York City before moving to Ridgewood in 1979. A year later, he became one of the Ridgewood Ambulance Corps’ first members. All told, he has more than 30 years as emergency medical worker.

“I wanted him to know it was going to be OK,” he said about the boy, “but there are also precautionary measures you have to take, especially with a bump on the head.”

Also responding today were village police, firefighters and ambulance squad members, who took the boy and the elderly driver to The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood.

Both vehicles were removed from the scene by flatbed tow truck.

Firefighters handled a minor fluid spill. They also disconnected the batteries of both vehicles to reduce the risk of a fire hazard.

PHOTOS: Boyd A. Loving (who also contributed to this story)

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A Fair Lawn woman brought her neighbor cupcakes and then stole his car, police said today.

Shannon Henry, 23, “handed over the keys to the stolen vehicle” to police when they showed up, Detective Sgt. Brian Metzler said.

The victim told police that Henry had come over the day before with cupcakes.

Early the next morning, he found a bowl that contained roughly $10 in change missing.

It got worse when he opened the garage door — no car.

Henry had parked the vehicle in a church lot across the street, where police found it, Metzler said.

She was being held on $10,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail, charged with three counts of burglary.

SHOUT OUT: The Maywood Police Department is hosting a beefsteak and comedy night to support community organizations and projects.

It’s set for 7-11 p.m., Fri., Sept. 27 at the Hasbrough Heights VFW, and features John Pizzi (as seen on “America’s Got Talent”).

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Acting on a tip, New Jersey State Police were waiting at the Holiday Inn in Saddle Brook tonight when a reputed gang enforcer wanted in connection with two stabbings outside a Rockland nightclub showed up.

Joel “The Beast” Pointdujour of Haverstraw, was taken into custody without incident in the parking lot of the hotel near the Garden State Parkway just before 6:30 p.m., NJSP Sgt. Adam Grossman said tonight. Arrested with him was Kaylyn Michele Martucci, 23, who police said was his getaway driver the night of the assaults.

Both were being held in the Bergen County Jail on fugitive from justice warrants.

Clarkstown police had been searching for Pointdujour, 24, who was considered armed and dangerous, after two men were stabbed with a hunting knife in the parking lot of a shopping center known as the Hub outside the El Molino III bar on Route 59 near the Palisades Center Mall.

One victim, 30, was stabbed in the abdomen — putting him in critical condition at a nearby hospital. The other, 25, just missed having an artery severed when he was cut several times on the right arm while trying to chase down Pointdujour, police said.

Pointdujour, a parolee who Clarkstown police believe got into a 4 a.m. fight with the first man over a woman inside the club, was being charged with two counts of attempted murder, among other offenses.

A red-carpet inaugural fundraising gala is set in Teaneck for a newly-created non-profit organization that provides customized wigs free of charge to women and girls with cancer.

There are few higher callings than the “Do Wonders” program created by entrepreneur Lillian Lee, who owns and operates the Teaneck Road salon that bears her name.

Lee has been collecting, refurbishing and customizing donated wigs for several years.

MORE INFO: http://dowonderscharity.org/

She has taken her charity to a higher level by establishing Do Wonders as a 501(c)3 designated non-profit charity and partnering with The American Cancer Society’s national “Look Good Feel Better” program. The Nov. 17 red carpet gala at the Teaneck Jewish Center is both a fundraiser and a coming-out party.

“I am extremely excited to introduce everyone to this wonderful organization and looking forward to expanding our services to help even more women in the years to come,” said Lee, its president.

Lee was inspired by Superior Court Judge Deborah Ustas – which made it an awful shock when she got a call asking for one of those wigs from the judge herself. Lee has since dedicated “Hope Cuts” charity events to Ustas, who died in 2009.

“My number one cheerleader, Debbie pushed me to take on new challenges in business, while her generosity and support of several charities moved me to form my own,” Lee said.

The wigs mean a great deal to the hundreds of patients referred not only by word of mouth but also by the American Cancer Society, Tomorrow’s Children at Hackensack University Medical Center, Gilda’s Club, Holy Name Medical Center and Sharsheret.

DoWondersCharity@gmail.com

“Losing your hair after cancer treatment becomes another frustration in a long battle,” Lee said. “This is one way of helping them cope.

“Feeling good on the outside helps you feel better on the inside. With a customized wig, you can maintain your identity and dignity through such a difficult time.”

The history of Lee’s philanthropy has brought many touching stories.

There was teenager Rosa Holowen, for instance, who lost both of her parents to cancer and was diagnosed with bone cancer herself. The day of Rosa’s prom, Lee and her staff went to work, styling her wig, doing her makeup. She had to have a leg amputated a short time later, but Rosa – a three-sport star at Hasbrouck Heights High School — kept her determination, grace and dignity, inspiring countless others, before dying in August 2010 at 20.

“I very often visit the Hackensack Hospital Cancer Center, where I see so many bald women as a result of the chemo that treats their cancer,” another woman wrote to Lee. “They look as if they were stripped of their femininity as they walk around with no hair.

“You helped me to be more positive and look at this experience from a different angle.”

“Because of your selfless benevolence, this is now one less struggle that has left my worries,” wrote another. “I feel so much like my old self with a wig that looks exactly like my real hair…. I’m beyond thrilled to have been in your company.”

Wigs made of real human hair can cost more than $1,000, which is an additional expense that families of cancer victims often are unable to afford. Do Wonders seeks to bridge that gap.

Night of Wonders will feature a silent auction of donated goods and services by local businesses, a cocktail hour and benefit concert, with all proceeds going to Do Wonders. It begins at 7 p.m. Nov. 17 at the Teaneck Jewish Center, 70 Sterling Place.

INFO, tickets and/or donate: dowonderscharity.org
To donate silent-auction good: dowondersbusinesses
To advertise in the event program: dowondersadprogram

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A man was caught using a bent coat hanger to fish cash out of the donation box at a Maywood church this morning, police told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Officers Jason Liaban and Kevin Madden spotted Rolando Giz as he was leaving the Our Lady Queen of Peace Church at 9:45 a.m., Police Chief David Pegg said.

They were there in response to a complaint that “in the past he was pretending to pray but was actually looking into the donations bins with a flashlight and removing money,” Pegg told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

The officers found the wire hanger and cash that Giz, 36, “admitted he had just removed from the donation box,” the chief said, adding that he also said he’d done it before.

Giz was released without bail pending a court hearing on charges of theft and possession of burglar tools.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy MAYWOOD PD

EXCLUSIVE: A man accused of shooting and killing his estranged wife’s boyfriend and then setting his Teaneck house on fire was brought before a judge today for arraignment on an indictment that charges him with two counts of murder, aggravated arson and desecrating human remains, among other offenses.

Sui Kam “Tony” Tung, 50, took a series of measures taken to try and avoid being detected for killing Robert Cantor in March 2011, the indictment alleges. These included torching the house, hiding the gun investigators say he used to shoot and kill Cantor and trying to destroy computer evidence that linked him to the victim, Bergen prosecutors said.

Fourteen months later, prosecutor’s detectives arrested him at his Yorkville apartment in Manhattan in May 2012.

Sui Kam “Tony” Tung in court today (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)

Some of Cantor’s relatives and friends made public demonstrations over their anger at the case not being solved. They even called called for a special prosecutor and said they’d hired a private investigator who fingered a suspect — which didn’t sit well with several law enforcement officers.

They insisted the murder was “an act of jealousy and revenge” by a man who’d confronted Cantor (above, inset) at his home more than once. Although they publicly didn’t identify him by name, all agreed it was Tung, whose estranged wife had been seeing Cantor.

Cantor’s widow, who never challenged the progress of the investigation, thanked those who worked it. So did an attorney for Tung’s estranged wife.

Tung, who is unemployed, began stalking the popular Verizon software engineer after learning of the romantic relationship in 2010, as both couples were being divorced, authorities said.

A few months before the killing, prosecutors said, Tung confronted Cantor, 59, at the Elm Street home where he lived alone.

Tung demanded to know where the two had sex, so Cantor brought him to a bedroom in the basement — where his body was later found, they said.

The night of March 6, 2011, they said, Tung showed up again. After shooting him several times, killing Cantor, Tung set the place on fire, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said after the arrest.

A computer repair expert, Tung then erased the hard drives on all of his computers, among other measures, to destroy evidence, authorities said.

He continued to be held on $3 million bail following today’s court appearance.

Presiding Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi has rejected requests for a bail reduction, citing close family ties that she said Tung has to China — which does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S. — and a brother with criminal associations that would give Tung access to guns and bogus documents.

STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: The battle between Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino and county Police Chief Brian Higgins exploded tonight, as Saudino accused Higgins of lying about the appearance of two BCPD officers at the scene of a traffic stop of Freeholder Maura DeNicola by a sheriff’s officer — and both men called for criminal investigations of the other.

It began when Higgins (above, left) earlier today released a video from a BCPD cruiser of part of the Aug. 14 stop, as well as a letter to county Executive Kathleen Donovan in which he accuses Saudino’s officers of a pattern of behavior that “may rise to the level of harassment, intimidation and possibly official misconduct.”

DeNicola has said she believes she was stopped because of her opposition to folding the county police into the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s officer who stopped her for “impeding the flow of traffic” on northbound Route 208 in Fair Lawn – before discovering that she was driving her husband’s car with an expired registration — reported that the two county cops who showed up “distracted and intimidated” him, asking a series of unnecessary questions about his job.

SEE: Bergen sheriff’s officer claims being ‘distracted, intimidated’ by county police after stopping freeholder

Higgins, in his Sept. 6 letter to Donovan, emphasizes that the video reveals nothing of the sort.

Indeed, a review of the 22-minute tape turns up no audio beyond mostly aimless chatter between Sheriff’s Officer Vincent Surace and two BCPD officers who arrive at the scene separately. They’re heard discussing officers they know, trucks, and cars, among other topics.

“Nothing supports the perception of intimidating or distracting conduct,” Higgins wrote to Donovan. “If there was any interference into the actions taken that night it came from another source.”

As Higgins noted, Surace says on the video that the sheriff’s standard operating procedure is to “ticket and tow.”

County Police Officer Justin Garcia responds: “You gotta do what you gotta do, man.”

Surace then says, “I gotta get the blessing from the top.”

Garcia repeats: “You gotta do what you gotta do.”

Surace later says to DeNicola: “I’m caught in the middle here. I’m in a bad spot right now…. I’m coming off as the bad guy.”

Saudino, in turn, said tonight that Higgins’s letter to Donovan “provides shocking insight into the political operations taking place within that agency.

“As our office has maintained from the very start, the appearance of two BCPD officers on the scene of a routine traffic stop was no coincidence, in direct contrast to Chief Higgins’s prior statements.”

As a result, Saudino (above, right) called for “an immediate investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office and the Attorney General if necessary into the misuse and politicization of county resources by Chief Higgins.

“The Chief is now on record as having lied to the public about the events of the night in question, and it is incumbent for the credibility of that office and the safety of Bergen County residents to have an impartial investigation into the BCPDs actions in this incident,” the sheriff said.

Higgins goes further: “I recommend that this matter be referred to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office and/or the United States Attorney’s Office for their independent review and to investigate the accusations and take appropriate action.”

Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli told CLIFFVIEW PILOT that, while he was aware of the DeNicola incident, no one had asked his office to investigate. If someone does, he said, he would make the decision whether or not to pursue it.

Saudino said he is conducting his own probe into “what role if any the telephone calls between Freeholder DeNicola and County Police personnel during the traffic stop played in the event of August 14th.

“One basic question must be asked of the County Police: Why did two officers remain on the scene for over fifteen minutes after ascertaining that it was a simple unregistered vehicle incident by a driver who posed no danger?” he added.

In a statement issued tonight, Saudino cites comments reported by North Jersey news sites of Higgins contending that his officers “had simply been passing by and were offering their assistance” and “were unaware that DeNicola was in the car.”

As a result of Higgins’ letter, Saudino said, “We now know that nothing could be further from the truth.”

The letter from Higgins to Donovan states, in part:

“On Wednesday, August 14, 2013 I was notified that, after leaving a Freeholders Meeting, Freeholder Maura DeNicola had been stopped on Rt. 208 northbound and that it appears that she had been stopped by an Officer from the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office.

“Upon receiving this information I called Lt. James Mullin, the Executive Officer of Operations, and apprised him of the situation. Lt. Mullin is aware that Freeholder DeNicola has publicly noted her opposition to a forced consolidation of the Bergen County Police Department into the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office and there has been a series of incidents involving members of the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office because of the consolidation issue. Although these incidents have been directed towards several individuals, Freeholder DeNicola has been a frequent target.

“Aware of these past incidents I instructed Lt. Mullin that, if there was an officer available one should be sent to the scene to back up the Sheriff’s Officer and make certain that the County Police Officer’s mobile in-car video system is activated to memorialize the incident. The Sheriff’s Office does not have a “Patrol” unit and therefore is not equipped with mobile in-car video, although required by county police.”

“In fact,” Saudino said tonight, “the BCPD was fully aware of the car’s occupant, and officers were dispatched explicitly to provide personal assistance to the Freeholder in contradiction of basic police procedures.”

“It is unconscionable that the BCPD continues to squander taxpayer resources to ingratiate themselves to certain elected officials in Bergen County,” said Saudino, who is running for re-election in November. “Whether it is the personal chauffeuring of former County Political Boss Joseph Ferriero or County Executive Kathleen Donovan, to this latest episode, the era of a private police force acting on the behest of favored politicians needs to come to an end.

“The people of Bergen County deserve nothing less than professionalism in their County law enforcement and must demand that the Bergen County Police Department return to its core function of public safety.”

Higgins made the same complaint about Saudino.

“The pretext for the stop of the Freeholder is troubling,” he wrote to Donovan. ” The Sheriff s Officer’s actions are attempted to be justified  by an allegation that the vehicle was traveling too slowly. His actions that followed are not consistent with that statement.”

For instance, Higgins said, he has determined that Surace didn’t ask DeNicola whether she was having a health problem or trouble with her car — or whether she was under the influence of anything.

“Do you know why I pulled you over?” he asks, according to Higgins.

After DeNicola says she doesn’t, he said, Surace told her about the expired registration.

“He never addressed nor mentioned that she was [traveling] too slowly,” Higgins wrote.

Viewed amid the tensions between the agencies, Higgins said he sees “a pattern that rises to the level of harassment with the intent of influencing government officials, because of Freeholder Di Nicola ‘s public position supportive of the Bergen County Police Department’s independence.”

Higgins also cited what he said was an incident at Seasons Restaurant in Washington Township in March 2012, in which he said a lieutenant of his was told by Saudino that “war is coming.”

Later that night, Higgins said, Washington Township police were called on a report of two men taking photos in the restaurant parking lot – and discovered they were sheriff’s officers who claimed to be taking photos of Donovan and the county police security detail that accompanies her to events.

“No law enforcement goal appears to justify  these actions,” Higgins wrote.

On Oct. 2, 2012, he added, a Bergen County Sheriff s officer “was captured on security video taking photos of the rear of County Executive Donovan’s Chief of Staff Jeanne Baratta’s vehicle. That video appears to contain images of that Sheriff’s Officer taking a photo of Ms. Baratta’s license plate. The Sheriff’s Officer was in uniform at the time of the incident.”

Higgins also cited incidents that he said involved DeNicola and Sheriff’s Officer Matthew Ryan. One, he said, occurred at the end of a “listening tour” meeting to discuss the proposed law enforcement merger, during which he accused Ryan of shouting at her – “stating, in effect, that she did not know ‘what the f—‘ she was doing with law enforcement, amongst other statements.”

Another incident allegedly occurred at a January beefsteak dinner: Higgins accused Ryan of “creating a scene” by shouting at DeNicola in “an aggressive nature,” to the point that another officer intervened and told Ryan to “calm down.” He said Ryan continued shouting, eventually saying he hoped Donovan would show up so he could “rip her head off and send her out of here with her tail between her legs.”

Ryan also told DeNicola he “knows where she lives,” Higgins added. This was troubling, he said, because two weeks earlier she caught someone in a white pickup truck taking photos of her house.

Higgins said DeNicola told Saudino about Ryan, but that he dismissed her claims, while calling the officer “harmless.”

“Apparently an Internal Affairs investigation has been conducted but Sheriff’s Officer Ryan continues on duty,” the chief wrote to Donovan.

Higgins also included several social media posts, some of them profane, that he said showed up on a sheriff’s union page.

Saudino responded that his office “will provide a detailed breakdown of the various prevarications in Chief Higgins report, line by line, within the next few days.”

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A 5-foot-4-inch, 135-pound Teaneck man awaiting trial on robbery and weapons offenses has been charged with sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl he met in a park.

Savon A. Down, who turned 20 two weeks ago, was free on $50,000 bail when he was arrested late Sunday.

A staff member at Englewood Medical Center learned of the alleged assaults from the girl, who was taken there after she suffered an asthma attack, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said.

She said she’d met Dow in a park, the prosecutor said.

Hospital officials immediately called Englewood police, he said.

“Upon questioning, Dow presented a false name and physically assaulted a police officer,” Molinelli said  “Dow was taken into custody and transported to the Englewood Police Department.  The Special Victims Unit was then notified and an investigation ensued resulting in [Dow's] arrest on additional charges.”

Dow, who is unemplooyed, is charged with aggravated sexual assault, child endangerment, causing or attempting to case bodily injury, resisting arrest and obstruction. His bail is $350,000.

Records show he was arrested two years ago in the robbery of three boys — ages 13, 14 and 16 — at gunpoint. Dow is charged with two counts of robbery, two of threatening to kill and three weapons offenses in that incident.