EXCLUSIVE: Former Emmy-winning Fox 5 investigative reporter Charles Leaf has rejected a plea deal and will go to trial in December on charges of child sex abuse and possessing kiddie porn, following a court hearing in Hackensack yesterday.

“Mr. Leaf, is it true you’re rejecting the plea offer of 7 to 8 years?” Presiding Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi asked him.

“Absolutely, your honor,” Leaf replied.

“These are serious charges,” she said.  “You’re facing significantly more time should you be convicted.”

Leaf, who joined Fox 5 News in July 2006, was taken into custody at his then-Wyckoff home in October 2010 by members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit and the Wyckoff Police Department, as first reported on CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

After being interviewed by detectives at Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office in Paramus, he was charged with aggravated sexual assault and two counts of child endangerment. He also will be tried on charges of possessing child pornography and destroying evidence by allegedly deleting it from his computer.

Leaf, 43, spent seven weeks in jail before making $270,000 bail.

Two years ago, his wife went on TV and said that Leaf was set up by the family nanny (SEE: Court conference delayed for reporter Charles Leaf of Fox 5).

DeAvila-Silebi set a Dec. 3 date for his trial to begin and ordered attorneys for both sides back next month to clear up some remaining issues. This follows several days of hearings held behind closed doors because of involvement by the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency.

Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Kenneth Ralph and defense attorney S. Emile Lisboa told the judge their respective cases will require 4–5 days of trial time, and that one witness requires a Polish interpreter.

Leaf has covered several major stories for Fox 5, including national exclusives on the Bernard Madoff scandal and the proposed development of a mosque near the World Trade Center Site.

He has also been on FOX News Channel’s “O’Reilly Factor,” “The FOX Report,” “FOX & Friends,” “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren,” “America Live with Megyn Kelly” and “Geraldo at Large.” READ MORE….

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

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: The four Democrats on the Bergen County Freeholder Board today accused county Executive Kathleen Donovan and the county police of attempting to cover up the department’s role in a traffic stop of a Republican colleague by a sheriff’s officer.

The freeholders renewed their request for Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli or the state Attorney General’s Office to investigate the Aug. 14 stop of Freeholder Maura DeNicola on Route 208 in Fair Lawn.

The reason: “plausible evidence that the county police and Donovan Administration attempted to cover up official actions [that] led to the county police ending up at scene.”

“Today is a sad day for Bergen County and our law enforcement community,” said Freeholder Chairman David L. Ganz. “I am hopeful that the Bergen County Prosecutor or Attorney General’s office will undertake an impartial investigation and answer many of the questions we have and determine if any illegal action took place.”

In a letter to Donovan, Freeholder Tracy Zur (above) called on Donovan to suspend her Chief of Staff Jeanne Baratta and Police Chief Brian Higgins for “intentionally misleading the public and members of the governing body” until an investigation is concluded.

Zur, the chairwoman of the board’s Law and Public Safety Committee, cited four media reports — one by CLIFFVIEW PILOT – in which she said both Baratta and Higgins said that county police officers were driving by and stopped at the scene by coincidence.

The claim is directly contradicted by a letter that Higgins sent to Donovan last Friday, which CLIFFVIEW PILOT published last night: Bergen sheriff, police chief call for investigations of one another’s agency

“As a prosecutor and former judge, I’m quite concerned by what appears to be a deliberate attempt to mislead the public,” Zur said today. “Both Ms. Baratta and Chief Higgins told multiple media outlets information that at minimum the chief knew to be untrue.RELATED:

“This is a complete violation of the public’s trust and makes me question if this was an attempted cover up. Until such time that an investigation is conducted they should be suspended.”

County Administrator Ed Trawinski added a twist tonight when he said that previous incidents warranted the response.

“The Democrat freeholders are hanging their hats on a misuse of public assets or something,” he said. “Higgins made clear that an officer should respond only if they were available.

“In this day and age, when you’ve got such a hot issue, it is not unreasonable that law enforcement would come to make sure everything is OK and addressed adequately.”

The Democratic Freeholders cited the need to determine the validity of the allegations that Higgins made of misconduct by individual sheriff’s officers as another reason an investigation was needed.

“If anyone abused their power they should be held accountable for their actions,” Freeholder Joan Voss said. “We can not have vigilante law enforcement.

“Right now we have a ‘he said/she said’ situation between the Sheriff’s Office and county officials,” Voss added. “[I]f these events transpired as reported, discipline is warranted.”

“I was shocked by what I read,” said Freeholder Steve Tanelli. “There is a pattern of what I believe to be unethical and unprofessional conduct in this Administration.”

A TRIBUTE: “Be courageous every day,” Robert Lombardy, principal of Woodcliff Lake’s middle school, told a group of pupils who this morning created goodie bags to send to U.S. troops as their way of commemorating the 12^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The mission of “Operation Goody Bag,” as Lombardy noted, is to “remember those we lost on September 11th, and to express support and appreciation for our military men and women, veterans, and first responders.”

The service event was funded jointly by the Woodcliff Lake Educational Foundation and Woodcliff Lake Parent-Faculty Association. Attending were district Schools Superintendent Lauren Barbelet, along with all of the teachers, who assisted the 6^th-, 7^th- and 8^th-grade youngsters in stuffing the bags. Representatives from the PFA and the WCLEF were also there to show support.

“Most, if not all, of the sixth graders were born after 9/11,” said Lisa Yakomin,  a WLEF trustee and past president who attended. “They’ve never lived in  a world where the Twin Towers were part of the NYC skyline, and have  never known a world when we weren’t at war with Iraq.”

“For those of us with friends and loved ones who died that day, it’s a day of sadness and reflection,” she said. “Making this a day of service forces us to focus on something positive, and to turn this day into one that brings people together not to mourn, but to serve.”

Yakomin recalled Jack D’Ambrosi Jr., a Woodcliff Lake resident who spent the evening of Sept. 10, 2001 at Borough Hall trying to convince officials to correct drainage issues at the town’s ballfields. The next morning, he was killed at Ground Zero.

“He donated his time to try and make this community safer for the children of Woodcliff Lake,” Yakomin said. “His last night on earth was spent in service to others. I can’t think of a better way to honor his memory than to follow his example.”

(Tonight the town has scheduled a 7 p.m. memorial service being held at the Jack D’Ambrosi Jr. Sports Complex at the Old Mill.  The Woodcliff Lake Fire Department will distribute U.S. flags, and the Police Color Guard will lead the procession. Among those participating will be four 8^th-grade Middle School band members — Eddie Xu, Naomi Dym, Samantha Zuckerberg and Simon Castiel – who will play Taps.)

The middle-schoolers this morning decorated the goody bags with messages of thanks beforehand, and then the teachers lined up behind the tables to assist them.

“I want you to be courageous every day,” Lombardy told them. “I want you to think about how you can serve your family, your school, your community, and your world. What can you do to make a difference, and help make life better for someone else?

“I encourage you to find someone in need, and offer help,” he said. “Find a person that needs a friend, and be one. Find a problem, and be the solution.

“Find a way to make the community, and your world, a better place, and follow through.”

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Two high-end SUVs valued at $75,000 each were swiped from a Tenafly resident’s driveway last night, prompting police to issue a warning.

“We’re hoping that residents will lock vehicles and not leave keys or key fobs inside,” Tenafly Police Capt. John Trainor said this afternoon.

The fobs to both the black, 2014 Porsche Cayenne and the beige 2012 Range Rover apparently had been left inside the unlocked vehicles, Trainor said.

The thieves checked out other cars in the Old Smith Road resident’s driveway but left them untouched, he said.

“They were apparently driving around overnight, then grabbed those two vehicles,” Trainor said.

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A Garfield woman who found a couple burglarizing her home this afternoon pinned one of the suspects on the ground outside her house while police chased down another.

The collars came at a price, though: The first officer on the scene, after knocking the female suspect down, broke his foot chasing the other, police said.

By then, however, officers had flooded the neighborhood and caught the man, identified as 52-year-old Roberto Soto of Passaic.

Garfield police got the call just before 1:30 from the Grace Street resident, who said she came to home to an open kitchen window and noises inside the house, Capt. Darren Sucorowski told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Officer David Pikul quickly arrived and saw the couple run out the back door, Sucorowski said.

Soto “had socks on his hands and was carrying a bag,” the captain said.

“With two people fleeing at once, he had to make a choice,” Sucorowki told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “So he knocked her down and chased after him.”

The officer tripped and fell during the pursuit, injuring himself. However, Sucorowksi said Pikul had chased Soto right to his backups a block and a half away, in the area of Madeline Avenue and Herman Street.

Sucorowski, who joined the call, found the resident holding down the other suspect, who he said was screaming.

Garfield police tonight identified her as 22-year-old Christianne L. Abbate of Wildwood.

Detectives from the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office Bureau of Criminal Identification collected evidence, Garfield Police Chief Kevin Amos noted, adding the members of the Bergen County Police Department assisted in the chase.

Bail was set at $75,000 for Soto, who was charged with burglary, resisting arrest and possession of burglary tools, and Abbate, who was charged with urglary, theft and making terroristic threats.

They were being held in the Bergen County Jail tonight.

“The investigation is continuing at this time,” Sucorowski said.

MUGSHOTS: Courtesy GARFIELD PD

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Paramus and Oradell police teamed up to snare a pair of burglary suspects, thanks to alert residents who got officers to the scene before a car containing stolen goods could be driven away.

Paramus police got the first call from an Oradell Avenue resident who said he saw a suspicious-looking man emerge from behind his neighbor’s house around 3:30 Monday afternoon.

As patrol officers headed there, they got a call from a relative who was checking on the house and discovered that it had just been broken into, Detective Capt. Robert Guidetti told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. Both a laptop and an attaché case were missing, he said.

The neighbor, meanwhile, told police the thief ran east toward River Edge, Guidetti said.

An alert went out, and both Oradell and River Edge police headed toward the area to assist in the search, he said.

Within moments, another call came in from an East Avenue resident that two laptops and a shopping bag containing a leather attaché case were missing from his house, the captain said.

Police found one of the two suspects hiding in the bushes of a home on Forest Avenue.

Identified as George Allgeier, 47 (above, left), he was being held on $5,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail.

The other, caught near Kinderkamack Road by Oradell police, was identified as 38-year-old Osvaldo Rodriguez (right). His bail is $10,000.

Outside the East Avenue home, police found a car with the items but no keys inside.

“They apparently took the keys from inside and then tossed them when they ran,” Guidetti said.

One of the victims, who’d been hospitalized in an unrelated incident, told police yesterday that jewelry and a wallet also were missing, he said.

“Thanks to the alert neighbor, who knew to call police immediately, we were able to make both arrests,” the captain said.
 

ALERT: What seems an unending stream of phone scams now includes what, for some, are frightening calls from people pretending to be federal agents.

This scam involves someone claiming to be from an agent DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) or other law enforcement agency who has a warrant for the intended victim’s arrest. The scammer then offers to allow the “defendant” to pay a fine and square things.

Unfortunately, it’s worked in some cases. People have followed instructions and wired money overseas that they’ll never get back, authorities say.

A Wyckoff resident who went to police headquarters to report receiving such a call got another man while he was there.

The caller said the DEA “was headed to his home with the warrant,” Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox said.

“It is important for residents to be wary of any supposed law enforcement agency that is attempting to conduct business via telephone,” Fox said.

It simply isn’t done that way, he said.

In fact, impersonating a federal agent is a serious crime that can land people in prison.

“ANY requests to transfer money should be viewed with heightened skepticism and scrutiny,” Fox said.

RELATED:

Police: You can protect loved ones from senior phone scams

Fair Lawn ransom note phone hoax part of widespread scam

Increasing ‘ransom’ phone scams hit Saddle Brook, Midland Park, Glen Rock

Phone scam claims Ridgewood woman who wired $9,000 to ‘grandson’ in jail

‘Son in trouble’ phone scam costs Wyckoff couple $15,000

Bogota chief: Don’t fall for ‘kidnapped family member’ phone scam

SEASIDE BOARDWALK FIRE: Kohr’s was the first to go, then more structures on the Seaside boardwalk — Kupper’s, Park Seafood, the Funtown Arcade. Before you knew it, it became an inferno. End to end, more than two dozen structures burned, including Funtown, which was engulfed before people’s eyes.We’ve seen such fires in Wildwood and Asbury Park. But few can remember anything like this at Seaside Park or the Heights. It shot to six alarms very, very quickly. Pretty soon, it was NINE alarms.

Firefighters did an amazing job keeping the raging blaze contained, considering the circumstances. Otherwise, it could have been far, far worse.

• YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: More than 400 firefighters are “making a stand” at Lincoln Avenue in Seaside Heights to stop the rapidly moving boardwalk fire from spreading north, Gov. Christie said tonight. READ MORE….

The blaze began just before noon at Kohr’s and was swept up by a strong southeast wind, with flames jumping from building to building — rapidly accelerating the number of alarms, Seaside Heights Borough Administrator John Camera said tonight.

• LIVE: A massive fire started about 2:15 p.m. today at the historic Kohr’s Ice Cream shop near the boardwalk and quickly raged out of control. CLICK HERE FOR LIVE UPDATES

“There are large pieces of wood being thrown and blown over areas,” he said.

Cooking grease, oils, t-shirts, hats — all are among the inventory stored in many of the buildings. In the end, though, Chris Christie summed it neatly: “The boardwalk’s made of wood, so wood burns,” he told reporters. “The biggest reason for the spread is the wind.”

PHOTOS, VIDEO: Jersey Shore Hurricane News

BEHIND THE STORY: Another defendant admitted in federal court today to playing a major role in a Bergen County-based “crime superstore” that stole identities from people in Asia to get credit cards and bank loans that were used to buy fancy cars, fine whiskey and designer shoes.

Matthew J. Kang, 44, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., pleaded guilty to several charges, while admitting that he obtained and brokered Social Security cards with the prefix “586” and counterfeit driver’s licenses for the operation’s mastermind, Sang-Hyun “Jimmy” Park.

As a member of a “build-up” team working closely with Park, Kang said, he fraudulently established credit histories and scores for customers using the 586 identities – which are issued by the U.S. government to Chinese nationals working in American territories, such as Guam.

A little finagling helped the group build credit scores to between 700 and 800, authorities said.

With those numbers, Kang, an independent loan broker, said he and his conspirators were able to open bank accounts and obtain credit cards, lines of credits and loans guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Colluding merchants, many of them Korean, also helped Park’s group obtain cash by swiping credit cards for phantom goods and services, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said. For what was known as a “kkang fee,” the collusive merchants charged the fraudulently obtained credit cards, although no transaction took place.

As soon as the money landed in their bank accounts, the merchants passed the money up to Park, minus the fee.

They sold the cards for $5,000 to $7,000 and then helped customers from in and around Palisades Park get driver’s licenses and other identification cards from various states.

Park’s group also used the cards to buy luxury cars, expensive merchandise and liquor, and to withdraw money from accounts with insufficient funds before anyone noticed. They also wrote checks to pay down the cards and then charged quickly them to the max.

In one case, ring members leased Lexuses or Mercedes, made one payment, then sold the cars, the FBI said.

The bills ended up going to people on the other side of the globe who had no idea what happened. The banks, in turn, took a bath — to the tune of more than $4 million in losses, Fishman said.

Park was so brazen that he advertised in local Korean newspapers that he and his co-conspirators “could obtain driver’s licenses, credit cards, and money for their customers, virtually all of whom were of Korean descent,” according to a 138-page federal arrest complaint.

Park pleaded guilty in January, 2012 and is still awaiting sentencing.

Dozens have also pleaded guilty in the massive case and have been sentenced or are awaiting sentencing.

Just about all of them were rousted from their beds early the morning of Sept. 16, 2010 by hundreds of federal and local investigators in Palisades Park, Tenafly, River Edge and elsewhere.

They were then brought to FBI headquarters in Newark.

Forty-two of those originally charged were directly involved in the massive fraud ring.

One of them, Kang Hyok Choi of Long Island, was already in custody, waiting trial for a triple murder in Tenafly. Detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office alerted the FBI after finding evidence of the ID theft ring on a computer they found in the house.

It was the first break in what became one of the largest identify fraud cases prosecuted in New Jersey.

One of the defendants, Yoon-Sang Kim of Allendale, was arrested in Fort Lee while driving a vehicle registered to his wife, authorities said. In the car, police found several counterfeit IDs with Kim’s photograph in other people’s names, some of which were used to open bogus bank accounts.

Authorities won’t say who tipped them off to the breadth of the operation. However, some observers told CLIFFVIEW PILOT they would put their money on Choi, who it’s believed struck a deal for leniency in exchange for inside information about the crew.

Fishman praised special agents of the FBI, IRS – Criminal Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office with doing the investigative work.

Handling the case for the government are Assistant U.S. Attorneys Anthony Moscato of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Organized Crime/Gangs Unit and Jane Yoon of the Healthcare and Government Fraud Unit in Newark.

Kang has been free on $250,000 since shortly after being arrested on Sept. 16, 2010.

He specifically pleaded guilty today to: conspiracy to unlawfully produce identification documents and false identification documents, conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting financial institutions, bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and tax evasion.

As a result, he faces statutory maximum sentences of more than 40 years combined.

U.S. District Court Judge Katharine S. Hayden set sentencing for Jan. 6, 2014.

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Englewood police are asking the public to help them find an “extremely dangerous” woman who they said beat her 82-year-old mother-in-law so violently that she knocked out several teeth and gave her a severe concussion after the older woman tried to convince her to kick a drug habit.

Mary Tene, 54, is believed to be with her husband, most likely in a motel between Englewood and New York City, Detective Capt. Timothy Torell told CLIFFVIEW PILOT tonight.

Police responded to an East Palisade Avenue apartment between Dean and Engle streets around 11:15 last night to find the severely beaten victim, Torell said.

Detectives learned that the victim “had been trying to counsel Tene about her drug problem when the woman attacked her,” he said. “She was in rough shape when our officers got there.”

The woman, who was taken to Englewood Medical Center, was expected to surive, the captain said.

Tene, he said, has “an extensive violent criminal record spanning across New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Florida,” as well as several aliases.

“She should be considered extremely dangerous,” Torell said. “Anyone spotting her should call 911 immediately.”

“To say we would like her in custody is an understatement,” he said.

“As you can see, she is very distinctive looking,” Torell said. “We could really use the help of the public on this one.”

An arrest warrant charges Tene with aggravated assault and elderly abuse. However, there could be additional charges “as our investigation progresses,” Torell said.

Anyone with any information on her whereabouts can call Englewood police: (201) 568-2700. Or, as Torell said, dial 911.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy ENGLEWOOD PD

A UNION PRESIDENT WRITES: Over the past several days there has been a barrage of news articles released through various media outlets all pertaining to law enforcement right here in Bergen County.  More specifically, it involves the validity of a motor vehicle stop of Bergen County Freeholder Maura DeNicola conducted by Sheriff’s Officer Vincent Surace, and an inquiry in to how and why the Bergen County Police had two additional officers respond to that same scene.

Additionally, this triggered a written response from Bergen County Police Chief Brian Higgins to Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan, his boss, outlining his synopsis of the “incident.”

In an attempt to re-direct attention from lying to the public about the accounts of what exactly happened that particular evening, Chief Higgins then states negative comments about Sheriff’s Officer Matthew Ryan and Corrections Officer Nolan Mamo, thus calling their character into question.

The purpose of this response is not to fuel the ongoing debate of whether the Sheriff’s Office and County Police should be merged together, nor is it to agree or disagree with any one particular political entity.

My purpose for responding is twofold, yet very simple and clear cut.

All of the above-mentioned officers who were singled out in Chief Higgins’ letter have the complete and utter support from myself and the executive board of PBA Local 134, as well as its entire membership.

Furthermore, I would like to assure the residents of Bergen County that no matter what you may hear, see, or view in the media in regards to any and all of our sworn officers,  it does not and will not interfere with the level of law enforcement services that we provide to the taxpayers of this county around the clock each and every day.

Our officers will continue to carry out their duties in the most efficient and professional way — as we always have.

Opinions will always vary and political wars will come and go, but when the dust settles and the use of smoke and mirrors stops, the hard-working men and women of the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office will still be here protecting the citizens of Bergen County.

Respectfully,

Michael J. Doyle
President
PBA Local 134

EXCLUSIVE: A Carlstadt man accused of fishing cash from a Maywood church donation box with a wire clothes hanger admitted to doing the same at a house of worship in Saddle Brook after seeing a story and photo on CLIFFVIEW PILOT,  borough police said.

St. Vincent DePaul charity box at St. Philip the Apostle Church (COURTESY: Saddle Brook PD)

“If it hadn’t been for CLIFFVIEW PILOT, he would’ve gotten away with it,” said Raymond Abel, a parishioner at St. Philip the Apostle Church in Saddle Brook who saw the Maywood story and alerted church officials.

As reported here, St. Philip officials didn’t think much of a wire hanger found sticking from a St. Vincent DePaul Society charity box last weekend, as they prepared for their parish’s 60th anniversary this Sunday.

After seeing the Monday story — which described the arrest of 36-year-old Rolando Giz for a similar crime at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Maywood — they planned to review surveillance video, Abel told the PILOT.

“We didn’t file a police report at first. We probably would have just totally ignored it,” he originally said Tuesday. “But after seeing your story, we’re investigating further.

“We gave our police chief a photo of the hanger,” said Abel, a retired 30-year veteran of the Port Authority at Newark Airport and a volunteer firefighter in town. “Now we want to look at the videotape.”

Rolando Giz (COURTESY: Maywood PD)

It wasn’t necessary, Saddle Brook Police Chief Robert Kugler said last night.

Giz “read your article knowing we were engaged in a follow-up investigation — and what could have been the eventual discovery of his involvement,” the chief told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “So he personally contacted Detective Capt. Vincent Laurentino and confessed to the St. Philip incident.”

All for $8 in singles, the chief said.

“As an active parishioner of the parish, I will pray for him and seek the forgiveness of our parishioners for his sins,” Kugler said, “with the caveat, of course, that he doesn’t do this again.”

RELATED:

Maywood PD: Man caught fishing cash out of church collection box

Saddle Brook church eyes accused Maywood collection box thief

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: More than three years of heart-rending anguish for loved ones of a Garfield woman slain by ex-con ex-boyfriend after he fled a Newark halfway house was released today during the plea-bargained sentencing of her killer to 45 years in prison.

Friends and loved ones of 21-year-old Viviana Tulli nodded their heads in the crowded Hackensack courtroom after Presiding Superior Court Liliana DeAvila-Silebbi told David Goodell that he must serve 43 years of the sentence before he is eligible for parole because of his criminal history.

Goodell, 34, also must pay $5,000 restitution to the Victims of Violent Crimes Compensation Board.

Family members placed photos of Viviana in view before the sentencing

Given the opportunity to speak, he sought leniency.

“I’m not asking for forgiveness. I just want a chance,” Goodell said.

DeAvila-Silebbi wasn’t offering any.

“You have no conscience, no remorse, no soul,” she told him.

Goodell seemed to prove it when, while being led out by Bergen County Sheriff’s officers, he looked in the direction of the Tulli family and shouted, “A-ha!”

A source with knowledge of the incident told CLIFFVIEW PILOT he laughed while riding the courthouse elevator to the jail transportation van.

Moments earlier, Tulli’s sister called Goodell “someone who does not belong among us, and yet he still breathes.”

“Viviana Tulli was young, she was beautiful, she was 21,” Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Wayne Mello told DeAvila-Silebi before she handed down the sentence. “And David Goodell took her life because he could — one more horror of tragedy, of domestic violence, of a man visiting violence on a woman, of a man’s hand on a woman’s throat, as he took the life and breath from her.

“I tremble to my very soul when I look in the eyes of her father.  As a father, I cannot imagine the pain that he and his dear beloved wife have suffered at the hands of a killer that has taken the child that Luz gave life to, that she and Carlos loved and protected.

“As I look into his eyes, he looks out into a darkness and says ‘Why, God?  Why could I not protect her from this evil’? The sad truth is: No man can.”

Out on parole, Goodell fled Logan Hall in Newark hours before he strangled “Vivi” Tulli and rammed her car head-on into a police cruiser in a Ridgefield cul-de-sac on Aug. 30,2010, her dead body still in the passenger seat, in what authorities called an attempt at suicide by cop.

The killing brought to light serious problems with New Jersey’s halfway house system, launching a battle between legislators and Gov. Christie over reforms.

Goodell had faked a seizure at the halfway house, was taken to a hospital and then fled when no one was looking.

Early the next morning, he was standing outside Tulli’s  car, parked in a lot at Ridgefield Park High School, when someone called police. Goodell was disoriented and covered in blood, the caller said.

Officers ended up chasing the car into Ridgefield, where the incident came to a horrifying end.

It was the sisters’ mother’s birthday that day. It was also the same day, in a tragic stroke of circumstance, that their father was laid off from his job.

Goodell previously spent less than half a year in Northern State Prison in Newark for assaulting a police officer and threatening to kill a woman he was dating. He was supposed to remain behind bars until December 2011 after he was sentenced by a Passaic County judge nearly four years ago.

Under state law, Goodell, of Clifton (and, previously, Ridgefield Park), could have been imprisoned for four years on each conviction. But he was paroled in February 2010, five months after serving what was originally a sentence of more than two years, records obtained by CLIFFVIEW PILOT show.

Sisters, Stella (l.), Viviana (PHOTO: Courtesy TULLI FAMILY)

Those with direct knowledge of the case told CLIFFVIEW PILOT they believed he’d be judged criminally insane. Things didn’t happen that way, however: Goodell pleaded guilty to murder in late June as part of a plea agreement, sparing the Tullis the torment of a trial.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in Trenton brought attention to Community Education Centers, a private company that operates most of the facilities in the state’s $100 million halfway house system.

After hearing from Stella Tulli (above, left and below, second photo), and other witnesses, the legislators introduced more than a dozen measures aimed at tightening regulations and contracts with the private companies in the system.

To this day, little has been done, however.

In a step welcomed by survivors and victim advocates, Christie in May 2011 repealed a state program that had let some convicts leave prison six months early, hours after legislators approved the move.

The previous program gave an earlier crack at parole to several ex-convicts who went on to commit more violent crimes — including Goodell.

The Parole Board now has discretion to wait three to 10 years following a denial, as well.

Many of those attending today’s sentencing held a steely resolve. At one point, Tulli’s husband reached over and rubbed her shoulders. The group was solemn, united in their determination to see justice finally done.

Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Wayne Mello (STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)

Public defender Francis Meehan asked the judge to view his client differently than they and Mello did.

“Many people here consider Mr. Goodell to be a monster because of the harm he has done, but I ask you to look at the other side, a person who never had a chance in life,” he told DeAvila-Silebbi. “Both his parents were addicts.  He never had a chance in life.  He left school in the 7th grade, and ended up on the street. He has been incarcerated for 10 of the last 15 years.

“He has been taking care of himself for a very long time, and that caused him to act out in an irrational fashion.”

Stella Tulli, in turn, called Goodell “a piece of garbage.”

“My heart has been ripped from my body, stabbed, stepped on, and shattered,” she said.

“After she was murdered I snuck down into the embalming room and lay with her on the table – held her hand, ran my fingers through her hair,” Tulli said. “I can never erase that image, the bruises on her face.

“Sometimes it is too painful to get out of bed …. The grief never ends …. Yet I still continue to fight for my sister.”

“This was not the first young woman he abused,” said Mello, the prosecutor in the case. “One of them said in the course of the investigation: ‘He will not stop until some girl is dead and he is behind bars for the rest of his life.’

“There is no sentence but the sentence of 45 years – and, truth be told, he wrote that sentence, and that will be his epitaph.”

DeAvila-Silebi agreed.

“Vivi” Tulli

“Domestic violence is rampant – many cases, many victims who die,” she said.

“I’m 100% if you were released today, you would have no qualms about killing another,” she told Goodell. “You’ve been incarcerated more than you’ve been out. But, also, I consider the seriousness of the prior offenses.  A lot of them were assaults – on police officers, women – robberies.

“There is an extreme need to deter you … and that’s the aggravating factor I put the most weight on – the need to deter,” the judge said.

“Viviana was trying to give you some love, some hope, some mercy – and the tragedy is you saw her as someone to be used as property, and not as a beautiful human being,” DeAvila-Silebi continued.

“I don’t accept for a moment that your hard life gives you license to do this.  There are many people who had a horrendous childhood and chose to be loving and giving people.  You have to choose to give love to others — and you chose not to.”
RELATED:

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Loved ones of murder and rape victims — several of them right here in our area — can finally begin to exhale now that Gov. Christie has repealed a state program that let some convicts leave prison six months early. The governor wasted no time, signing the “no early release” measure Monday within hours of the Legislature’s vote for final approval. READ MORE….

Viv’s headstone

EXCLUSIVE: Weeks from the first anniversary of Viviana Tulli’s murder, her headstone is finally in place, replacing a wooden cross sticking from the grave, thanks to a company that responded to a CLIFFVIEW PILOT bid for help. READ MORE ….

THE VICTIM’S SISTER’S STORY (ONLY ON CLIFFVIEW PILOT): My cellphone was vibrating. I wished my mom a “Happy Birthday” that morning and all seemed right. But as the hours passed, a feeling of uneasiness crept over me. So I answered. “The police called your father. They want us all to go to the police station,” Mom said. “Something happened to Vivi.” READ MORE ….

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A bloodied man who police believe had just strangled an ex-girlfriend drove her car head-on into a police cruiser with the woman’s body still in the passenger seat, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said. The lifeless body of 21-year-old Viviana Tulli of Saddle Brook was found in the car driven by David Goodell, 30, after the crash, he said. READ MORE….

EXCLUSIVE: Accused killer was paroled early after assaulting cops, making death threats …. READ MORE ….

WHAT WE THINK: David Goodell poked a hole in New Jersey’s less-than-secure system of halfway houses nearly two years ago: After slipping away, he strangled his ex-girlfriend before ramming her car into a police cruiser in Ridgefield. Yet it’s only now that anyone is demanding to know how this happened, and what can be done to keep future innocents from harm. READ MORE….

SHOUT OUT: What began 10 years ago as a walk to support individuals and families living with brain injury, has become something much bigger — both literally and figuratively.

Jane and Joe Concato of Westwood have followed a similar path. Jane wasn’t sure she could run a support group for those who, like her, sustained a brain injury. But Joe was pumped enough for both of them.

As a result, they continue to bring more participants and donors into the fold, many of whom will be involved with this year’s “Walk For Thought” on Sept. 28 at Saddle River County Park in Paramus.

Thousands from New Jersey have registered for or donated toward the walk, united by a single mission. Besides showing strength and success, the walk is a tribute to those who were lost to brain injury — or, like Jane, have foguth to overcome it.

Nearly 15,000 of 1.4 million people who sustain traumatic brain injuries each year are from New Jersey, according to the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey, which sponsors the walk.

About 175,000 New Jerseyans in all live with the disabilities these injuries cause.

“People know of brain injury,” primarily because of those that occur in football and military combat, Jane Concato said. “But many don’t understand what it means to have one or what it can do to a person’s life.”

Nor are many aware that the best “cure” for a brain injury is not having one in the first place. Accidents will happen, of course, but understanding risk factors plays a huge role.

WALK FOR THOUGHT
WHEN: Sat., Sept. 28 (rain or shine)
9 a.m. registration, 10 a.m. walk
WHERE: Saddle River County Park Dunkerhook Area – Pavilion D – North Trail, Paramus Road, Paramus

Concato was in a coma for three weeks after a fall at home eight years ago fractured her skull. She sustained aphasia — difficulty in finding the right words — and doctors told Joe his wife might never walk or speak again.

Although you couldn’t tell from talking with her, Jane needed six months of “cognitive rehabilitation” to get her mind fully funcitonal again, and still deals at times with unsteadiness, fatigue and vertigo. The former dental hygienist also needs medication to control seizures.

Still, she and her husband of 35 years facilitate meetings of the Brain Injury Support Group of Bergen County, which draw dozens to Englewood Hospital the third Monday of every month.

Jane also visits the Saddle Brook and West Orange facilities of the Kessler Institute with her effervescent service dog, Lucy, a small black collie.

One of the couple’s go-to resources is the Brain Injury Alliance of New Jersey, the only non-profit of its kind. Its mission is “to support and advocate for individuals affected by brain injury and raise public awareness through education and prevention.”

DONATE: Support Group Strollers
INFO (Jane & Joe Cancato): 201-666-2015 or jjconc@optonline.net

It directly assists those in need, while suppling information and resources that include a family help line, a browse-and-borrow library, brain injury training sessions, a summer camp known as TREK and other services and programs.

And it promotes self advocacy through a special committee, Council for the Head Injured Community, while maintaining an active legislative network to encourage advocacy on the behalf all affected by brain injury.

The Concatos’ “Support Group Strollers,” including a fellow outfit from Essex County, will participate in the one-mile walk. The event will include breakfast and lunch, as well as a host of activities for youngsters.

Besides raising money and awareness, this year’s march honors “those who have sustained brain injuries and cannot walk with us.”

The Brain Injury Alliance of New Jersey, Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization. Your contribution is tax deductible to the fullest extent allowable under the law. Personal information is required so that the Brain Injury Alliance of NJ may acknowledge your donation.

EXCLUSIVE REPORT: FBI agents captured a man wanted for robbing seven banks across four counties by tracing the getaway car from a holdup two days ago to his girlfriend – a now-former Saddle Brook “special” police officer, CLIFFVIEW PILOT has learned.

Authorities reviewing surveillance video spotted Jennifer Pinto’s Chevy Equinox leaving the Lusitania Savings Bank in Hillside moments after it was held up on Wednesday, a federal complaint says. Government agents then tracked it to her parents’ house in the township, a law enforcement source told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

“The FBI was tailing her when she pulled up to the house,” the source said. “Then they got out and detained her.”

Bank surveillance images, courtesy: FBI NEWARK FIELD OFFICE

The agents reported finding a black toy gun and shirts that appear to match those that they said Pinto’s 32-year-old boyfriend, Andrew Thomas, was seen wearing in bank surveillance images.

Pinto, who has an 8-month-old child with Thomas, was brought in for questioning, according to an FBI complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark.

She, in turn, fingered Thomas for seven holdups and one botched attempt over the past 10 months, while confessing to driving the getaway car in two of them, federal authorities said. Thomas surrendered later that day and confessed, as well, they said.

FBI agents charged him with eight counts of bank robbery and Pinto with two counts of conspiracy for being his alleged wheelwoman. Thomas remained held without bail following an initial appearance in federal court in Newark. Pinto, who the FBI said had been living with him in Newark, was released on a $100,000 bond.

Local police told CLIFFVIEW PILOT that they couldn’t address any aspect of what is a federal investigation. They confirmed, however, that Pinto – who grew up in town and was graduated from Saddle Brook High School — has resigned her position as a special officer after three years.

Federal authorities said Thomas pulled in nearly $50,000 during the holdup spree. He often wore the same clothes and used the same method, walking briskly to the bank counter, demanding money, and then marching out with the cash, their complaint says.

“Give me all your large!” the robber shouted in one holdup, according to the FBI complaint. “Fill it up!” he yelled in another.

All but once, he pointed what appeared to be a black handgun, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said yesterday.

Federal agents were certain that they were pursuing a serial bandit: Surveillance images from various holdups clearly show his face. Last month, the FBI released some of those photos in an attempt to identify him.

PUBLIC SAFETY: Cold, hard facts show why children must be safely buckled in whenever you drive somewhere, no matter how far you go — a message that’s being reinforced during national “Child Passenger Safety Week,” which began today.

In order:

More children under 13 die in motor-vehicle crashes than from nearly any other cause;

Two-thirds of them are between 4 and 12;

Three of every four children aren’t properly restrained in vehicles.

Used properly, car seats reduce the risk of fatal injury by 71% for infants and 54% for toddlers in cars, and 58% and 59% for infants and toddlers in SUVs, pickups and vans.

Contrary to what you might think, the risks increase as they grow older.

“Many parents and caregivers move their children out of the best restraint type too soon,” said national Division of Highway Traffic Safety Acting Director Gary Poedubicky.

Certified child passenger safety technicians are available at local sites across New Jersey to provide car seat inspections to parents and caregivers this week.
Hands-on advice and instruction are also given on how to choose the right car seat and use it correctly.

TO FIND OUT MORE: CPS Week (NHTSA)

“This week, it is vital for everyone [who] drives a child in a motor vehicle to take the time to understand what it really means to have that child properly restrained in their seat,” Poedubicky said.

“I am urging everybody to review the instructions for their car seats or booster seats,” he added. “If you are unsure or have any questions, go to one of our events and learn from a certified child passenger safety technician. There can be no shortcuts taken with this precious cargo.”

New Jersey law requires children under 8 who weigh less than 80 pounds to ride properly secured in a child safety seat or booster in the back seat.

If there is no rear seat, the child may sit in front — but must be secured by a child safety seat or booster seat.

A rear-facing infant seat should never be placed in a front seat with a passenger-side airbag unless that airbag is switched off.

“Proper use of car seats, booster seats and seat belts will help decrease the number of deaths and injuries occurring on New Jersey’s roadways,” Poedubicky said.

Here are some tips:

• Select a car seat based on your child’s age and size, and choose a seat that fits in your vehicle and use it every time;

• Always refer to your specific car seat manufacturer’s instructions; read the vehicle owner’s manual on how to install the car seat using the seat belt or LATCH system; and check height and weight limits;
• To maximize safety, keep your child in the car seat for as long as possible, as long as the child fits within the manufacturer’s height and weight requirements;

• Keep your child in the back seat at least through age 12.

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A loud boom followed by a momentary loss of electricity rocked Ridgewood tonight after a manhole cover blew.

Authorities were trying to determine the cause of the 7 p.m. blast, which shook business owners, customers and church goers tonight in the area of Prospect and Dayton Streets.

Police and firefighters responded after receiving several calls and found the blown manhole cover in front of 11 Prospect Street.

Firefightes checked the basements of several nearby buildings and found a light smoke condition at 54 East Ridgewood Avenue. They ventilated the basement, as per procedure.

No injuries or damage were reported, even though an unoccupied Ford Escape was parked within a foot of the manhole.

A PSE&G crew was on the scene before 8 p.m.

East Ridgewood Avenue was closed between Oak and South Broad Streets, and Prospect Street was closed between East Ridgewood Avenue and Dayton Street while they worked.

STORY / PHOTOS: Boyd A. Loving

SHOUT OUT: The first annual END DWI Walk of Remembrance, dedicated to reminding people about the dangers and potential hearbreak of drunk driving while raising funds for the group’s mission, is scheduled at Van Saun Park in Paramus on Sunday, Sept. 29.

“Every step taken by those who participate is for someone who can no longer take that step as a result of a totally preventable tragedy — a drunk-driving incident,” said Bogota Police Chief John Burke, a member of END DWI’s Board of Directors.

The event will include a ceremony at the END DWI Memorial Tree Grove, where trees are planted and bricks placed along the path in honor of drunk-driving victims.

You can donate or start your own walking team by clicking this image:

“END DWI has been the leading organization in Bergen County to make their mission to eradicate drunk driving incidents so that there will be no further victims,” Burke said. “Please support them in their efforts in raising awareness and generating resources to keep their mission and message alive.

“Any support you muster will go a long way,” the chief said.

WHAT: END DWI Walk of Remembrance
WHEN: Sun., Sept. 29 (registration, refreshments: 8‐10 a.m.; ceremony, walk: 10 a.m.)
WHERE: Memorial Tree Grove, Van Saun Park, 216 Forest Avenue, Paramus

(Participants raising a minimum of $25 will receive a “Walk of Remembrance” t-shirt at the event.)

FOR MORE: info@enddwi.org

When Dr. Ira Klemons decided to devote his life to eliminating headaches and facial pain four decades ago, he couldn’t have imagined that nearly 38 million Americans would later be found to be sufferers.

At the time, the most common approach involved medications, all of which have side effects, and surgery, which carries its own risks.

Klemons has built a different approach at the Center for Headaches and Facial Pain. It’s brought relief to tens of thousands of patients – many of them police, firefighters and other emergency responders who have come in with headaches, migraines, face pain, jaw pain, ear pain, eye pain dizziness, tinnitus, throat pain and twitching, among other ailments, he says.

It’s also bought him an enormous number of personal and professional accolades. Among them is ae Safe Cop Achievement Award from the National Police Defense Foundation’s State Troopers Coalition.

With his knowledge of orthopedics of the head and face, a comprehensive understanding of jaw function and decades of experience, Klemons has managed to “alleviate pain even in highly complex cases involving patients who previously suffered for as long as 60 years.”

Treatment at his South Amboy-based center involves painless procedures that help stimulate muscles and joints to function normally, decrease spasms, remove toxic waste products and increase blood flow and nutrition to the affected areas.

Therapies include low-current electric stimulation to reduce muscle spasm and stimulate healing, ultrasound for deep tissue heating, moist heat, and cold therapy, as well as a variety of removable orthopedic appliances.

“I knew I made the right choice when patients began telling me that we gave them back their lives,” Klemons said. “It became even more exciting when people began traveling here from every continent around the world and almost every state in the U.S.A.

“I could not be happier that I have been given the privilege to help so many people from around the world.”

As Klemons explains it: Headaches and face pain are nearly always a result of an injury or dysfunction involving muscles, ligaments or joints.

Most involve muscle contraction and spasm, producing pain in the head, face, neck, in or around the eyes, ears and throat, as well as difficulty swallowing, blurring vision and dizziness. The most common symptom is a chronic, severe headache.

The Center for Headaches and Facial Pain aims to discover the cause, help patients heal and eliminate the need for drugs.

For those who cannot find an answer from family physicians, neurologists, ear, nose and throat specialists, or pain-management specialists, “the probability is more than 90% that the pain and other symptoms will be gone when we complete treatment,” Klemons said.

WATCH HIS VIDEO:

The volume of testimonials attests to the program’s effectiveness.

“I had pain in my head, face, and behind my eye that I couldn’t even understand because I never had anything like it before,” one patient said. “I was so dizzy that I could hardly function. I spent most of my day in a confused, diminished state and lost so much productivity and wondered whether I was crazy or lazy. Every day I had to lay down and nap for several hours.

“Now that the pain is gone, I’m able to do so much,” she added. “When I see new patients in the reception room, I just want to tell them: ‘It’s going to be ok!’ ”

(SEE MORE TESTIMONIALS BELOW)

Klemons said his center has helped thousands of others eliminate (click on the one that applies to you or your loved one):

Headaches/Migraines
Face Pain
Jaw Pain/TMJ Pain
Eye Pain
Ear Pain
Sinus Headaches
Dizziness
Difficulty Swallowing
Frequent Sore Throats

Adverse reactions from drugs and various device reactions create huge risks in treating those conditions.  Only half of newly discovered side-effects are made public within seven years of drug approval, Kemons noted.

“In other words, the fact that a medication has been used for many years does not automatically make it safe,” he said.

“That’s not to say that we disagree with the use of medication. We prescribe them too,” Klemons said. “However, they should be used for short periods while awaiting healing and not as a means of covering-up the problem.”

Klemons’ patients have come from:
The Center for Headaches and Facial Pain accepts referrals from physicians and other professionals but will also see individuals who come in on their own. The office, Klemons said, is “large, comfortable and modern,” with a staff of 30 professionals, including three additional physicians.

Among many other distinctions, he said, the center has been approved by the U.S. government to provide advanced training to physicians and dentists in head and facial pain and TM joint disorders.

While noting that the center’s approach “dramatically reduces the overall cost of diagnosis and treatment,” Klemons said, “we are particularly attuned to refer to other types of doctors in cases where we believe that the patient will benefit from treatment elsewhere.”

Klemons holds two doctorates, including the first in the world in the diagnosis and treatment of headaches, facial pain, and related problems. He has lectured at medical schools and hospitals worldwide, appeared on national television and radio interviews, and completed 5,000 or so hours of post-graduate courses involving treatment of headaches and facial pain.

Klemons also has published various articles on head and facial pain in medical journals and been elected president or other officer of several professional organizations involving the treatment of head and facial.

He has practiced in Appalachia and in some of the United States’ most depressed urban slums, and traveled to the Himalayan Mountains to treat needy Tibetan villagers, creating a makeshift clinic with an operating table made of wooden planks and instruments sterilized in huge pots of boiling water.

The Medical Society of New Jersey has designated Kemons an impartial medical expert in head and facial pain and TM joint disorders for the New Jersey Courts. The New Jersey State Senate also has cited him for an “outstanding record of professional excellence and praiseworthy service to others.”

Klemons, a lifetime member of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers PBA, will be honored with a Safe Cop Achievement Award by the NPDF’s State Troopers Coalition at its Oct. dinner at the Venetian in Garfield. For tickets and/or information, CLICK HERE: 2013 NPDF State Trooper Coalition Dinner

Click here for: MORE TESTIMONIALS

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A judge in Hackensack ruled today that she has no conflict in presiding over the case of a man accused of plotting to kill a former colleague of hers in the county prosecutor’s office after being arrested and jail on charges of plotting a series of Bergen synagogue firebombings.

“I am not going to recuse myself,” Presiding Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi told defense attorney Brian Neary.

The only time she has contact with the assistant prosecutor, Martin Delaney, “is when he appears in court,” the judge said during Aakash Dalal’s arraignment on charges of conspiring from his jail cell to murder Delaney.

CLIFFVIEW PILOT also has learned that arson arson charges pending against Dalal out of in Middlesex County — where authorities said he conspired to burn down an ROTC office on Rutgers campus — were downgraded to disorderly persons offenses.

Although Delaney was the original prosecutor in the Bergen synagogue arsons, the case is now being handled by a trio of senior staffers led by First Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor John Higgins.

Neary claimed an “appearance of impropriety” made it necessary for him to seek a change of venue in the case last week and seek to force the entire prosecutor’s office to recuse itself from the arson trial.

“I know it’s only an arraignment,” the defense attorney added, but he asked DeAvila-Silebi to show “an abundance of caution” by sending today’s proceeding to another judge.

Neary argued that DeAvila-Silebi and Delaney have a personal association from their respective “distinguished histories” as prosecutors in Bergen.

Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Daniel Keitel countered, “The fact a judge knows a victim in a case is no excuse [for recusal].  Many judges in this building do know Assistant Prosecutor Martin Delaney, and it is no excuse to disqualify yourself.”

Keitel it “would be an entirely different matter” if jurors knew him.

Neary also hopes to have his client tried separately from Anthony Graziano, who prosecutors said carried out the bombings in December 2011 and January 2012 under Dalal’s tulelage.

DeAvila-Silebi set Nov. 4 for Dalal to be back before her on the murder conspiracy indictment. Superior Court Judge Edward Jerejian is scheduled to rule on the change of venue motion Sept. 27, the same day Graziano is due back in court.

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