The Year's Top Police and Fire Stories
A top-5 rundown of the biggest police and fire incidents in Montville this past year.
Montville Police and Fire departments had their hands full this past year. Here are the top five biggest police and fire stories from the last year:
Police investigated five separate instances of anti-Semitic vandalism in November. According to reports, police were notified about several swastikas spray painted in Community Park and Rachel Gardens on Nov. 13. A police investigation lead to two area teenagers being charged with 10 counts of criminal mischief, including one count of fourth-degree mischief around Dec. 2.
A three-alarm, late-night fire resulted in a house being burnt down on Tara Lane on Aug. 31. No serious injured resulted from the fire, though Montville resident Erika Pineda-Ghanny and her family were displaced from the destruction. An online fund-raising effort, spearheaded by friends of Pineda-Ghanny, was started two days after the fire, raising of over $5,000. Investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.
An armed-robbery occurred at the Pine Brook Bank of America on Route 46 on Aug. 2. According to FBI reports, the suspect walked into the bank with a large black gun, demanded money from a teller, and left the bank on foot. An investigation by the FBI, County and local officials lead to the arrest of Nathaniel Barreto and Juan Perez. The two are suspected to be involved with a string of bank robberies across the state earlier this summer, including the Pine Brook incident.
Former Montville resident Michael Yodice, 22, was charged with aggravated manslaughter, vehicular homicide, robbery and eluding an officer in connection with a robbery at the 7-Eleven in Pine Brook on Sept. 9. According to an affidavit filed by the Montville Police Department, Yodice and former resident Christopher Vielee tried to evade police on a motorcycle leaving the scene of the crime when Yodice lost control of the motorcycle and crashed, resulting in Vielee's death on the scene.
T.J. Sefcik, 16, was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer while walking on Interstate 287 on Dec. 1. According to State Police, a driver operating a 2006 tractor trailer traveling northbound in the right lane struck Sefcik, near the 47.3 mile marker in Montville. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Since the event, several tributes and memorials have been performed throughout the town, including a memorial on I-287.
sandy ellis
5:42 pm on Thursday, December 30, 2010
interested in knowing what is happening in town. Well written