Dec. 3, 2014 Edition of The Observer

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December 3, 2014 • www.theobserver.com • Vol CXXVII, No. 28

COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD

Cops not charged in shooting

High stakes lottery

By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent BELLEVILLE – An Essex County grand jury has voted not to bring criminal charges against any of the Belleville police officers involved in the fatal shooting of a local man in his residence some 16 months ago, The Observer has learned. “Just like the case in the Mid-West [Ferguson, Mo.] the grand jurors don’t believe there is sufficient evidence for a criminal indictment,” said New York attorney Marc Bengualid, representing Judy Breton, the widow of the victim, Dante Cespedes in a civil suit. Cespedes, 40, was fatally shot July 9, 2013, in the living room of the couple’s Lake St. apartment by members of the Belleville Police Department who, police say, had responded to a domestic violence report. Following the incident and an investigation, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said that Cespedes allegedly approached police officers with at least two knives and that the officers fired in selfdefense. In a tort claim notice filed in September 2013 against the township, the Belleville Police Department and Officers Matthew Dox, Charles Mollineaux, Angelo Quinn and a “John Doe,” Bengualid said that see JURY page

• EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY

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Photo by Ron Leir

Realtor Dan Ritchey Jr. (l.), Housing Authority Chairman/Councilman Laurence Bennett (c.) and Mayor James Fife take turns drawing names of lottery applicants at Harrison Town Hall last Friday.

By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent HARRISON –

C

lose to 150 folks have entered a special lottery which – if they’re

senior citizen apartment building.” A certificate of occupancy for the three-story building at 774 Harrison Ave. was issued by the town’s Construction Code unit last Tuesday, said John Westervelt, CEO

winners – will, literally, change their lives. They’re in the running for 15 one-room apartments at the Harrison Senior Residence, what’s been billed as the town’s “first affordable

Big bill to rid borough of sex suit By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent

EAST NEWARK – East Newark has agreed to pay a former civilian police dispatcher $101,000 to settle a sexual harassment suit filed against a borough police superior who also served as the

borough’s volunteer fire chief. Additionally, through its public liability insurance coverage, the borough has also consented to pay the ex-employee’s lawyers more than $90,000 in fees and costs in connection with the processing of claims against her former employers.

Borough Attorney Neil Marotta said the cop continues to be employed by the borough. But he has agreed to a voluntary demotion, from sergeant to police officer, according to court papers. He hasn’t been criminally charged. An amended complaint

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of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark and president of the Domus, its housing construction arm and sponsor of the Harrison structure. see LOTTERY page

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filed in August 2013 in Hudson County Superior Court by the Whippany law firm of Foreman & Gray alleged that its client was a victim of a “sexually hostile and abuse environment” during her employment as a dispatcher. see SETTLEMENT page

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