The robbery is similar to one police say was committed in the city several days before.

NEWARK -- A city woman has been arrested on charges that she duped an acquaintance into letting her inside her Newark home, only to rob her at gunpoint.

Gause was arrested in the area of Central Avenue and 9th Street Wednesday, police said. (Courtesy Newark Police)
 

According to police, a 51-year-old woman let Cassandra Gause, 53, into her South 6th Street home at about 10:40 p.m. on Dec. 28. The two had previously known each other, police said.

Though Gause appeared to be alone, police said she was immediately followed into the house by two men. The three, who police say were carrying guns, allegedly robbed the woman and her guests of cash, cell phones, video game systems, a laptop and other items, police said.

Gause was arrested Wednesday morning on robbery and conspiracy charges, authorities said.

The case is strikingly similar to another on Littleton Avenue on Dec. 26, in which a man was allowed to enter a friend's home. He was then allegedly followed by another man, and the two robbed the victims inside, police said. Authorities made an arrest in that case Wednesday morning as well, police said.

Police said there is "no indication" that the two incidents are related, but both incidents are still under investigation.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

A man was visiting his son when he got into an argument with his ex's new boyfriend over a dog, police say.

BLOOMFIELD -- Police have arrested a Belleville man who they say beat up his ex's new boyfriend with a baseball bat after the two got into an argument about the man's dog.

According to Bloomfield police, Willie Brooks, 32, was visiting his son at his ex partners's house on Dec. 29 when he heard the woman's 33-year-old boyfriend make "derogatory" comments about Brooks' dog.

Brooks admitted to hitting the man in the arm and head with a baseball bat after hearing the comments, authorities said.

The man suffered bruising and swelling from the beating, police said.

Brooks was arrested on aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a weapon charges, and was released after posting bail, police said.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Boy, 17, faces weapons charges.

NEWARK -- A 17-year-old boy was arrested after officials discovered a loaded handgun in his locker at the Paulo Freire Charter High School Wednesday in the city, police said.

The Newark teen, whose name was not released because of his age, was charged with weapons offenses and sent to the Essex County Juvenile Detention facility, according to city Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose.

School officials found the .380 pistol in the student's locker during a routine inspection around 10 a.m. and removed the teen from a classroom until city police arrived at the Burnet Street school, Ambrose added.

A school representative could not be immediately reached Wednesday.

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc and on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The leader of the People's Organization for Progress says Trump's cabinet picks pose a threat to 50 years of progress on civil rights

NEWARK -- A New Jersey civil rights group is calling on "all people of goodwill" to join in a march in Newark on Dr. Martin Luther King Day, following the election of Donald Trump as president.

"Attempts to eradicate the gains of the Civil Rights Movement have been ongoing for the past 50 years," Lawrence Hamm, chairman of the People's Organization for Progress, said in a statement. "We expect an acceleration and intensification of this effort during the administration of President Donald Trump."
 
The group will lead a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. March & Rally For Equality, Justice, Peace, & Democracy on Sunday, Jan. 15, five days before Trump is sworn in as the nation's 45th president.

The march will kick off at 2:00 p.m., at the Martin Luther King Statue, in front of the Essex County Hall of Records, 465 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. in Newark.

"Our march on Dr King's birthday is a clarion call to all people of goodwill that it is time for us to organize and mobilize like never before for the fight that will take place during the dark days ahead," Hamm stated.

"The people that President-Elect Trump has already appointed to his cabinet show us that they are intent on not just eliminating the gains of the Civil Rights Movement, but they want to roll back the 75 years of social progress since the New Deal," Hamm added.

The announcement of the march came a day after the national president of the NAACP, Cornell Brooks, was arrested with others during sit-in at the Mobile, AL, office of U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Alabama Republican who is Trump's choice for attorney general.

Hamm's concerns echoed those of Brooks, who, according to the Associated Press, criticized Sessions' prosecution of African-American voting rights activists while he was a U.S. attorney in Alabama, and raised concerns about immigration policies under Trump, the future of the Voting Rights Act, and other concerns.

The AP quoted a spokeswoman for Sessions as saying he had devoted his life to, "upholding the law, ensuring public safety and prosecuting government corruption."

"Many African-American leaders who've known him for decades attest to this and have welcomed his nomination to be the next Attorney General," the spokeswoman, Sarah Isgur Flores, was quoted as saying. 

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Trying to save money on health care costs, Newark looks toward self-insurance plan.

NEWARK - The city council will decide Thursday whether to contract a Jersey City-based health insurance broker for $195,000 to oversee benefits for Newark's 3,300 employees.

Business Administrator Jack Kelly said the move was key in transitioning the city to a self-insured health plan that would save about 10 percent on the city's $105 million in health care costs. Health care costs make up about 16 percent of the city's $650 million budget, he added.

"Many people will tell you in the industry because you have so many employees that you're covering, you should self-insure and assume that risk yourself," Kelly said.

The council will decide whether to approve a one-year contract for Frenkel Benefits, LLC. The city previously contracted Brown & Brown as its health insurance broker.

During a pre-meeting conference Wednesday Mayor Ras Baraka pushed his self-insurance plan before the council.

"It's not a problem you created, a problem we created, it's a problem that we have," Baraka said of rising health care costs. "We have to save money on health care and I need the council's help to make it happen."

Under a self-insured health care plan, the employer, in this case the city, assumes financial risk for providing benefits to its workers.

The council will meet Thursday at 12:30 p.m. on the second floor of City Hall at 920 Broad Street.

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook. 

The new year brings a new installment of our monthly series, "This Month in New Jersey History." This gallery, which supplements our Glimpse of History feature as well as our regular vintage photo galleries, offers a snapshot of significant events and important people in Garden State history. New Jersey is among the select few states that have noteworthy historical...

The new year brings a new installment of our monthly series, "This Month in New Jersey History."

This gallery, which supplements our Glimpse of History feature as well as our regular vintage photo galleries, offers a snapshot of significant events and important people in Garden State history.

New Jersey is among the select few states that have noteworthy historical events dating back almost 400 years. But history doesn't necessarily have to mean "long ago;" many important events have taken place in the Garden State in recent times as well.

MORE: Vintage photos around New Jersey

If there are dates you don't see on our timeline but believe should be remembered, let us know in the comments section.

And, be sure to enable captions for the gallery so you can read all the information associated with each day in New Jersey history.

Here are links to previous "This month in N.J. history" galleries:

December          November          October

September          August              July

Greg Hatala may be reached at ghatala@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregHatala. Find The Star-Ledger on Facebook.

For nearly 30 years, New Jersey's Urban Enterprise Zone program has served as an equalizer - allowing cities to compete for business with their richer suburban counterparts by way of reduced sales taxes, a break on energy taxes and a subsidy for unemployment insurance.

It's a harsh reality that New Jersey's largest cities - Trenton among them - suffer from near-insurmountable woes.

For nearly 30 years, the state's Urban Enterprise Zone program has served as an equalizer of sorts, allowing cities to compete for business with their richer suburban counterparts by way of reduced sales taxes, a break on energy taxes and a subsidy for unemployment insurance, among other benefits.

The New Jersey League of Municipalities calls the UEZ designation "a vital tool in the tool kit of local leaders, working to bring their communities back from decades of decline ..."

As of Dec. 31, make that one less tool in the toolbox.

It has been reported this week that Gov. Chris Christie has opted not to act on a measure he received from the Legislature seeking to save the program temporarily.

Among other things, his move - or lack of one - essentially doubles the sales-tax rate not only in Trenton, but also in Bridgeton, Camden, Newark and Plainfield.

5 N.J. cities see sales tax hike as Christie sits on bill

The news comes as a body blow to owners of the 900 local business owners who have signed on to the program in the state's Capitol City, spanning a 2.5-mile area in the heart of our commercial and industrial area.

After its 1986 debut in the first five cities, the UEZ branched out to additional communities: a total of 32 designated enterprise zones ultimately covering 37 different municipalities.

As originally crafted, the UEZ designation was set to expire after 20 years. But in 2001, the Legislature voted to allow a one-time extension for another 16 years.

Last year, the Legislature sent Christie a bill asking for another 10-year extension. A conditional veto came back. Lawmakers countered with what they saw as a compromise: temporary renewal for the five original cities, plus an executive-branch study, as requested by Christie, to explore other programs to boost UEZ communities.

As of now, no word from our governor.

Over the years, the incentives offered by the UEZ designations have shown to be powerful economic-development drivers in regions that could most benefit from them.

They have offered participating businesses free marketing services and networking opportunities, amenities that likely spelled the difference between survival and failure.

As importantly, the League of Municipalities points out, they have created employment opportunities for city residents, with participating businesses representing an important component of a city's tax base.

"The closing or the relocation of these businesses would result in increased burdens on the remaining taxpayers," the league points out in a recent statement.

As NJSpotlight notes, since the governor has not met with the State House press corps for month, it's anybody's guess where he intends to go with this.

What is clear, however, is that scrapping an initiative that gives a hand up to businesses trying to make a go in our most distressed areas makes for questionable policy.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.

Which N.J. natives put in the best performances of the postseason?

The suit alleges that a group of New Jersey lawyers are filing bogus lawsuits against collections agencies.

TRENTON -- It's shaping up to be a battle royale between members of some of the least popular professions in New Jersey.

The lawsuit was filed in December. (File photo)
 

A Bergen County collections agency has filed a class action lawsuit against five lawyers who it claims are running a racketeering scheme targeting collections agencies. The lawsuit, filed in December in the U.S. District Court in Trenton, claims that the attorneys file bogus class action suits against the collections companies, knowing that the companies will be forced to settle the claims quickly for less than it would cost them to go through the judiciary process.

According to the complaint, the title plaintiff, Jeffrey A. Winters of Hackensack-based Collection Solutions, Inc., was a victim of the alleged scheme, having settled a baseless case in September 2016 for $12,000, far less than it would have cost the company to fight and win a lawsuit.

The suit claims that the attorneys - Joseph K. Jones and Benjamin J. Wolf, of the Fairfield-based firm Jones, Wolf, & Kapasi, LLC, Laura Mann of Law Office of Laura Mann, LLC in Riverdale, and Ari H. Marcus and Yitzchak Zelman of Ocean Township's Marcus & Zelman, LLC - have been running a "Mafia style racketeering enterprise" since 2013.

Detention facility workers get $4.8M settlement 

According to the company's attorney, David Hoffman, the group has filed more than 50 federal class action lawsuits over the past two years. On average, he said, they settle them for just attorneys' fees, at an average of about $50,000 per case. Hoffman said he anticipates having as many as 500 plaintiffs sign onto the class action suit, and will seek about $50,000 in damages for each one.

The suit also alleges that the lawyers use a rotating cast of "professional plaintiffs" to file the suits, which it says target creditors, and any other agencies that send out collections notices.

Those suits, Hoffman says, violate the state and federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Acts, or RICO Acts.

In a statement to NJ Advance Media, Meredith Kaplan Stoma, the attorney representing Marcus and Zelman, called the accusations in the suit "completely frivolous."

"Advocates who use the Fair Debt Collection Act to protect consumers from overzealous debt-collectors are doing a public service and acting within the law. It's the height of hypocrisy for debt-collectors to claim they are the ones being harassed," she said.

Robert Modica, who represents Jones and Wolf, also called the suit "frivolous." Stoma said the attorneys are asking the court to dismiss the suit and sanction the plaintiffs.

The attorney representing Mann did not return a request for comment Wednesday.

The dispute between the two groups, Hoffman said in a phone interview, is what he called an abuse of the legal system that he believes is happening all over the country.

"In this case, the numbers are just astounding," Hoffman said. Though the individual settlement amounts are relatively small, he argues, they are masking "a large-scale scam."

Two new teams join the NJ.com Top 20 for Jan. 5

A woman and her husband, an ex-Bayonne cop, filed a false application to get federal funds intended for low-income people. He pleaded guilty to beating a handcuffed man with a flashlight.

A Bayonne woman was sentenced to one year probation for her part in a scheme to fraudulently obtain a $20,000 federal housing loan. (NJ Advance Media file photo) 

NEWARK -- The wife of an ex-Bayonne police officer who beat a handcuffed man was sentenced today to one year of probation for her part in a scheme to illegally obtain a $20,000 federal housing loan.

Rose Lillo fought back tears as she apologized to U.S District Court Judge Kevin McNulty and pleaded to be allowed to stay with her family.

"I have never asked anyone for anything in my 45 years," Lillo said. "My husband and my daughter are my life," she said.

Earlier this year, Lillo, the wife of ex-Bayonne police officer Domenico Lillo, admitted that she helped make a to false application to obtain U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funds.

In April 2012, Rose Lillo and her husband helped a relative file a loan application with Bayonne's Department of Community Development, an agency that receives federal money, authorities say.

They said the application falsely claimed the relative, who had Social Security and pension income of $24,985 annually, would be the sole resident of a house they purchased on West 49th Street. The relative's income level made him eligible for the federal loan, authorities said.

The Lillos moved into the newly purchased home, while the relative remained in the couple's prior home.

In court Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacques Pierre told McNulty this was one of several cases in a larger investigation of the Department of Community Development.

"Rose Lillo was one of the homeowners that got caught up in it," Pierre said.

Lillo's attorney, Stacy Ann Biancamano, said this was her client's first criminal offense and that she had suffered several significant emotional hardships.

"She has leaned a valuable lesson," Biancamano said.

Lillo was a clerk in the city of Bayonne's Building Department as of February 2015 but according to city records from earlier this year, she no longer works for the city.

McNulty said the theft of federal funds intended to help low income people was a serious crime.

However, he noted that Lillo had paid back the money and said he believed she was sincerely remorseful. McNulty said he would not impose a fine because Lillo lacked financial resources.

Domenico Lillo has also pleaded guilty to helping illegally obtain the $20,000 loan intended for low- to moderate-income residents.

Separately, he pleaded guilty to striking a man with a flashlight while the man was handcuffed during a 2013 arrest.

Domenico Lillo is scheduled to be sentenced for both of those cases in federal court on Friday.

Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_HaydonSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Fire reported Thursday afternoon.

CEDAR GROVE -- Firefighters battled a blaze at a Woodmere Road home Thursday afternoon in the township.

Several fire departments from nearby communities also responded to assist town crews. The flames appeared to be largely out by around 12:30 p.m.

Officials were not immediately available to provide information on the blaze, including if there were any injuries or what sparked the fire.

The same house was the scene of a killing Jan. 11, 2008. Stanton Popewiny, Jr. pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in the bludgeoning death of his grandfather at the residence.

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc and on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Several displaced by Broadway fire. Watch video

NEWARK -- Firefighters battled two blazes within less than 24 hours in the city, Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said Thursday.

The first fire was reported around 11:40 a.m. Wednesday at a Broadway building that housed the El Merengue Restaurant on the first floor with apartments on the upper levels, according to Ambrose.

Firefighters found the bulk of the fire was in the restaurant's ventilation system and had spread to the second floor, the director added.

Four people from that building requested assistance from the Red Cross, which provided temporary lodging for the building's occupants, officials said. Responders declared the fire under control shortly before noon.

Fire crews also responded to a second blaze around 5 a.m. Thursday at a vacant three-story American Legion hall on Elizabeth Avenue. The blaze was brought under control around 6:30 a.m.

Video posted on YouTube from the Elizabeth Avenue fire showed flames on the top floor of the building. 

No serious injuries were reported in the fires, which were both under investigation by the city's fire division and Essex County Prosecutor's Office.

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc and on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The strain showed its presence in much of the state the week before Christmas.

High levels of the flu are now showing up in three of the five New Jersey regions monitored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Flu rates are high in the northeast section of the state, as well as in a broad swath across the state's midsection.

During the closing week of 2016, Monmouth County had the most number of positive flu tests, followed by Essex, Bergen, and Ocean counties.

Five counties - Cumberland, Salem, Somerset, Union, and Warren - had not yet had any cases that tested positive for flu. However, health officials say most people who have the flu are never formally tested for the virus.

Illness reports are at a moderate level in the northwest counties, as well as in the southern half of the state, according to figures collected by the N.J. Department of Health

This year's major flu strain is hitting its victims hard, unlike the milder versions that circulated in previous years, said Gary Munk, director of Clinical Virology at Hackensack University Medical Center.

"It's the classic textbook influenza, with high fever, chills, sore throat, headaches, fatigue," he said. "You don't want to get out of bed."

The most prevalent strain among those cases that were tested is the H3N2 strain of the influenza A type.

Munk looked at last year's numbers for comparison and found that while the hospital saw just five cases of flu during the final six weeks of 2015, it saw 72 cases during a comparable period at the close of 2016.

The H3N2 strain is included in the four types targeted by this year's flu vaccine. That means a flu shot is likely to be more effective against prevailing illnesses than during the winter of 2014-15, when it did not include the H3N2 strain.

The "swine flu" epidemic of 2009 was a strain that actually produced relatively light symptoms, Munk said, leading some people to conclude the flu isn't really all that bad, and therefore getting vaccinated isn't really necessary.

That attitude is now changing, he said.

"People were reluctant to get vaccinated because they weren't really seeing classic influenza," he said. "Now they're running to get vaccinated, because it's really not something you want to get."

The swine flu strain was also unusual because it had been around three decades earlier than the 2009 outbreak. That meant many Baby Boomers and older people had some residual immunity to it, so weren't hit hard by the pandemic.

This current H3N2, however, is hitting the vulnerable age groups that "bookend" the population - the elderly, and the very young. Infants are vulnerable because many aren't vaccinated, while the elderly are vulnerable simply because of their age.

In addition, even seniors who have been vaccinated could still get the flu if their immune system is sluggish enough to prevent a robust response to the vaccine. "So we want to be careful and watch them" he said.

During the closing week of 2016, Monmouth County had the most number of positive flu tests, followed by Essex, Bergen, and Ocean counties.

Five counties - Cumberland, Salem, Somerset, Union, and Warren - had not yet had any cases that tested positive for flu. However, health officials say most people who have the flu are never formally tested for the virus.

Now the change in the weather away from unusually warm winter days is only going to accelerate the spread of the flu, Munk predicted.

"It's just going to escalate, because it's getting colder, and we'll be indoors more," he said.

Kathleen O'Brien may be reached at kobrien@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @OBrienLedger. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The suit against a United Airlines contractor is part of a broader effort by a union to organize and improve pay and conditions for cabin cleaners and others at Newark Liberty International Airport

NEWARK -- Aircraft cabin cleaners at Newark Liberty International Airport have filed a class action lawsuit against the United Airlines contractor that employs them, asserting they've been docked pay for lunch breaks they never took and otherwise cheated out of wages.

The suit, filed in state Superior Court in Newark, seeks class status for 340 employees of PrimeFlight Aviation Services, a Nashville-based company with more than 4,000 employees nationwide. PrimeFlight contracts with United to clean the carrier's jets and perform other ground-support work at Newark Liberty, where United accounts for three quarters of all flights.

The suit was announced this week by Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, which has been waging a campaign to organize workers at Newark Liberty while pushing for higher wages.

It asserts that PrimeFlight falsely claimed that its low-wage workers had taken lunch breaks and then deducted the break time from their pay. The suit also charges that workers were denied overtime when they worked beyond the normal end of their shifts. The suit, filed by  seeks wages that workers say they are owed.

"I work hard cleaning United Airlines planes for PrimeFlight," Nicolas Molina, a Newark cabin cleaner and one of three named plaintiffs in the suit, was quoted as saying in the union's announcement. "Despite working full-time, I make so little money I can barely feed my family. That's why it's especially distressing when I am not paid for all of the hours I have worked."

A PrimeFlight spokesman in Nashville, Jim Burnett, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Molina, a Newark resident and father of one who has worked at the airport for 11 years, makes $10.10 an hour, the minimum under a wage policy imposed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on its tenants and their contractors at Newark Liberty.

Prior to adoption of the wage policy in 2014, dozens of low-wage airport workers shepherded by 32BJ turned out month after month at the agency's board meetings to press for the policy, which was first support by commissioners appointed by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York and, later, by those of his Republican counterpart from New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie.

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Sydney Phillips, 12, had been a star on the girls team at St. Theresa's in Kenilworth, but there is no girls team this year.

Seventh-grader Sydney Phillips says she enjoys basketball so much, she wants a chance to play on the boys team. (Phillips family photo) 

NEWARK -- A Superior Court judge on Thursday refused to order a Catholic school to allow a girl to play on the 8th grade boys basketball team because the girls team had been cancelled for this school year.

Superior Court Judge Douglas A. Kessler rejected the family's argument, saying there was no legal foundation for the girl's right to play basketball.

The parents of Sydney Phillips, 12, wanted her to play on the boys team at St. Theresa's School in Kenilworth because the school had dropped the girls team. The girl had been a star on the girls team last year.

Susan Brandt McCrea, the lawyer for the girl's parents -- Scott Phillips and his wife Theresa Mullen -- argued that St. Theresa's and the Archdiocese of Newark had no rule prohibiting girls from playing on boys teams, and that the school had girls teams in prior years.

McCrea said that because the school said it offered a girls team, Sydney Phillips had a right to play on the boys team.

Christopher Westrick, an attorney for the Archdiocese and the school, said the school had offered to let Sydney play for a girls team at a neighboring school, but the parents wanted her to play at St. Theresa's.

The school said that the parents missed the deadline for filing their daughter's application to play on the girls team. Also, school officials said that in late October there were not enough girls who applied for the team, so it was dropped.

Scott Phillips countered that parents were never given a deadline for submitting applications to join the team, and that in past years the girls team had been organized in late November, just before the season started.

Theresa Mullen had coached the girls team as a volunteer in recent years, and the judge, in his decision, noted that there had been some disagreements between Mullen and school officials about the team.

Sydney Phillips, who was in school on Thursday and did not attend the court hearing, has said she hopes to play basketball in high school and college.

Scott Phillips, when approached after the judge announced his ruling, said he was disappointed. He said he and his wife would have to decide what they will do next.

McCrea said there were just six games left in the season for the boys team. She repeatedly told the judge that the team had not been successful in recent seasons and that Sydney Phillips could help the team.

She also said that the girl has participated in co-ed basketball clinics at the school.

Sydney Phillips is playing on an AAU basketball team.

Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_HaydonSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Officers also seized cash, pills and arrested Florida man, according to authorities.

BLOOMFIELD -- A traffic stop led Bloomfield police to seize about 20 pounds of marijuana, pills as well as nearly $9,000, and arrest an accused drug dealer in the township, authorities said Thursday.

Officers George Bambera and Michael Cumming stopped a Jeep Liberty for speeding and driving without the headlines on along Bloomfield Avenue, near Willard Street, around 10:15 p.m. Wednesday, according to police.

During the stop, officers noticed a purple laundry bag partially open, with a clear plastic bag of marijuana on a back seat, police said. Officers discovered approximately 20 pounds of the drug in the bag. They also found Adderall pills and $8,701, police added.

Samuel DeMaio, Bloomfield's police director, praised officers for making the stop.

"I am extremely pleased that we were able to apprehend this suspect who chose to come to our township for the purpose of distributing narcotics," DeMaio said in a statement. "We will work tirelessly to provide the best quality of life possible for our residents and eliminate this type of criminal activity."

Police charged the Jeep driver, Raynaldo Cuevas, 42 of Davie, Florida, with a host of drug distribution-related offenses after the stop, including possession with the intent to distribute marijuana within 1,000 feet of Berkeley Avenue School and money laundering. 

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc and on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Two men were arrested while trying to rent a car at Newark Liberty airport

NEWARK -- Two men were arrested Wednesday after they were found in possession of several fraudulent driver's licenses and credit cards, Joseph Pentangelo of Port Authority police said.

George Quentin (Port Authority police)  

Officers were called to Dollar Rental Car at Newark Liberty International Airport around 7:30 p.m. and arrested George Quentin, 28, of Brooklyn and 40-year-old Roberto Stock of Philadelphia.

Police say Quentin tried to use a South Carolina license and a MasterCard to rent a vehicle but denied doing so, showing investigating officers a Pennsylvania license. That license was in a dead man's name, authorities said.

A subsequent search revealed that Quentin had a total of six licenses from various states and five credit cards that were not in his name, Pentangelo said. A fingerprint search also revealed Quentin was wanted on an outstanding NYPD warrant.

Stock was also arrested after he was found in possession of two Pennsylvania licenses and two bogus credit cards, Pentangelo said.

Roberto Stock  

Quentin was charged with credit card theft, fraudulent use of credit cards, credit card forgery, possession of false government documents and conspiracy. Stock was charged with credit card forgery, false government documents and conspiracy.

Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook.  

Dr. John J. McMullen relocated the Colorado Rockies to the Meadowlands in 1982, setting the stage for a hockey renaissance in the Garden State.

When the demons were having their way, Ken Daneyko always knew there was one person he could call.

Daneyko might have been on an alcohol-fueled bender in the dead of night. Or he may be confused, scared and alone, struggling to keep it all together.

When he had nowhere else to turn, Daneyko, the former New Jersey Devils defenseman who struggled with alcohol abuse during his career, would dial perhaps the most unexpected person: Dr. John J. McMullen, the team's beloved owner and Daneyko's boss. It didn't matter how desperate the circumstances -- McMullen always was there.

"I could call him at 2 in the morning and say, 'Doc, I screwed up, I'm struggling,'" Daneyko remembered. "It was just always that calm voice on the other side saying, 'We'll get through it.'

"It sounds sappy, but the guy loved me and I loved him back. He would go to the very end of the Earth for me."

Devils' December Report Card

Daneyko's feelings are shared by scores of former Devils players, team employees and fans. McMullen was responsible for bringing professional hockey to New Jersey when he relocated the Colorado Rockies to the Meadowlands in 1982. The franchise would go on to capture three Stanley Cup Championships, become one of the National Hockey League's finest teams and bolster the youth hockey scene across New Jersey and the region.

McMullen's immense legacy will be honored Friday night at 7:30 when he will be celebrated as the team's first Ring of Honor inductee before the Devils face the Maple Leafs at the Prudential Center in Newark.

McMullen, who sold the team in 2000 and died in 2005 at age 87, will be represented by his wife, Jacqueline, and son, Peter. The on-ice ceremony will include a video tribute, appearances by former Devils greats Daneyko, Jim Dowd, Claude Lemieux, John MacLean and others, and the dedication of a stretch of Lafayette Street adjacent to Prudential Center that will be renamed "Dr. John McMullen Way."

"It's one of those things: You wouldn't be here without a dad," Devils team president Hugh Weber said. "We were looking at the rich tradition and history, at the growth of hockey in the state, and none of that could have happened if Dr. McMullen hadn't made an investment, taken a risk and then had the vision and foresight to bring hockey to New Jersey."

McMullen bought the Rockies in 1982 and soon moved the team to New Jersey. He made one of his most pivotal moves in 1987 when he hired Providence College athletic director Lou Lamoriello out of relative obscurity and tabbed him as the Devils president. With McMullen and Lamoriello atop the franchise, the Devils had nine winning seasons in the 1990s and established legions of fans across the Garden State.

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"You got people who are not hockey people interested and you also created first-generation hockey families as fans and in other cases as actual participants," said McMullen's son, Peter. "All you have to do is look on the concourse at Prudential Center and you'll see what we're talking about with all the youth sweaters and all the high school sweaters.

"He was particularly proud of that fact that you'd see the Devils jerseys around, seeing more and more kids playing street hockey in their driveways and knowing that there are more leagues popping up for boys and girls."

Former Devils players heap credit on McMullen for the franchise's success, but talk more about his loyalty and kindness. The same year the team moved to New Jersey, the Devils drafted Daneyko. He fondly recalled Christmas parties and summer barbecues McMullen hosted for the team at his opulent Upper Montclair estate.

"You weren't just a player or a piece of meat to him," said Daneyko, who now works as a Devils in-game analyst for MSG Networks. "He cared about you, your family, everybody."

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In 1997, Daneyko remembered praising McMullen for the obedience of his yellow labrador, which the owner often brought to the team's practice facility. Daneyko mentioned he'd like to get a similar dog for his daughter, Taylor.

A few months later, McMullen called Daneyko out of the blue and told him to grab Taylor and meet him at Teterboro Airport. He didn't say why. Once there, McMullen flew them to Corpus Christi, Texas to pick up a trained yellow lab puppy for Taylor.

"Stuff like that you just don't hear of too often," Daneyko said. "But it was just amazing and a memory for my daughter for a lifetime."

Most important, Daneyko said McMullen and Lamoriello were crucial in helping support his decision to check into rehab during the 1997-98 season. Daneyko feared he would be released from the team due to his struggles, but McMullen never turned his back.

Daneyko returned to the team after 12 weeks and went on to capture the Bill Masterton Trophy for perseverance and sportsmanship in 2000.

Daneyko said he is now long sober.

"If you had some trials and tribulations in life, he was there for you," Daneyko said. "He was there for me more than anybody. To this day it means everything to me."

Matthew Stanmyre may be reached at mstanmyre@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattStanmyre. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

The statue was reportedly stolen from right outside the woman's home.

NEWARK -- For the second time, a Newark woman is seeking the return of a stolen outdoor Buddha statue taken from the front of her home, according to a report.

A neighbor's surveillance video captured a thief walking away with the heavy statue on Dec. 21, according to a WABC report. The Buddha, which was reportedly taken from right outside her front door, is the second statue she's lost to thieves, the woman told WABC.

Newark police reported 1,370 thefts in the city between Jan. 1 and Dec. 25, 2016. That's down about 9 percent from the number of reported thefts in the city over the same time period in 2015, police said. The statistic was part of an overall drop in crime that police and city officials announced at a conference late last year.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.