Man, Woman Sought In Connection With Cross-Placing In Bergen Family's Yard

Police are looking for a man and woman who allegedly placed a cross on a Bergenfield front lawn last weekend.

The cross, which was made from two branches held together with tape, was discovered shortly before 9:30 p.m. Sunday, said Capt. Mustafa Rabboah.

Officers canvassed the area and received information identifying a man and woman who placed the cross on the lawn, Rabboah said. Detectives are following up on the leads and trying to identify them.

If the incident reveals the incident to be bias in nature, the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office and the Office of Bias Crime and Community Relations of the Division of Criminal Justice will be notified, Rabboah said.

Oscar Pinones lives in the house with his wife Beatrice Friedman-Pinones and their two boys, ages 6 and 7, The Record reported.

Pinones is Mexican and his wife is Jewish and the couple's upstairs tenants are Haitian and Italian. A menorah sits in the window and a Statue of Liberty is on the front lawn, NJ.com reported.

Friedman-Pinones, a 15-year borough resident, said that somebody went out of their way to set the cross up the way they did, according to The Record. She is originally from New Milford. She said it makes her feel unsafe.

The family lives on a very ethnically diverse block where incidents like this don't occur, according to the published reports.