Police Blotter: Two Drug Possession Arrests

Tuesday, June 30:

• Shortly after 8 a.m., the manager of the Village Smoke Shop reported that a stack of Star-Ledger newspapers valued at $60 had been stolen.
• Vandals spray painted profanity on the wall of a Grove Terrace home that faces Hartford Road sometime between June 19 and 30.
• The rear plastic window of a 1994 BMW 325C convertible parked in the lot of 150 South Orange Ave. was slashed open, but nothing appeared to have been taken.

Friday, July 3:

• An officer on patrol observed a man walking slowly down South Orange Avenue and looking into business windows and then called for backup. When asked where he was coming from, the man said he had been at a friend's house and had no identification. A record check showed no active warrants, and the man voluntarily emptied his pockets to show he had no ID and in the process exposed a metal hanger cut into a straight line. One of the officers recognized residue on the hanger to be from pushing ashes out of a pipe, and the man—Norman Evans, 44, of Newark—was placed under arrest for possession of paraphernalia. A search incident to arrest revealed a plastic box in his front pocket containing pieces of crack cocaine. Evans was transported to headquarters and charged with possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia.

Sunday, July 5:

• The owner of a Valley Street building between First and Second streets reported that three shrubs planted next to his parking lot along the property line appeared to have been run over by a vehicle sometime between Friday and Sunday afternoon.
• On Sunday evening, a detective observed a man whom he recognized from previous drug arrests walking from the train station on Sloan Street toward Newark. About an hour later, shortly before 8:30 p.m., the same detective saw the man—Anthony Hernandez, 26, of Belleville—exit the No. 31 bus at Sloan Street. The detective had previous knowledge that Hernandez had an outstanding traffic warrant for $528, advised him of that fact, and placed him under arrest. A search incident to the arrest revealed that he had 13 glassine envelopes of heroin in his right sneaker. Hernandez was taken to headquarters and charged with possession of a controlled substance.