Many questions after ICE incident in Stafford—NJ Top News
Here's the stories you'll be talking about on the New Jersey 101.5 Morning Show on Monday:
🔗 Routine walk home turned scary for 4 boys in Middlesex County
🔴 A Middlesex County man is accused of trying to kidnap four boys as they walked home from school in North Brunswick.
🚨 Prosecutors say the suspect approached two children, then targeted two more after the first pair ran away.
👮 The 27-year-old township resident now faces multiple attempted kidnapping and child endangerment charges.
NORTH BRUNSWICK — A Middlesex County man has been charged in connection with an attempted child kidnapping last month.
North Brunswick police investigate attempted child kidnapping
On May 20, the North Brunswick Police Department was notified that four juvenile males were approached by a stranger, later identified as a township resident, 27-year-old Andrew Luna.
They said he followed the kids as they were walking home from school and told them he wanted to take them home with him.
Luna first approached two of the boys near the North Brunswick Library and tried to kidnap them, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.
When the boys ran away, Luna immediately approached two other juveniles and engaged in similar conduct, authorities said.
Nine days later, Luna was arrested and charged with four counts of second-degree attempted kidnapping and four counts of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
🔗 World Cup crackdown begins in NJ as sheriff targets prostitution
⚠️ Eight women were charged after undercover operations at hotels and massage parlors.
➡️ Investigators seized more than $13,000 in cash during the June 11 crackdown.
🔴 Officials say concerns about trafficking have increased due to World Cup matches.
CLIFTON — Eight women have been arrested in what's been called the first of several "quality of life" operations during the World Cup.
Undercover detectives with the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office went to several hotels and massage parlors in the area on June 11. Sheriff Thomas Adamo said the women are charged with offenses related to prostitution. Investigators also seized $13,204 in cash.
Police officers from Woodland Park, Passaic, Ringwood, Clifton, and Haledon were involved in the crackdown. More quality-of-life operations are planned through the end of July.
Officials cite trafficking concerns during World Cup matches
According to Adamo, there's been a noted increase in human trafficking activity due to the 2026 World Cup. It's a rise that officials warned would come as New Jersey hosts eight World Cup matches at MetLife Stadium.
On Tuesday, the Attorney General's Office announced a series of steps law enforcement statewide has taken to disrupt sexual exploitation. Among them was a public awareness campaign the OAG launched earlier this month.
“Each of us, working together in ways big and small, can end the nightmare that human trafficking victims endure day in and day out," Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said.
🔗 Barnegat man charged after ICE agent struck in Stafford
🚨 A Barnegat man is charged after a van struck and injured an ICE agent
🚨 Fed prosecutors said the driver fled after hitting the agent and another ICE vehicle.
🚨 Questions remain about the intended arrest target, a passenger in the van and if shots fired.
STAFFORD TOWNSHIP — Federal authorities have charged the driver accused of striking and injuring an ICE agent during a chaotic confrontation on Route 72 — but he isn't the man who ICE initially said they had been looking for before the violent encounter.
The man charged Tuesday, who officials said is not in the country legally, is not the Peruvian national whom ICE agents said they were trying to arrest when they initiated the stop. Instead, prosecutors identified the driver as Eduardo Cruz Garcia, of Barnegat, leaving unanswered questions about the whereabouts of the original target as well as the passenger in the van.
The driver of a van that struck an ICE agent during an apprehension Monday was identified and is in custody.
U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Robert Frazer said ICE agents surrounded a white work van with their vehicles on Route 72 in Stafford Township and asked driver — later identified as Eduardo Cruz Garcia, 39, a Barnegat resident living in the country illegally — to roll down the window. Garcia instead tried to flee by driving the van forward while an ICE agent was standing next to it. The van also had a passenger, Frazer said.
ICE said Garcia "weaponized" the van by hitting the agent, wedging him between the van and one of the ICE vehicles, causing the agent to fall to the ground and cry out in pain.
Garcia continued driving, hit another ICE vehicle and left the stop, according to prosecutors.
Here are the biggest unanswered questions:
Who was the passenger in the van?
Were shots fired?
Click the link above for the latest.
🔗 Edison teen death case stalled as driver remains hospitalized
✅ An Edison High School junior was killed in a Route 1 crash in February
✅The accused driver remains hospitalized and missed a scheduled court hearing
✅Prosecutors say Salman rejected a plea deal
WOODBRIDGE — The driver in a horrific crash on Route 1 in February that killed an Edison High School student is still hospitalized and unable to appear in court.
Mikael Salman, 18, failed to stop for police on Route 1 around midnight on Feb. 19 while driving a Nissan with New York plates. Instead of stopping, investigators say Salman hit the gas and accelerated at a speed “greatly in excess” of the limit. He blew through a red light at Gill Lane and smashed into the passenger side of a Buick.
Karla Gamero, 17, of Edison, a junior at Edison High School, was sitting in the front passenger seat of the Nissan. She was pronounced dead at the scene. A dog inside the Nissan was also killed in the crash.
Court hearing postponed as Salman remains hospitalized
Salman, from the Iselin section of Woodbridge, has been hospitalized ever since the crash, according to court records. He was indicted on May 11 on aggravated manslaughter while eluding law enforcement, death by auto, four counts of aggravated assault, assault by auto, endangering the welfare of a child, resisting arrest and animal cruelty.
A post-indictment arraignment was postponed Monday until July 20 at 9 a.m.
Salman rejected a plea deal in April that would have dropped a vehicular homicide charge in exchange for guilty pleas to aggravated assault, eluding, and animal cruelty the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office told NJ.com. He would have been sentenced to 20 years behind bars.
🔗 NJ's strangest fugitive keeps moving, dodges capture
🔴 A runaway emu has been wandering through Sussex County for days, prompting warnings from animal control officials.
🚨 Residents are being told not to chase, approach or try to capture the fast-moving bird themselves.
👀 The latest sighting places the elusive emu in Byram Township's Cranberry Lake area as the search continues.
BYRAM — It's not a "Liberty Biberty" commercial come to life — it's just an emu that's been on the loose in northwestern New Jersey for a few days. An animal shelter in Sussex County is advising residents not to attempt to catch it.
On June 13, the Hopatcong Animal Shelter first notified residents on Facebook that an emu had been spotted in Byram, off Waterloo Road, and asked locals to keep an eye out for the large, flightless bird.
Later, the animal shelter wrote in the Facebook comments, “Update: we no longer need help. We have found multiple experienced people to assist. Please do not go to the area to see it or attempt to catch it.”
Hopatcong Animal Control Officer Gianna DiMatteo told NorthJersey.com that the emu seemed to be headed to Mount Olive after the police department received a report of an emu walking on International Drive in Budd Lake, shortly before 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, June 14.
Police, however, were not able to find the emu.
The latest spotting was on June 16 when the animal shelter wrote on social media that he/she was now in the Cranberry Lake area of town. It urged anyone who experiences an emu sighting to immediately call the Byram Township Police Department.
It’s not clear where the emu came from, and DiMatteo told NorthJersey.com that the hardest part about capturing the bird is that it’s very fast.
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