by Walter Elliott
NEWARK – What a former Newark Public Schools teacher was arrested and charged for in 2019 was found among a July 22 posting entitled “NJ Teachers and Educators Caught in Recent Sex Crime Busts.”
Luis Aviles, 52, of Allentown, Penna., was among 18 other teachers, aides and a principal who were or are accused of sexual misconduct with minor students from 2015 to last April. The charges, as lodged by county prosecutors, ranged from sending inappropriate emails and/or photos to statutory rape to sexual assault.
Some of the 18 statewide men and women have had their cases end with being barred from teaching or public office and/or serving time after either pleading guilty or being convicted.
Aviles’ case, at last word, is among those still going through the judicial process. The 18-year art instructor was arrested June 12, 2019 and, said Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore “Ted” Stephens II, was charged with multiple counts of sexual assault. Aviles’ assaults against the 14-year-old boy student were committed December 2017-September 2018.
The article, first posted at nj1015.com and later on other news and parental websites, mentions the June 1, 2018 “Don’t Pass the Trash” law. The bill was designed to keep child and/or sex abusers from falling through school hiring cracks. Hiring educators, for example, are to ask for applicants’ records, including complaints, going back 20 years.
Most of the 18 accused abusers’ alleged incidents, however, were made before “Don’t Pass the Trash” took effect. The rest occurred after June 1, 2018 and without the accused having moved from one school district to the next undetected. Only two cases read as if one district failed to ask or failed to tell on the applicants in question.
The original article on the 18 may appear to some like a digital “perp walk.” A perp walk is where suspects, or “the perpetrators,” are paraded between jail and the courthouse for arraignment as a photo opportunity.
IRVINGTON – Irvington Housing Authority employees and/or its contractors were seen making various repairs here at the Crescent Lane housing projects July 23 – some 48 hours after a community whistleblower posted a video of its living conditions.
The repair people were seen Friday removing mold, rust and water damage from fixtures, ceilings and walls in kitchens and bathrooms. The fixes were made while a local news crew talked with tenants.
The Crescent Lane residents who went on camera said that they have lived with physical problems “for years.” They said they have sent their complaints to IHA’s office in nearby Union Avenue but little, if anything gets done.
“People who work in the (IHA) office, no one lives in the IHA,” said Sonya Powell. “They don’t know how it is to live where you’ve got holes and you’ve got rust all in the tub.”
They brought in “a community monitor,” who took video recordings and put them on social media that Wednesday.
IHA Interim Director Ramon Rivera replied that his employees are making repairs even though the Crescent Lane complex is to be replaced with new affordable housing in the near future. He said they make the repairs – when they learn of the requests.
“Sometimes the tenants aren’t home, so we have to come back – but it does get completed and fixed,” said Rivera. “We treat our tenants as if they’re going to live there forever.”
EAST ORANGE – The East Orange Fire Department has had two of its bravest die 38 days apart here in June and July. Retired EOFD Firefighter Michael Alston, 57, died June 1, 38 days ahead of Capt. Vincent J. Intiso, 57, who died in the line of duty July 8.
Michael Wayne Alston served the city Jan. 31, 1986 – March 2, 2015. He was the father of active EOFD Firefighter Michael Alston, Jr.
The elder Alston, who was born in Newark’s Presbyterian Hospital Nov. 3, 1963, spent his early years here. He was baptized at Park Avenue Christian Church and had attended Columbian Elementary School. (The Columbian/G.W. Carver school was recently replaced by the Sheila Y. Oliver Academy.)
Father John Richard Alston Sr., and the late Alverie Alston, however, moved Michael and brothers Richard C. and John R., Jr. to Montclair. His gridiron days were busy, playing drums with the MHS marching band between playing for the football team.
Alston, after moving to Plainfield, continued playing the drums for Vauxhall-Union’s First Baptist Church. (His great-grandparents were among FBC’s founders.)
Alston, who married Plainfielder Lois Yolanda Alston in 2011, retired to become a member of CNBC’s security team. He died of a heart condition June 1. Daughters Myisha King, Adrienne Comer, Amaya Coleman, and Toni Smith; and two grandchildren are also among his survivors.
Alston’s remains made the last ride past his EOFD fire stations, from Plainfield’s Judkins Memorial Home and back to Rose of Sharon Community Church, July 9.
ORANGE – Someone removed the Orange Elks statute – and its pedestal – from its front lawn here at 475 Main St. sometime between July 7 and 15. It was not reported to police in part because Orange Elks Lodge No. 135 has been closed for some time in the past year.
Members of Lodge 135 were absorbed by the former Newark-Bloomfield Lodge at 296 Bloomfield Ave., Bloomfield. The Bloomfield Elks, who had opened its doors to Newark’s lodge members in 2002, have since renamed itself the Greater Essex Lodge No. 21.
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks’ leaving Orange also leaves behind decades of memories of social events and civic contribution.
Residents remember Orange Democratic Committee breakfasts, book bag giveaways, Boy Scout Troop meetings, Election Day polling and a host of other events in the Elks’ August T. Marchese, Sr. Banquet Hall. The hall was named after the 40-year member and PNC Orange Branch Vice President, who died in 2015.
Orange Elks members had their own “Crippled Children’s Fund,” which aided the state lodge’s efforts. Lodge 135 also awarded annual scholarships for local high school seniors.
A July 27 “Local Talk” visit also found 475 Main’s lawn starting to overgrow and its parking lot entrance chained. A printed sign directed voters to go to the polls at the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, 510 Linden Place. The church had moved into the former Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church building around the block in 2013.
475 Main’s present vacated state will not last long. The Orange Tax Assessor’s office has recorded its purchase by VA 475 LLC June 3. The new owners intend to modify, but not replace, the 1864 two-story house and 1970s-era banquet hall.
WEST ORANGE / MONTCLAIR – A West Orange resident and Montclair High School graduate’s Summer Olympic Games experience has been a solitary one – and maybe a shortened one depending on a petition before USA Fencing as of press time.
Olympic Fencing Team member Katharine “Kat” Holmes said on June 22 that she had collected an electronic petition calling for USA Fencing bar Alen Hadzic, 29, from participating. Holmes is also the female athlete representative on USA Fencing’s board of directors.
Holmes brought the petition up during Hadzic’s June 22 appeal to a US Olympic and Paralympic Committee arbitrator to move into the Olympic Village. Hadzic has been living in a hotel room a 30-minute drive from the village as part of what USA Fencing said was a “safety plan.”
Hadzic and his attorney Michael Palma, of Morristown, had sought a closer motel room but had ruled against it.
Hadzic was allowed to go to Tokyo after arbitration Judge Sherrie L. Krauser overturned the suspension placed on him by the US Center for SafeSport June 28. SafeSport suspended the fencer June 2 after three women told them of his alleged 2013-15 and 2019 sexual misconduct against them.
Hadzic came to Tokyo July 18, two days after the rest of the team, as an alternate fencer. Judge Krauser had upheld a no-contact clause between Hadzic and his accusers – and intends to hold a final hearing at a to-be-announced time.
SOUTH ORANGE – Former South Orange-Maplewood School District Board of Education Annmarie Maini in a July 25 open letter to the two towns, said she will not be seeking a third term.
Maini’s 5.5 years on the board spanned three SOMSD school superintendents Dr. John Ramos, Interim Superintendent Dr. Anthony Ficarra and the present Dr. Ronald Taylor.
“Dr. Ramos brought humility and humanity to the role that allowed him to identify the urgent needs of our district,” said Maini. “Dr. Ficarra brought a clear sense of project management and commitment to execution. Dr. Taylor, (who) joined us two years ago after extensive interviews and discussions, decoupled the construction timelines from the integration plan.”
Maini, in her letter, did not say why she is leaving the BOE. She did appraise the work of her current and past SOMSD members.
“I’ve had the privilege to work alongside some of the most thoughtful board members and SOMSD staff and have received emails from engaged and expert community members,” said Maini. “The board needs to ensure that the schools are well run by monitoring the work of the Superintendent through asking the questions.”
Maini continues as director of the South Orange Country Day School and as treasurer of the South Orange Public Library Foundation.
MAPLEWOOD – The level of attention of how the Maplewood Community Pool’s season-opening day got cut short July 17 rose as far up as Mayor Frank McGehee July 20.
McGehee, after consulting with MCP staff, Health Officer Robert Roe and Township Administrator Jerry Giaimis, outlined at July 20’s Township Committee meeting what happened with the pool’s water leveling and filter system and what was being done to remedy the problem.
“A malfunction of our pool’s automatic level controller in the filtration system resulted in the sediment release, sudden smell and liquid chlorine discharge, causing some members to experience some medical symptoms,” said McGehee. “Key township officials and our health officer have been working with our third-party contractor, CFM Pools, to identify and resolve the cause of the malfunction. I’ve personally spoken or been in contact with some of the families impacted and want to express to everyone that safety, health and wellbeing of our residents and visitors are first and foremost.”
Witnesses said they heard a jet going off and the emission of a brown-green plume from the three-foot, 6-inch end of the main pool at 12:45 p.m. that Saturday – along with the smell of chlorine. Although the pool was promptly closed for the day, several adults and children went to local urgent care centers or hospitals with vomiting, breathing difficulties, blue lips and fainting.
Giaimis explained that the automatic leveler malfunctioned, reducing the pool’s water level and the recirculation pump shut down. A second pump then started up, emitting sediment. When the first pump restarted, it emitted liquid chlorine in excess of a preset standard.
The township’s first announcement, at 4:20 p.m. July 17, said that no chlorine was emitted – an item that was reversed in a 10 p.m. Facebook posting. The pool reopened without incident July 18.
BLOOMFIELD – Mayor Michael Venezia and the Township Council will likely have to call a special meeting to refine their proposed Cannabis-Based Business ordinance between now and the Planning Board’s Aug. 10 meeting.
Bloomfield’s elders’ next scheduled meeting is set for Aug. 23 – two days after the deadline Gov. Phil Murphy had set to learn which way the state’s 565 municipalities will go concerning CBBs. The township’s proposed CBB regulation bill was introduced June 30.
Venezia and the council, at their July 12 public hearing, were asked why historical buildings were excluded as Class 5 cannabis and related product retail sales sites. The proposed legislation calls for no retailers within 1,000 feet of such buildings.
The planning board meanwhile recommended a 200-foot buffer around schools and houses of worship from said retailers. The buffer is similar to those distancing alcohol-serving establishments.
The legislation, which also needs BPB approval, calls for a maximum two retailers each in three zones. Those zones are the southern border to the Norfolk Southern/Lower Boonton Line railroad tracks, between the freight tracks and Bay Avenue and north of Bay.
Class 5 retailers are to have their own single-purpose parking lots. There is to be a space for every 150 feet of customer space, a 10-minute parking limit and that 20 percent of the spaces are for customers picking up pre-ordered products.
BELLEVILLE – Those in the township’s Silver Lake neighborhood have been shaking their heads since they have been reading Carmine A. Mattia, Jr.’s name on a federal grand jury’s July 23 bill of indictment.
Acting U.S. Attorney Rachel A. Honig said her lawyers had charged Mattia, 60, “of Cedar Grove,” with three counts of health care fraud and a count of conspiracy thereof the same Friday the grand jury handed their indictment.
Mattia, in the 11-page indictment, is accused of defrauding a telecommunication company of $100,000 by billing for “medically unnecessary compound prescriptions” April-July 2016. The said activities were conducted while Mattia was a Silver Lake resident, a business representative for an East Windsor construction union, a sales representative for a telecommunications company and a salesman for “Mattia Compounding Pharmacies.”
Mattia had been best known for joining Mayor Michael Melham’s “A Better Belleville” team as its First Ward Council challenger in 2020. A majority of participating ward voters retained incumbent Marie Strumolo Burke over Mattia, 55-to-44-percent, in the May 14th election.
The former lifelong Silver Laker has apparently since moved to Cedar Grove.
Mattia is accused of submitting fraudulent prescriptions to the telecommunications company’s health benefits plan. He is to have paid and induced “Individual-One” to receive the medication. Mattia was said to have secured a Caldwell plastic surgeon’s signature for the false prescription slips. Dr. Robert Agresti, who has a Nutley practice, was not indicted but had pleaded guilty June 26, 2018 to committing health care fraud.
NUTLEY – Township Commissioners have been defending their rescheduling their annual Fourth of July Fireworks display to its new date since making that postponement here June 28.
The Commissioners, said Mayor Mauro Tucci, had wanted to hold their annual display along Franklin Avenue and the Nutley Park Oval on July 4-Independence Day. Gov. Phil Murphy’s May 28 lifting of outdoor event capacity, said Nutley’s elders, left it with too little time to get vendors and make the logistics.
“This decision was difficult but we all agree it was the correct decision for our Township,” said Tucci June 29. “We’ve postponed this exciting event to Spt. 10.”
That is not a misquote or a misprint. Sept. 10 is the eve of the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the US.
“The time around Sept. 11 is supposed to be for remembering and mourning all those who died and the first responders who took part in the rescue and recovery,” said former Nutley Commissioner and retired police detective lieutenant Steve Rogers July 19. “Cancel the fireworks; wait for July 4, 2022.”
“Our plan is to celebrate Independence Day, the USA and the resilience of our democracy and its people,” countered Tucci July 23. “We will by extension be commemorating those who we have lost, the survivors and our first responders prior to our annual Sept. 11 ceremony. Additionally, our veterans have been included as a show of respect for those in our military, past and present.”
