A middle-aged man in a white van beckoned a Montclair teenager, who was walking on Irving Street, to draw near to his vehicle last Monday, Aug. 25, at about 9:45 a.m., police said.

The 13-year-old girl was walking north on Irving Street when the van pulled alongside of her and the driver called out, "Hey, come here. Come here."

The girl ignored the motorist and continued walking, and once she reached the corner of Irving and Lexington Avenue, she noticed that the driver, who had not moved since addressing her, pulled away and headed south on Irving, driving away from her.

The complainant was unsure whether the man had any malicious intent, or if he just needed directions or had some other innocuous purpose.

The girl told police the driver was a Hispanic man with a medium complexion who was roughly 40 or 50 years old and had slightly graying black hair. She was unable to provide any additional information about the van.

Anyone with information on the incident should call Detective Lynn McCarthy at 973-509-4725.

Armed robbery

While she talked on her cell phone, a 19-year-old woman from Newark was approached from behind by a man with a gun and robbed last Saturday, Aug. 30, at 10:42 p.m., according to police.

The victim was in the eastern parking lot of Lackawanna Plaza, near the corner of Glenridge Avenue and Grove Street, talking on the phone when she felt a handgun being pressed into the backpack she was wearing and heard the suspect command her to empty the bag.

But as she tried to open it, her clear wallet fell to the ground and the suspect picked it up and ran away westbound on Glenridge Avenue, police said. The wallet contained the woman’s Bank of America ATM card and two forms of state identification.

The suspect was 6 feet tall, muscular and in his mid to late 20s, according to police. He was wearing a black mask, black polo shirt, and black pants, and he was trying to alter his voice, the victim told investigators.

Disorderly conduct

An angry, intoxicated man who was shouting profanities at motorists driving on Bloomfield Avenue, and who later taunted a man waiting for a bus, was arrested and charged with drinking outdoors and disorderly conduct, police said.

An officer spotted James Earl Jackson, 38, of Newark, crossing Bloomfield Avenue when he didn’t have the green light at 4:53 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 28, police said. Jackson was yelling at motorists who had the right-of-way and stood in front of one car heading east on Bloomfield Avenue, cursing at the driver, according to authorities.

Jackson then walked up to the bus stop at the corner of Bloomfield and Gates avenues and knocked the hat off a man’s head and started shoving him for what seemed to be no reason, police said. The victim received a small cut near one of his eyes but he declined medical treatment.

When police approached the suspect they found that he smelled of liquor, officials said. When officers tried to grab his arm to separate him from the victim, Jackson pulled away, assumed a fighting stance and then smashed a partly finished bottle of rum on the sidewalk, police said. Officers took Jackson to the ground and placed him under arrest, according to authorities.

Investigators later learned that Jackson had a $165 warrant out of Orange, police said. His bail was set at $500 cash.

Missing child found

An 8-year-old girl who went missing from her Lexington Avenue home at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 30, was found to be with her aunt and uncle in Newark later that night, police said.

The girl’s mother emerged from the shower, discovered that the child had gone missing, tried looking for the girl unsuccessfully and called 911. The call prompted a massive response from law enforcement: All free Montclair police units, members of the Montclair Fire Department, Essex County K-9 units and a State Police helicopter were dispatched to search for the girl.

But after her mother made a number of calls to family members, she was informed, at 10:50 p.m., that her daughter had gone to her aunt and uncle’s place. The child had gotten locked out of the house, and when she knocked on the door she received no answer and assumed her mother wasn’t home. When her uncle stopped at the house, the girl told him she couldn’t get inside and he took her home.

The child was reunited with her mother.

Resisting arrest

A Montclair man who led police on a foot chase along Bloomfield Avenue was arrested after he surrendered inside the courtyard of a complex on Pine Street, according to police.

Officers stopped to disburse a group of people that had gathered on Mission Street on Friday, Aug. 29, at 9:49 p.m., police said. An officer spotted Khalil Gordon, 23, amongst the group, leaning into a car, and recalled that he might have a warrant out for his arrest, police said.

When Gordon saw the officer, he walked northward away from the scene and continued walking although he was being told to halt, police indicated. When the officer caught up to him and told him he was under arrest multiple times, Gordon broke into a run westbound on Bloomfield Avenue, police said.

Even after he tripped and was tackled by an officer, the suspect managed to break free and continue his flight, crossing the avenue and heading into a complex of buildings along Pine Street, authorities said.

Inside, Gordon gave up and was arrested and charged with obstructing the administration of law, resisting arrest and having a no-bail warrant issued by East Orange, police indicated. Bail was set at $10,000 bond or $1,000 in cash.

Car chase

Two men from Montclair were arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child and other offenses after they led police on a car chase while they had a 16-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy in the car, which was stolen, police said.

Officers on patrol saw a white Mitsubishi with front-end damage pass them by and make an abrupt left turn onto Pine Street from Grant Street on Thursday, Aug. 28, at 6:30 p.m., according to police. The driver stared at the police as he went by and kept looking back at the patrol car, making the officers suspicious and prompting them to turn around and follow the car, police said.

After the suspects ran a red light at the corner of Pine Street and Glenridge Avenue, police tried to pull them over but they refused to stop, police said. Officers chased the car along streets in the area but stopped trying to keep up once the Mitsubishi went around cars idling at a traffic light near Mountainside Hospital by going onto the wrong side of the road, police said.

The car, which had been reported stolen out of Montclair on Aug. 23, then headed into Glen Ridge, police said.

Officers later located the car parked outside a house on Forest Street in Glen Ridge with the passenger’s side doors open and the girl and the 4-year-old standing outside, police said. Officers noticed one of the male suspects running along the side of the house into the back yard and, while some officers chased him on foot, others tried to head him off in their patrol car, officials said.

Devaughn Williams, 19, and Steven Charles, 18, both of Montclair, were eventually arrested. Williams and Charles were both charged with receiving stolen property and endangering the welfare of a child. Charles, who was driving, was also charged with eluding, resisting arrest and several traffic offenses. His bail was set at $25,000 cash.

Shoplifting

• A thief stole $220 worth of Red Bull energy drinks from the King’s supermarket on Valley Road on Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 7:49 p.m., according to police. The suspect was a heavyset white man with a crew cut who was wearing a green shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers, police said.
• After he stole clothes from Urban Outfitters on South Park Street, a thief leaped over a railing to avoid walking through the store’s tag sensors and setting off the security alarm, police said.

  The suspect was walking around the store and picking up merchandise it seemed he might purchase, but then he hopped the railing and ran out of the store and north on South Park Street.

  The manager said the man had shoplifted from the store on previous occasions. The man was described as black, roughly 20 years old, and 5-feet 8-inches tall with a medium build and short hair. He was wearing a white long-sleeved T-shirt, khaki shorts and black slip-on shoes. He stole a pair of red Vans sneakers and other clothing that might have included T-shirts and a pair of jeans.

Receiving stolen property

Daveon Bryant, 18, of Montclair was arrested near the corner of Washington and New streets and charged with stealing a $1,000 mountain bike on Friday, Aug. 29, police said. Officers had received a report about a Hardrock mountain bike being stolen earlier in the day and they found Bryant, who matched the description of the suspect and was on the bike in question, at 4:18 p.m., police said.

Bryant told police it was a friend’s bike, but he couldn’t provide the owner’s name, according to police. Meanwhile, the victim had a key that opened the lock found on the top bar of the bike that Bryant was riding, police said. He was charged with receiving stolen property, and bail was set at $5,000 bond or $500 in cash.

Cars stolen

• A Valley Road resident called the police after she heard her Audi A6 start up, then saw the car back out of her driveway and head south on Valley Road on Friday, Aug. 29, at 5:40 a.m., police said.

  Three sets of football equipment, worth $1,200 total, were inside the car: two Montclair Mounties uniforms bearing the numbers 19 and 9, and one set with no number on the jersey. The victim did not get a good look at the suspects.

• A 2000 Dodge Intrepid was stolen off Union Street, outside the owner’s house, overnight between Thursday, Aug. 28 and 29, police said. Stored inside the car was a $1,000 laptop computer in a case that also contained the owner’s billing statements, police said. Investigators did not find broken glass or other evidence of forced entry where the car had been parked. The car was seen in East Orange on Friday, Aug. 29, at 1:55 a.m., according to police.

  — DAN PROCHILO

  "Police news" is compiled by The Montclair Times from information provided by the Montclair Police Department. The information is released to the press at the discretion of the department and may not represent the total scope of police activity. Accounts that indicate charges pending against an individual do not imply guilt or innocence.