Shaneefah Williams, a 25-year-old Newark woman, has been charged with the Sept. 14 robbery of the Commerce Bank on Bloomfield Avenue, stated Montclair Police Lt. James Carlucci.

Authorities searched Williams’ residence on Seymour Avenue in Newark last Friday, Sept. 19, but she was not home and she is still at-large, according to police.

If you have information that could help investigators, call Montclair Police Detective Raymond Gulbin, 973-509-4739.

"It is in Williams’ best interest to turn herself in to the Montclair Police Department," Carlucci stated. "Anyone found to be harboring Williams may be charged criminally."

Gardener finds drug paraphernalia

A woman tending to the garden outside her Grove Street home found, underneath a bush, a purse containing a box of drug paraphernalia, police said.

The woman, who resides near Euclid Place, was working in her yard at 11 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 21, when she found a black, imitation-leather purse, according to police. Inside the purse, investigators found a small brown box containing a glass pipe with drug residue on it, plus a small metal screen, an empty clear plastic baggie and a lighter, authorities said.

The purse also contained more conventional objects, including cosmetics, hand sanitizer, and a key chain that had the words "Melissa" and "Boston" written on the tags. Investigators found no personal documents or identification in the purse, police said.

Burglary arrest

A Montclair resident was arrested and charged with cocaine possession and burglary by police officers dispatched to a break-in on Stonebridge Road, near Montclair’s southern border with West Orange, authorities said.

Officers who arrived at the house on Tuesday, Sept. 16, at about 9 p.m., after the burglar alarm was tripped, found that the suspect had broken three windows trying to get in and then fled the scene, police said. Investigators fanned out and checked the area.

Within 10 minutes, an officer spotted a man walking south on Harrison Avenue near Homewood Way, three blocks from the attempted burglary, police said. The man, later identified as Troy Balmer, 48, had his head down and was pretending to read some papers he was holding, but it would have been impossible for Balmer to read anything since it was so dark, police noted.

Officers stopped and questioned him and noticed he had a recently inflicted cut on top of his head, investigators said. Officers from West Orange who responded told the Montclair personnel that they knew Balmer, who had been a suspect in multiple vehicle burglaries in their town, authorities said. Police also learned that Balmer had $2,000 in criminal warrants issued by the township of Orange, officials said.

Balmer was arrested and brought to Montclair Police Headquarters, where officers discovered he was carrying a blue bag of cocaine on him, and he was further charged with possession of a controlled, dangerous substance, police said.

Thefts from 3 cars on orchard court

Thieves stole items out of three vehicles that were parked on Orchard Court, and left unlocked, from last Friday night into Saturday morning, police said. Investigators were alerted to the thefts after a retired member of the Police Department, while taking a walk, found a purse that had been discarded or dropped by the thieves, according to police.

The suspects struck sometime between 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19, and 9 a.m. the following day.

The unidentified pedestrian found a small, pink purse and other objects scattered on the ground on High Street, including business cards and a checkbook with the name and address of an Orchard Court resident on it, authorities said.

At that victim’s residence, which was right around the corner from where the items were found, the thieves had apparently entered two vehicles parked in the driveway, police noted. The purse had been left on the front seat of a 1995 Land Rover that was left unsecured. The suspects took a Canon camera worth $400, a cellphone valued at $519, $450 prescription glasses, three debit cards, a credit card and the victim’s driver’s license out of that bag, police said.

The thieves then took the ignition key to a 2001 Ford Explorer, also parked in that driveway, out of that vehicle’s center console. The SUV had been left unlocked with the key inside it since it wasn’t working, and a towing company was expected to stop by and haul the truck away, according to police.

At another residence on Orchard Court, the burglars entered a 2006 Honda Civic parked in a driveway and stole an iPod Touch worth $350 and a cellphone valued at $120, police said. The owner had left the driver’s side door unlocked.

Warrants

• A Tennessee man who stopped his car abruptly on Bloomfield Avenue and almost had an accident as he tried to cut across from the left lane to grab an available parking space was arrested on outstanding warrants, police said. An officer was driving behind a 1990 Nissan Stanza driven by Rodney Dotson, 43, of Somerville, Tenn., when Dotson made a complete stop at just after 7 p.m. Sept. 15, according to police. He then cut off a Ford Explorer, coming within 2 feet of hitting it, as he headed for a parking spot, police said. The officer then pulled over behind Dotson with his cruiser’s lights flashing at the avenue’s intersection with Maple Plaza, police said. The officer learned that Dotson was a former New Jersey resident and his New Jersey driver’s license had been suspended since he did not show up in court, authorities said. He also had an active criminal warrant out of Newark for $5,000, police indicated. In addition, investigators found that Dotson had a Tennessee license plate that wasn’t on file and 10 to 15 parking tickets, most of them issued by the New York City police, with that license plate number written on the tickets, police said. Apparently, Dotson had been hanging the plate on his car when he went to New York to avoid accumulating tickets against his real registration, police said.
• An East Orange man with over $4,000 in outstanding warrants was pulled over near the corner of Chestnut Street and Valley Road on Sept. 15 at about 10:30 p.m., police said. Officers stopped Marcus Lindsay Jeter, 24, since the rear license plate of his 1994 Acura was not illuminated, authorities said. Police then learned he had warrants out of Budd Lake, East and West Orange and Newark, according to police. Jeter was also issued summonses for having a suspended driver’s license and failing to maintain his car’s lamps, police said.

Bikes stolen

• Someone stole a commuter’s bicycle from the Bay Street Train Station between 5:50 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 10, police said. The stolen bike was dark blue, manufactured by Trek and worth $500.
• A thief stole a boy’s bike from outside Mt. Hebron Middle School on Friday, Sept. 19, police said. The victim rode his bike to the school at 3:30 p.m. and left it outside, without chaining it up, for an hour, police said. When he returned, all he found was his helmet. The stolen bicycle was a yellow-green Magna boy’s mountain bike.

  — 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.