The homeowner had put her children to bed and then went to visit her next-door neighbors, leaving the doors unlocked to her own home, a single-family on Elmwood Avenue, this past Monday, Oct. 13, at just after 9 p.m., police said.

When her son went into the kitchen, only to find a man going through his mother’s belongings, the child asked the suspect what he was doing there, and the burglar gave some unknown response in Spanish. The boy then told the man to get lost and ran outside to notify his mom.

Investigators found Fernando Brizuela, 35, of Montclair, hiding in bushes on Elmwood Avenue and, after neighbors said they saw Brizuela attempting to enter several homes on that block, he was arrested, police said. Brizuela was charged with five counts of criminal attempted burglary.

A Greenwood Avenue man was charged with possession and distribution of crack and heroin last Thursday, Oct. 9, at about 5:30 p.m., according to police.

Armed with a warrant from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, Montclair police detectives confronted Grant McCormick, 36, after he pulled into his driveway and was stepping out of his Ford Excursion, police said.

McCormick tried to get away by sneaking through a hole in his side-yard fence and making a run for it, but a sergeant tackled him, police said.

Stuffed inside his left sock, McCormick had two zipper-top plastic bags of crack cocaine, police said. After his apprehension, McCormick admitted he had three glassine folds of heroin in a suit jacket in his bedroom closet, investigators said. Police also found a bottle of some mystery liquid inside a sock, hidden underneath a glove, in McCormick’s bedroom dresser, officials said.

After he was pulled over for speeding and not wearing a seatbelt, a man from Union and his passenger from Montclair were found to have a small bottle of formaldehyde in their car and were charged with possession of a toxic substance, police said.

Officers stopped Howard Dawkins Jr., 38, and Gail Ramsammy, 33, of Montclair in a rented 2008 Dodge Charger last Thursday, Oct. 9, at just after 10 p.m. at Lincoln Street and Willowdale Avenue, according to authorities. Police noticed that during questioning, Dawkins, the driver, was so nervous his face was sweating, and when officers returned to their patrol cars to review the licenses and other documents the suspects had provided, they noted that Ramsammy was moving around a great deal inside the vehicle, police said.

When investigators walked back to the car, they found Ramsammy holding an object in her left hand and trying to hide it in her pants, authorities said.

The passenger was handcuffed and forced out of the car but she continued to struggle, police indicated. Officers used pepper spray to subdue her and found that she was trying to conceal a bottle of formaldehyde, which can be used to coat cigarettes and cigars, which then causes smokers to hallucinate, according to police.

Dawkins was charged with possession and sale of a toxic substance. Police also ticketed him for driving offenses. Ramsammy was charged with resisting arrest and the same toxic-substance charges.

A car parked in the rear parking lot of the Bellaire House residential high-rise off Valley Road went up in flames this past Monday evening, Oct. 13, police said.

Smoke could be seen above the southern tip of the Upper Montclair Business District at 6:20 p.m., when authorities received several 9-1-1 calls about the fire, said Battalion Chief Tom Diveny of the Montclair Fire Department.

Firefighters put out the blaze within minutes, but the interior of the BMW was gutted and a car and an SUV parked on either side of it had superficial smoke and fire damage, Diveny said.

The fire seemed to originate in the cabin, not underneath the hood, the chief said. No injuries were reported.

A Pine Brook man was charged with trying to fill a bogus prescription at the CVS on Claremont Avenue on Tuesday, Oct. 7, at 6:50 p.m., police said.

The pharmacy got a call from a man claiming to be from a doctor’s office, saying he needed a prescription filled for 20 pills of the painkiller Vicodin and 15 tablets of the antibiotic Clindamycin, police said. But when the pharmacist called the doctor to confirm the request, the physician said it was a fraud, according to police.

Officers responded and took custody of Zinovy Rapoport, 33, police said. Bail for Rapoport, who also had a warrant from Morris Plains, was set at $10,000 cash or $100,000 bond.

n A Park Street resident was charged with driving while intoxicated (DWI) after officers found him asleep behind the wheel of his vehicle, police said.

Officers responded to reports of an SUV on Park Street swerving into the opposing lane of traffic, then making several attempts to enter a driveway this past Sunday, Oct. 12, at 10:50 p.m., police indicated.

n A 25-year-old woman who nearly hit a police car with her Toyota Scion on Valley Road was charged with careless driving and DWI last Thursday, Oct. 9, at about 12:20 a.m., police said.

Nora Goldin of Montclair was driving south on Valley Road when she swerved onto the wrong side of the road and almost struck a police car heading in the other direction, police said. The officer turned around and pulled Goldin over on Watchung Avenue. She had a strong odor of liquor on her breath and when she stood up, she was staggering and holding onto her car to keep her balance, police said. After she failed field sobriety tests, according to police, she was charged.

An 18-year-old woman from Vernon was arrested and charged with shoplifting and criminal mischief after, according to police, workers at Urban Outfitters on South Park Street found she tried to walk out with clothing concealed in her bag, police said.

Amanda Dayton bought $115 worth of merchandise, but she also took a tank top and necklace without paying for them and stuffed them into her purse on Monday, Oct. 13, at just before 8 p.m., police said. Workers detained her until officers arrived, according to police.

A house on Gates Avenue that the owners were using as a business office was burglarized and $2,900 in computer equipment was stolen between Thursday, Oct. 9, at 12 noon and the next day, police said. It seemed that the burglars got in through an unlocked first-floor window, and the perpetrators stole the tower for an HP computer that contained the company’s financial records, police said. Other devices of value, including a 36-inch television, were not taken.

A parishioner’s vehicle was stolen out of the parking lot of Immaculate Conception R.C. Church and, after the crime, the victim discovered that his keys were missing Sunday, Oct. 12, between 8:30 and about 11 a.m., according to police.

The victim told investigators that, while he was rushing to set up for worship services, he might have left his keys inside the van or on a table inside the church.

A 1997 Kia Sephia’s driver’s side window was found shattered and its rear passenger’s side tire deflated on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 12:46 a.m., while it was parked in the lot for Rand Park.

Montclair police officers picked up Jerome Stanley, 26, of Bloomfield, from the East Orange police on Oct. 8 at about 6:10 a.m., police said. Stanley had a $229 warrant issued by authorities in Montclair, officials said.