BY ERIKA NORTON
WEST MILFORD - Police say a 22-year-old West Milford man, along with three other men from Passaic County, allegedly kidnapped a Butler teen at gunpoint, stole his cell phone, and pushed him out of a moving car.
According to Bloomingdale police, Det. Steven Smith saw a silver Toyota Camry speeding on Hamburg Turnpike and suddenly turn into a Quick Chek parking lot on Saturday, Dec. 16 at 10 p.m. The car eventually turned back onto Hamburg Turnpike, where Det. Smith was able to stop the car.
Police ordered the four men out of the car to search the vehicle and found several bags of suspected marijuana, as well as items commonly used to package and distribute the drug. They also found a cell phone that none of the occupants claimed.
Police say that they later learned that the unclaimed cell phone had recently been stolen from a 17-year-old from Butler. Police say the the four men abducted the teen at gunpoint, then stole his cell phone and pushed him out of the moving vehicle.
The 17-year-old suffered minor injuries, according to police.
Bloomingdale police arrested the driver, Kevin Alarcon-Marmol, 22, of West Milford, and passengers, David Rivera Jr., 19, of Paterson, Ariel Francisco Rodriguez, 25, of Paterson, and a 16-year-old juvenile male from Paterson. All were taken to headquarters for processing.
Although police didn’t find a weapon when they initially searched the car, police said in a search of the area near the Quick Chek, they found a semi-automatic handgun and dispatched the Passaic County Sheriff's Office Crime Scene Investigation unit to process the weapon. The gun was stolen out of California in 1993, police said.
All four of the men found in the car were charged with kidnapping, robbery, aggravated assault, theft, distribution of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes, possession of a weapon while conspiring to distribute a controlled dangerous substance, and a second charge of aggravated assault for pointing a weapon.
Alarcon-Marmol, Rivera and Rodriguez were all transported to Passaic County Jail. The 16-year-old suspect faces charges in family court on a juvenile petition, as opposed to criminal court, and was sent to a juvenile detention facility.