08/12/2026
The Wallington Police Department would like to recognize P.O. Richard Ray and P.O. Wojciech Kulbabinski for their outstanding police work resulting in the arrest of two individuals following a shoplifting incident at a local business.
The investigation and arrests were conducted with the assistance of Captain Paul Stolarz and Detective Szymon Popek.
👏 Great teamwork and another job well done by our officers!
𝟭𝟬𝟬 𝗔𝗿𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗺: 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗰 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗡𝗮𝗯𝗯𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻, 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗕𝘆 𝗪𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗗
𝐁𝐲 𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐃𝐞𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐨 (𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬)
𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗜𝗧 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗦𝗧: A Passaic couple who've been arrested more than 100 times combined were nabbed by Wallington police who discovered that both had several outstanding warrants, Independent Online News has learned.
Kenneth Earl Lyons, 65, it turns out, was wanted on a weapons-related charge in Passaic County from more than a year and a half ago, records show.
Capt. Paul Stolarz, Detective Szymon Popek and Officers Wojciech Kulbabinski and Richard Ray stopped Lyons and Veronica Djoreski, 50, at the corner of Paterson Avenue and Union Boulevard shortly before 4:30 p.m. yesterday (Tues., Aug. 11th), Wallington Police Chief Ereic Kluska said today.
They'd just fled with nearly $60 worth of merchandise from the Paterson Avenue 7-Eleven four blocks away, the chief told Independent Online News.
Djoreski, in turns out, was wanted on warrants out of Clifton, Wayne and the city of Passaic, among others.
She's also been arrested for shoplifting by police in Wallington nine (9) times since 2021, as well as a number of other times in Clifton, Elmwood Park, the city of Passaic, Paterson and Wayne, according to state court records.
Other charges include resisting arrest for a Passaic police pursuit in May 2024 and a theft out of East Rutherford the following month, as well as hindering an arrest in Teaneck in September 2019 and a theft in Wayne in August 2017, the records show.
Lyons's criminal history dwarfs that.
Going back to 1995, he's been arrested well over 60 times in Bergen County alone while using no fewer than seven different aliases, the court records show.
There've been dozens upon dozens of shoplifting arrests -- as well as charges of simple assault, hindering arrest, receiving stolen property, disorderly conduct and criminal attempt -- in municipalities that include Bergenfield, Dumont, Elmwood Park, Englewood, Garfield, Hackensack, Leonia, Teaneck, Clifton, Hanover and Rockaway -- and, of course, Wallington and the city of Passaic.
Lyons has been charged with more serious crimes, too, court records show.
Englewood police arrested him on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and child endangerment, among other offenses, following a reported incident on New Year's Day 2001.
He took a plea deal two months later, according to court records.
Teaneck police also charged Lyons with robbery and aggravated assault in September 2010, the disposition of which couldn't immediately be determined.
Lyons was again charged by Englewood police in November 2016, for robbery, and in October 2023 for resisting arrest, the records show. Paramus police arrested him on charges of receiving stolen property in October 2016.
He was also busted on charges of cheating on a drug test in Bergen County in September 2013, according to the state court records.
Lyons has also been charged with:
• filing a false report to Leonia police in an attempt to incriminate another in November 1999;
• burglary and stealing/using credit cards in Hackensack in July 2005;
• theft out of Lyndhurst in July 2024.
Lyons and Djoreski -- both of whom are listed in criminal records as U.S.-born American citizens -- can thank bail reform for quickly freeing them pending trial just about each time.
This time, Djoreski was brought for a psychological evaluation to Bergen New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus, where she remained today.
Lyons, meanwhile, remained held in Bergen County's jail on the Passaic County weapons warrant.
