NJ NJ - Felix DeJesus, 41, picked up then dropped off by police, Paterson, 2 Feb 2022 *Reward* *Officers suspended WOP*

[GuyfromCanada]

The 41-year-old was last seen on Feb. 2 between 9 and 10 p.m. in Westside Park in Paterson, according to a press release from the prosecutor's office. His family said he was last seen near a bodega on Union Avenue after drinking too much alcohol.

DeJesus is 5-feet-9, weighs 200 pounds and has a large Puerto Rican flag tattoo on his chest.

His disappearance has also caused an internal investigation by the Paterson Police Department and prosecutor's office, according to the family. DeJesus was allegedly taken in handcuffs by two Paterson cops after he was accused of bothering a woman in the bodega.

According to his brother, Giovanni DeJesus, IA investigators confirmed that his brother was taken from the bodega in a patrol vehicle before he was dropped off at the corner of Preakness Avenue and Front Street without charging him with a crime.

Missing Haledon NJ man: Authorities ask for public's help in search



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<MOD NOTE: Several original links throughout the thread were broken and have been edited to include the current link (when available) and images as of November 10, 2022>

 

[GuyfromCanada]

Three days before the search for Felix DeJesus would reach a tragic one-month milestone, his younger brother Giovanni was out on the Passaic River on a jet ski with a friend. It was the first time he’d been on one and the temperatures had dipped into the 30s Sunday. But he wouldn’t be deterred, he said.

“We have to do this, we have to find our brother, man,” Giovanni could be heard saying in a video he posted online of the search.

t was the latest step in the search for Felix DeJesus — a 41-year-old Haledon man who was last seen Feb. 2 and reported missing by his family the following day. The search so far has included family, friends and community members handing out flyers, canvassing different parts of Passaic and Bergen counties and posting on social media for people throughout New Jersey and New York to assist if they have any information on his whereabouts.

More at A month after N.J. man went missing family says they are no closer to answers

 

[GuyfromCanada]

PATERSON — City officials refused to make public two video recordings from body cameras worn by Paterson police officers on the night 41-year-old Felix DeJesus went missing after an alleged encounter with city cops.

In responding to a public records request from Paterson Press, the city on Wednesday said it would not release the two videos because they are part of a confidential police department Internal Affairs investigation.

Members of DeJesus’ family said they also have been unable to get copies of the videos from city officials. DeJesus has been missing since Feb. 2, the family said.

“If they didn’t do anything wrong,” Giovanni DeJesus, brother of the missing man, said about the officers, “why can’t we get the footage?”

More at Missing Haledon NJ man: Paterson won’t release police body cam footage

Sounds kind of odd, no?

 

[PommyMommy]

APR 26, 2022
Paterson family demands answers in case of missing man, Felix de Jesus | PIX11
[...]

Every week, the de Jesus family shows up to City Council meetings in Paterson, New Jersey. Tuesday, they were joined by activist Corey Lewis Teague.

“There’s no police report,” Lewis said, referring to an incident that may be connected to Felix de Jesus’ disappearance.

The 41 year old was last seen on Feb 2. in front of a bodega. The encounter was recorded on police body camera video, but Felix’s brother, Giovanni, said it’s short and doesn’t show any officers’ faces.

[...]

In a previous story from PIX11 News, Giovanni de Jesus insisted his brother had not harassed a female customer in the store at 499 Union Avenue. He said he’d spoken to two witnesses.

“They saw the officers arresting my brother,” Giovanni de Jesus told PIX11 News’ Mary Murphy. “And they asked the woman if she wants to press any charges against my brother, and she said, ‘no.'”

Felix’s brothers said, so far, investigators — citing an active internal affairs investigation — have only showed them a 4-minute clip from the officer’s body camera.

[...]

Felix’s brothers originally told PIX11 News they conducted their own search, which included talking to witnesses. Those witnesses told the de Jesus family the officers dropped off Felix at a hangout area behind one of the high schools, along the Passaic river, and left him there.

But that information was not given to them by investigators. And they said there’s no record of anything happening at all.

[...]

 

[GuyfromCanada]

PATERSON — Felix DeJesus, the 41-year-old Haledon man missing since Feb. 2, was seen by five people around Westside Park that night after he was brought to the area by Paterson police officers, authorities said.

The announcement made Thursday by Haledon police, who are conducting a missing person investigation, represents the first official statement by authorities that someone saw DeJesus after his encounter with Paterson police officers earlier that day.

More at Missing Haledon NJ man spotted near Paterson park night he disappeared

 

[Charlot123]

Sounds fishy. The weather was not cold in NJ that day....wish that the family gets their answers.

 

[sds71]

This N.J. man went missing after Paterson police left him at a park 3 months ago.

Felix DeJesus remains missing after Paterson police officers detained him on Feb. 2. Then, left him at nearby Westside Park. He has not been seen since.

www.nj.com

 

[PommyMommy]

APR 28 Press Release:

https://www.facebook.com/haledonpolice/photos/a.5123582834366633/5260407257350856

 

[sds71]

New Jersey Superior Court Judge Thomas Brogan on Monday ruled that the recordings must be made public. That decision was rendered in a lawsuit brought against the city by the USA TODAY Network New Jersey over the city’s rejection of Paterson Press’ public records request for the videos.

Judge says Paterson must release police videos in Felix DeJesus missing person case

The city must release to the public the body-camera video recordings for the Paterson police officers who detained Felix DeJesus, a judge ruled.

www.northjersey.com

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Body camera footage shows missing NJ man in police custody

FOX 5 NY has obtained police body camera footage showing Felix de Jesus, 41, in handcuffs in the back of a police car in Paterson. De Jesus has been missing since February.

news.yahoo.com

 

[modesty blaise]

This is ridiculous I hope the family gets some answers soon.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The protesters were family members and friends of Felix DeJesus, the 41-year-old Haledon man, who has been missing since Feb. 2 after he was detained by two Paterson police officers. The family members have attended every council meeting for the past four months, repeatedly criticizing the way authorities have handled the investigation into the two cops’ interaction with DeJesus.

On Tuesday night, the DeJesus group objected to being told they had to move to another area of the room and that their interaction with police department members disrupted the council session so much that officials recessed the meeting and shut off the city’s cameras that were recording the event.

When the meeting reconvened, several members of the council criticized the way the DeJesus family was treated, noting that protesters and others — including police officers and firefighters — have been allowed to stand along the back wall of the council chambers during government meetings and other public events.

Family, friends of missing man Felix DeJesus asked to move from spot at Paterson council meeting

Felix DeJesus has been missing for months following an interaction with the Paterson police department.

www.northjersey.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

City officials say they do not have the audio recordings of police radio transmissions from the two officers who detained Felix DeJesus on the night in early February gwhen the 41-year-old Haledon man went missing.

Paterson routinely disposes of police radio transmissions after 30 days, a policy that follows state records retention guidelines, city officials said his week in their response to a news reporter's public records request for the recordings.

City officials noted that the Paterson Press request for copies of the radio transmission was not filed until June, well after the 30-day retention period.

But the lawyer retained by DeJesus' family called the disposal of the recordings "very suspicious." The attorney, Jeff Patti, noted that an Internal Affairs investigation into the incident already had begun within two weeks of DeJesus’ disappearance, well before the 30-day disposal timeframe.

Within two weeks, DeJesus family members were raising questions about the police officers’ interactions with the missing man and asking for various recordings and public documents.

“To me, that’s mind-blowing,” said Crystal Garcia, DeJesus’ sister-in-law, when told the city did not have the radio transmissions. “They should have made sure everything was kept. Nothing should have been deleted or erased.”

Paterson says radio transmissions in Felix DeJesus missing person case no longer exist

Paterson officials say they do not have the police radio recordings from the officers who detained Felix DeJesus when the Haledon man went missing.

www.northjersey.com

 

[GuyfromCanada]

AUG 9

After searching for 41-year-old Feliz DeJesus for six months without success, Haledon police this week announced a $5,000 reward for information that helps find him.

“We’re grateful for whatever we can get,” Crystal Garcia, the missing man’s sister-in-law, said of the reward.

The family’s lawyer, Jeff Patti, said DeJesus' relatives are praying the money will be “enough incentive for the public to help bring Felix home.”

“Someone out there knows what happened to Felix,” the attorney said.

More at Haledon police offer $5,000 reward for info in Felix DeJesus disappearance

 

[YaYa_521]

AUG 9

After searching for 41-year-old Feliz DeJesus for six months without success, Haledon police this week announced a $5,000 reward for information that helps find him.

“We’re grateful for whatever we can get,” Crystal Garcia, the missing man’s sister-in-law, said of the reward.

The family’s lawyer, Jeff Patti, said DeJesus' relatives are praying the money will be “enough incentive for the public to help bring Felix home.”

“Someone out there knows what happened to Felix,” the attorney said.

More at Haledon police offer $5,000 reward for info in Felix DeJesus disappearance

SBM

Haledon's reward notice asks anyone with information to contact borough police at (973) 790-4444 or [email protected] or to contact the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office at 1-877-370-PCPO or Paterson police at (973) 321-1120.

 

[Unalienable Rights]

Cries for help and matching reward to find missing man fall on deaf ears in Paterson | Calavia-Robertson

Felix DeJesus went missing after Paterson cops say they left him at a park six months ago. No one has seen him since.

www.nj.com

By

• Daysi Calavia-Robertson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Tuesday night I watched the mother of missing Haledon man Felix DeJesus sob at a Paterson City Council meeting. She held a hot pink poster emblazoned with photos of her son and stood in silence next to her family as she cried, taking off her glasses to wipe away the tears.

She listened as her youngest son Giovanni DeJesus spoke at the podium, his voice breaking as he made an impassioned plea for help finding his brother. Alongside them, friends and relatives, holding brightly-colored posters which read “Justice for Felix DeJesus,” were on the verge of tears themselves.

It was a heartbreaking scene live-streamed on Facebook and one that’s played out in public before. The desperate family has repeatedly made appearances at monthly city council meetings to beg for help because it was the city’s own police officers who were the last ones to see him alive. DeJesus has been missing since the cold February night two Paterson Police officers say they dropped him off at Westside Park.

“He went missing in your city, he went missing in your ward...What have you done to try to find him? What have you done?!” asked a visibly frustrated Giovanni DeJesus.

Adding to the distressful moment was the fact that it appeared one of the city council members wasn’t even paying attention to their pleas.

Giovanni DeJesus stopped speaking to sternly ask him to “stop looking at your phone,” and “look me in the eyes.”

It was a moment of blatant disrespect and a gross lack of empathy towards this grieving family that was hard for me to watch even through a screen.

Long article -- more at link.

 

[PommyMommy]

OCT 23, 2022

Officer at center of missing Paterson man case arrested brother, lawyer says

The ongoing controversy over Felix DeJesus’ disappearance took a new turn early Sunday morning when the police officer involved arrested his brother.

www.northjersey.com

The ongoing controversy over Felix DeJesus’ disappearance took a new turn early Sunday morning when a Paterson police officer involved in that case arrested the missing man’s brother at the scene of a domestic dispute.

The brother, Giovanni DeJesus, had called 911 when his wife, Crystal Garcia, prevented him from leaving their apartment to take a walk, according to the family’s lawyer, Jeff Patti.

The officer who came knocking at their door in response to the call was Jacob Feliciano, the same cop who had taken Felix DeJesus into custody on Feb. 2, the night he went missing, the lawyer said.

[...]

 

[asmi106082]

OCT 23, 2022

Officer at center of missing Paterson man case arrested brother, lawyer says

The ongoing controversy over Felix DeJesus’ disappearance took a new turn early Sunday morning when the police officer involved arrested his brother.

www.northjersey.com

The ongoing controversy over Felix DeJesus’ disappearance took a new turn early Sunday morning when a Paterson police officer involved in that case arrested the missing man’s brother at the scene of a domestic dispute.

The brother, Giovanni DeJesus, had called 911 when his wife, Crystal Garcia, prevented him from leaving their apartment to take a walk, according to the family’s lawyer, Jeff Patti.

The officer who came knocking at their door in response to the call was Jacob Feliciano, the same cop who had taken Felix DeJesus into custody on Feb. 2, the night he went missing, the lawyer said.

[...]

I would be really curious to see what grounds this officer had to place Giovanni under arrest. Was he charged with domestic violence? If so, was there any proof? <modsnip>
It’s really disgusting the way the city is treating this family. I hope the family continues to crusade for their brother and I hope more MSM outlets will pick up this story and run with it. <modsnip> God bless the DeJesus family.

 

[Aurora90]

I never heard of this until now. MSM should be all over this.

I'm appalled at what has happened. <modsnip>

 

[PommyMommy]

OCT 28, 2022

Felix DeJesus is still missing. Now the Paterson City Council wants the NJ AG on the case

The Paterson City Council is asking the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office to take over the investigation into Felix DeJesus’ disappearance.

www.northjersey.com

The City Council is asking the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office to take over the investigation into Felix DeJesus’ disappearance and to make public police Internal Affairs files on the controversial case.

The nine council members made those requests on Thursday in a letter written on their behalf by Paterson’s law director to Attorney General Matthew Platkin.

“The release of any Internal Affairs files would lend transparency to this matter and also may assist with the missing person investigation,” wrote the city’s legal counsel, Aymen Aboushi.

[...]

“This is out of frustration, because the family has not received the answers that it’s looking for from the council,” said Councilman Luis Velez. “It’s time for somebody to answer their questions and put this to rest and maybe bring some peace to the family.”

At present, there are two separate investigations involving DeJesus’ disappearance: a missing person’s case handled by Haledon police and an IA probe by Paterson police into the actions of the officers who took him into custody. Both of those investigations remain open, officials said.

[...]