Police Charge Fort Lee Man With 'False Public Alarms'

Police charged a Fort Lee man Friday with “False Public Alarms” stemming from a June 6 incident in which the man allegedly posted notes on a telephone pole and the front door of his own residence suggesting someone inside was either injured, suicidal or in need of help.

James Giaconnie, 45, of 490 Jane St. in Fort Lee, turned himself in to Fort Lee police Friday after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

“A passerby [on a bicycle] alerted police to notes that were posted to a telephone pole, around and on the front door of 490 Jane St.,” said Fort Lee Police D/Sgt. Kenneth Porrino. “The notes made reference to someone possibly leaving the door open so someone could go and hurt the resident inside. Also on the note, it stated for someone to please call the police and that the person who may have posted the note was afraid for their life.”

Responding officers initially believed they may have been dealing with either a suicidal or an injured person inside the residence after reading the notes, police said, and the Fort Lee Police Emergency Services Unit was called to the scene. 

“These officers came into contact with a resident of 490 Jane St., and it was determined that his family was on the first floor,” Porrino said. “It was unknown if anyone was occupying the second floor.”  

The Emergency Services Unit entered the first floor residence, evacuating the occupants, and had to make a forced entry into the second floor residence, which turned out to be unoccupied, police said.   

A subsequent investigation by the Fort Lee Detective Bureau determined that Giaconnie was allegedly responsible for writing and posting the notes, according to police, who issued a warrant for his arrest. 

The charge of False Public Alarms is a third degree crime (N.J.S.A. 2C:33-3) , according to New Jersey criminal code, of which a suspect is guilty if he or she “initiates or circulates a report or warning of an impending fire, explosion, bombing, crime, catastrophe or emergency knowing that the report or warning is false or baseless and that it is likely to cause evacuation of a building, place of assembly, or facility of public transport, or to cause public inconvenience or alarm.”

Giaconnie was released on his own recognizance Friday pending a court date, police said.

Townhouse | Easy Money Investing

There’s nothing exciting about the utilitarian façade of David Burke’s high-rise building. But walk through his front door of his art-filled townhouse in Fort Lee, NJ, and you’re knocked out by the stunning wall of windows that overlooks Burke’s outdoor space — and the Hudson River and Manhattan skyline beyond.

“The view here is incredible,” Burke says. “It’s kind of unique. The storms are great to watch from the patio.”

The renowned chef and owner of seven restaurants — Townhouse, Fishtail, David Burke at Bloomingdale’s on the Upper East Side, the new David Burke Kitchen at SoHo’s James hotel and spots in Chicago, Connecticut and New Jersey — Burke moved from a rural Jersey area into the Fort Lee building 12 years ago. It was supposed to be a stopgap.

< ?EM-dummyText credits > The art and views loom large at chef David Burke’s Fort Lee, NJ, duplex.

Michael Sofronski

ALL IN A DAY’S BURKE: The 3,400-square-foot townhouse includes a wall featuring five paintings by Chagall and a Picasso.

Michael Sofronski

GREEN BACK: Burke likes to have his morning coffee outdoors, where he can enjoy this view.

“I was living in Scotch Plains in the woods,” Burke, 49, says. “I got tired of the commute and I wound up here. I said I’d stay for a year and move on, but it’s easy living. I love having a yard but not having to deal with it.”

Until two years ago, the single father of three owned a smaller residence next door (there are six townhouse units and hundreds of smaller apartments in the complex). He then upgraded to a three-bedroom, 3,400-square-foot duplex, which he recently renovated.

Burke knocked down walls upstairs to create a huge master bedroom, took down most of the mirrored paneling from the ’70s and gave the whole place a lick of paint. Outside, he put out potted flowers, a glass dining table and all-weather couches on the patio, where he enjoys his morning cup of coffee.

Inside, as you’d expect in a bachelor pad (Burke’s children live elsewhere), the furniture is either black and leathery or neutral. And there are plenty of gadgets. In the den, an enormous TV takes up an entire wall; in the kitchen, a juicer, a Cona coffeemaker that looks more like a piece of lab equipment, a lipstick-red espresso machine and a red toaster oven all take up counter space. They’re almost never used.

Fort Lee, New Jersey, Fort Lee, New Jersey, George Washington Bridge, Fort Lee Police Department, Burdett's Landing

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The Palisades, a replanning study of the cliff top in Fort Lee, New Jersey

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Report of the survey of the schools of Fort Lee, New Jersey