Woman charged with aggravated assault, DWI

Maria Cerino, 46, of Sparta was charged with aggravated assault and driving while intoxicated Dec. 4.

At about 5:15 p.m., police to Liquor Factory on Woodport Road on a report of an individual sleeping in a vehicle. Patrolman Christopher Schanstra found a silver Cadillac SUV parked there with the driver, Cerino, leaning slightly forward in her seat with her head down.

When talking to her, he suspected that she might be intoxicated. She admitted consuming alcoholic beverages earlier in the day, police said.

After speaking with Cerino for a short period of time, she became agitated and yelled obscenities at Schanstra, who requested a backup unit.

When Patrolman Michael Poon tried to speak with Cerino, she yelled obscenities and refused to follow instructions. At one point, she threw a lit cigarette at Poon, police said, and she actively resisted attempts to place her under arrest.

She bit Schanstra’s left wrist while she was seated on the ground near her vehicle and struck him in the groin with her right knee, and she spit in Poon’s face.

The Sparta Ambulance Squad arrived to evaluate Cerino, then took her to the hospital.

Cerino also was charged with throwing bodily fluids at an officer, resisting arrest and careless driving. She was released at the hospital pending a court appearance.

Shoplifting charge

John Alfieri, 53, of Highland Lakes was charged with shoplifting Dec. 4 after Sparta Patrolman Erick Finley was dispatched to the ShopRite in Sparta on a shoplifting complaint.

The manager of ShopRite provided Finley with surveillance footage of a customer who had shoplifted in the store on 10 different occasions from October to December.

The customer was identified as Alfieri, who admitted taking items without paying but only accidentally, forgetting they were in his cart once or twice.

DWI charge

Estanisla Breton Rojas, 54, of Dover was charged with driving while intoxicated about 3 a.m. Nov. 29 after a resident reported a suspicious vehicle near Brookside Drive and Natures Way.

Patrolman Taylor May found a black Honda in the road with the driver, Breton Rojas, asleep at the wheel of the still-running vehicle.

While speaking to him, May suspected that May was impaired by alcohol and asked him to perform field sobriety tests. He then was arrested and taken to the New Jersey State Police Sussex Barracks for breath testing.

He also was charged with careless driving, failure to produce insurance card and delaying traffic. He was released to a sober adult and ordered to appear in Sparta Municipal Court.