By Jeff Lipton
The suspect, identified as Liu Xu of Prospect Avenue, turned himself in to authorities at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, May 5, after being sought for nearly a week by Jersey City police, officials said. He was arrested on four charges following a brief meeting with Jersey City Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham.
Through an interpreter, Xu apologized for causing the city so much trouble with his
warehouse, which authorities said posed a
nuisance as well as a health risk to its
population.
This warehouse caused a considerable health risk, said Mayor Cunningham, formerly a U.S. Marshal for New Jersey, who participated in his last arrest more than two years ago. Mr. Xu reached my office on the telephone through his interpreter and he wanted to personally apologize to me and the city for the problems his warehouse has caused.
I convinced him to come in to straighten the matter out, added Cunningham, who was known as Slow Tracker for his ability to solve cold cases, or those cases that remained unsolved for several years, when he was a homicide detective with the Jersey City Police Department.
I also explained that there were charges pending against him for the nuisance caused, said Cunningham. He seemed genuine in his apology.
The problem with Xu's warehouse came to light shortly after 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 30, when Jersey City
firefighters responded to a call at 20
Amity Street in the downtown section
of the city after receiving complaints about a horrid smell, the mayor's office said.
Firefighters found Xu's building, which formerly housed Max's Natural Foods warehouse, with the refrigeration turned off and no employees in sight. The lack
of refrigeration had caused thousands
of pounds of seafood to rot, authorities said.
Jersey City workers have laid poisonous bait in the warehouse to kill the number of rats that gathered to feast on the rotting food, officials said.
During a two-day cleanup on May 7
and 8, work crews removed the rotted
food and hauled it to a city dump, authorities said.
Xu told Mayor Cunningham that he would pick up the anticipated $50,000 expense for the cleanup, the mayor's office said.
Xu faces four charges: recklessly causing or risking widespread injury or damage; criminal mischief for knowingly creating damage by abandoning a facility carrying perishable products; committing an act or offense by creating a nuisance; and maintaining or permitting an accumulation or source of foulness that is hazardous to health.
Xu was being held on $1,500 bail, authorities said.
Reached at their home on Prospect Avenue in Hewlett, Xu's family would not comment on the charges.
No reasons were given why Xu had abandoned his warehouse.
