Bergenfield woman: 'He's not a bad kid. It's the damn drugs that does it to him'

BERGENFIELD – On a recent muggy afternoon, the ceiling fan in Audrey Alben's kitchen was spinning so fast that its blades could be heard carving the air.

That the fan remains in place at all is a wonder, considering everything else she said she had lost.

In the four years since her grandson, Stephen Willard, moved into her Willow Street home, the 84-year-old widow said he had sold her portable air-conditioner, her refrigerator, a computer and a television — all to feed his heroin addiction.

"He's not a bad kid," said Alben, a native of Bergenfield. "It's the damn drugs that does it to him."

On Monday, police accused Stephen and his father, Vance Willard, who also lives in the home, of elder abuse and fencing, alleging that they had deprived Alben of such "necessities" as air-conditioning and a refrigerator and that they had removed certain items from the residence and sold them.

Alben said the refrigerator, in particular, had troubled law enforcement. She said police visited her home each day to see if it had been returned. Eventually, she said, she borrowed a mini fridge from a family friend.

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Despite this, Alben denies charges that she was being abused. She said she was able to take care of herself, cook for herself and, sometimes, drive herself to run errands.

And she vehemently disputes any allegation that her son Vance had taken her belongings.

"I have no idea why they put him under arrest," Alben said of Vance. "My son hates stealers. As a kid, he wouldn't even take a candy bar."

Broken promises

Alben, a retired bookkeeper, said she moved into the house on Willow Street with Vance in 2010. Stephen, she said, moved there about three years later.

Neither Stephen, who is 25, nor Vance, who is 61, have full-time jobs, Alben said. Pointing to a stack of unpaid bills, she said the family had no steady stream of income other than her pension payments and Social Security checks.

Alben does not have a working land-line telephone because the phone company disconnected her service. Her home has a central air-conditioner, but she does not turn it on to save money.

Alben claims Stephen withdrew $10,000 from her bank account, though he has not been charged with stealing money from her. When that money dried up, she said, he started selling her possessions on Craigslist.

"He apologizes every two minutes," Alben said, referring to her grandson. "What good does it do?"

Detective Sgt. William Duran said he could not comment on Stephen's alleged drug abuse, citing an ongoing investigation.

Attempts to reach Stephen and Vance were unsuccessful.

Stephen was held on Friday in the Bergen County Jail on a deviant trespassing charge out of River Vale. His public defender, Benjamin Malin, did not return a call for comment.

Vance was released from jail on Tuesday, but Alben said she had not had contact with him and that he did not have a cellphone. As of Thursday, a court official said, he did not have an attorney.

Broken glass

Capt. Mustafa Rabboh said police began investigating the father and son earlier this month when a next-door neighbor's home was burglarized. He said a trail of blood led detectives from a shattered window of that home to Alben's garage.

Alben's neighbor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she had come home from her job as an administrative assistant on July 5 to find shards of glass strewn across the floor of her dining room.

Her mind was racing, she said: "I thought it was the chandelier — I thought it just bust. I was scared. I was shaking, to be honest."

She said a bracelet, which was recovered, and $120 in cash were stolen from a jewelry box in her bedroom. Besides the shattered window, she said, drapes were torn and blood stains were left on the carpet.

Police say Stephen broke into the home with his father's help. Stephen was charged with burglary, criminal mischief and theft. Vance was charged with burglary, hindering apprehension and obstruction of justice.

But the neighbor said Vance had told her that Stephen had threatened him with a knife, forcing his father to drive him to a pawn shop to sell the bracelet.

"I'm more angry at the father," she said. "How do you let your kid get away with that?"

She said Stephen later apologized, but did not pay back the money he allegedly took from her jewelry box.

"I know what addicts do," she said. "They apologize, whether or not it's real."

Email: devencentis@northjersey.com