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Crime & Safety

Cops: Truck Theft Part of Man's Month-Long Spree

Morris County resident has had several brushes with the law in the past month, including allegations that he harassed golf course workers, stole a truck and wielding an ax in a fast food restaurant.

The Morris County man who allegedly on Saturday has been in trouble with police several times in the past month, including one incident in which he is accused of demanding food at a McDonald's while holding an ax and an incident in Jefferson Township for allegedly stealing a truck.

Philip Cise, 48, of Dover, was back on the road one day after striking Gabrielle Reuveni, 20, while she jogged Saturday near her family’s Poconos vacation home. The following day, police said, Cise plowed another vehicle into a utility pole in Lake Hiawatha.

Cise was uninjured and officers discovered he had an arrest warrant for allegedly harassing employees at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster. Cise was arrested and handed over to Bedminster Township Police.

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Cise allegedly harassed workers at the country club on June 30 and again a week later, and police issued a warrant for his arrest on defying trespass and harassment charges, Bedminster Police Chief Pat Ussrey said.

"Then we heard bits and pieces of continued run-ins with the authorities by Mr. Cise in Rockaway Borough, Parsippany, Jefferson Township, and tragically in Pennsylvania," Ussrey said.

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Cise also faces weapons charges after allegedly wielding an ax while demanding free food at a Rockaway McDonald's restaurant last Monday, according to NJ.com. Cise was processed and released, according to the report.

Cise was also arrested on July 7 for stealing a truck from a Jefferson Township driveway, according to police. The vehicle was recovered and returned to the owner, and Cise was released on bail, police said.

Cise is being held at Somerset County Jail. Bedminster Police are communicating with other jurisdictions in an attempt to combine charges to make it more difficult for Cise to make bail.

"Unfortunately, you can only work within the constructs of the system," Ussrey said.

Cise was driving a 2007 Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck in Palmyra, Pa., on Saturday when he crossed the double-yellow lines multiples time before hitting Reuveni, who was jogging on the shoulder of Pennsylvania State Route 507 around noon, according to Pennsylvania Trooper Michael Mulvey.

Reuveni was running on the shoulder of the road traveling south in the same direction as the truck struck when it hit her from behind, police said.

Authorities conducted a field sobriety test at the scene on Cise and he was examined by a drug recognition expert, police said. He was later taken to Wayne County Memorial Hospital for blood tests and released. Charges by the District Attorney’s office are pending the complete results.

Reuveni was a member of the 2011 National Champion women’s cross-country team, and an International Area Studies major at Washington University in St. Louis. She was also a member of the Alpha Phi sorority, according to Washington University's independent school paper, Student Life.

Her mother, Jacqueline, .

By Monday night, about 2,000 people had joined a Facebook page in memory of Reuveni. Friends shared photos, memories and condolences, even offering to host out of town guests for the funeral.

The Star-Ledger reported in 2001 that Cise, who then lived in Long Valley, was charged with threatening a Tewksbury police officer who confronted him while Cise was collecting money for the “Fire Fighter Phil Foundation” to raise money for 9/11 families.

Cise made news in 2010 when he attempted to raise money to turn an artist’s last painting into a 5-acre 9/11 memorial in Allamuchy. Cise was reportedly a volunteer firefighter in Summit who cleared debris from the World Trade Center site.

The artist told the Ledger in 2001 that she had severed her relationship with Cise. She died in 2007.

Cise was profiled in a Tennessee newspaper the first week of June, telling the reporter that he was in Rhea County to work on a book about 9/11.

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