New Jersey's George Freyre, arrested in connection with Times Square bomb scare van, released

BY Melissa Grace and Larry Mcshane
Daily News
Friday, January 1st 2010, 2:08 PM

George Freyre was released after being arrested in connection with a suspicious van associated with the Times Square bomb scare.

A New Jersey man arrested in connection with a suspicious van that caused a Times Square bomb scare was released Friday as his lawyer denied any link to the vehicle.

George Freyre, 36, said nothing as he left Manhattan Criminal Court with his son and a friend.

Defense lawyer Bruce Wegner, who successfully argued for Freyre's release without bail, insisted his client was innocent.

"My client is denying the charges," Wegner said at a morning hearing for the Palisades Park, N.J., man.

The street peddler was charged with a felony for allegedly forging the expiration date on the van's temporary registration.

He also faces a violation of the city administrative code for unlawful use or possession of an official city parking card.

Prosecutor Andrew Cliver asked for $10,000 bail, noting Freyre has two prior disorderly conduct charges and an arrest for pushing an FDNY lieutenant.

"The bomb squad and ESU were called in," Cliver said. "The van had peddler property inside and Times Square was effectively shut down for the day. The defendant did admit that the van was his."

Freyre, who works at a Jersey City used car dealership, does not own the van, Wegner insisted.

He only surrendered to police Thursday evening because "they were looking for him, they said he was wanted," the attorney said.

The 1997 Dodge triggered a bomb scare Wednesday because it had no license plates and a bogus parking placard on the dashboard. Its windows were covered on the inside with garbage bags.

It prompted Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly to order a review of how the vehicle was allowed to sit illegally parked for two days.

After a 911 call about the van, cops shut down parts of Times Square, evacuated buildings and used a remote-controlled robot to check for explosives in the van, parked on Broadway near 42nd St.

A folding table and some imitation Burberry scarves were the van's only contents.

Freyre apparently chickened out when he saw the massive police response, sources said. He gave his keys to a Bronx man who let the cops into the vehicle.

The parking card was issued by Detectives Crime Clinic, Metropolitan New Jersey and New York.

Kelly directed the NYPD's Legal Bureau to pursue possible civil action against the Bronx-based nonprofit for issuing the placard, which one source said was "manufactured for the purpose of escaping parking tickets."