Find Your Daily Voice
Columbia
Your Local News for Columbia, Maryland
Tuesday, nov 26
36°
Follow
News
Schools
Business
Obituaries
Police & Fire
Weather
Lifestyle
Politics
Sports
Events
Traffic
Tags
Jobs
Shop
Support Us
Columbia
Follow
Find Your Daily Voice
News
Schools
Business
Obituaries
Police & Fire
Weather
Lifestyle
Politics
Sports
Events
Traffic
Tags
Jobs
Shop
Support Us
Home
About us
All sites
Advertise with us
Contact us
Terms of use
Privacy policy
Code of ethics
Site Map
© 2024 Cantata Media
36°
Tuesday, nov 26
Tag:
Newark, NJ
Lifestyle
'Queen Of Christmas' Mariah Carey's Holiday Tour Stopping In MD: Here's When, Where
Get ready, lambs. Mariah Claus is comin’ to town. The oft-proclaimed queen of Christmas herself, singing superstar Mariah Carey, will hit several arenas across the Northeast on her holiday tour, dubbed “Mariah Carey’s Christmas Time.” A celebration of the 30th anniversary of her wildly successful “Merry Christmas” album and its megahit single, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” the tour will visit 20 cities across the country. The show is produced by Live Nation and features Carey’s “timeless holiday classics alongside fan-favorite chart-toppers promising an unforgettable festive experienc…
Police & Fire
Chilean Ring Used NJ Digs To Stash Loot From Home Burglaries In NY, MD, Elsewhere: Feds
Six Chilean nationals who burglarized homes in multiple states were recorded on video stashing a huge safe and other items stolen in the break-ins in a Jersey City apartment building, authorities said. The crew took pearl necklaces, diamond earrings, a distinctive high school “state champions” ring, and other jewelry during the burglary of a Westchester County, NY, residence in late March, an FBI complaint says. The same burglars struck again in Baltimore County, MD, in mid-April, taking luxury timepieces, distinctive cufflinks, and a safe that contained a collection of rare coins, the comp…
Police & Fire
Maryland Man Admits To Conning Customers Out Of $2.1M By Substituting Dirt, Debris For Scrap
The owner of a New Jersey-based scrap metal company told a customer that dirt and debris found packed into a container shipped to Korea that was supposed to hold aluminum scrap was a mistake, authorities said. Turns out it wasn’t. Creed White, 64, of Freeland, Maryland, admitted in federal court in Camden, NJ, this week that he scammed a dozen or so businesses out of more than $2 million, authorities said on Thursday, Aug. 3. Using the name “Dan Stein,” White contacted one of the victims through an Internet message board on behalf of his Camden-based company American Scrap company, a compl…
News
2,500 Southwest Flight Cancellations Leave Stranded Passengers Seething In Post-Christmas Mess
More than 2,500 Southwest Airlines flights were cancelled and 8,3072 delayed as of Wednesday, Dec. 28 leaving even more passengers across the US stranded and seething. Processes and computer systems that haven't changed since the 1990s are to blame, Captain Casey Murray, the president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, tells CNN. “It’s phones, it’s computers, it’s processing power, it’s the programs used to connect us to airplanes," he said, "that’s where the problem lies, and it’s systemic throughout the whole airline." The federal government said it plans on investigating. Cu…
News
New Jersey, Maryland Among Cheapest States To Fly From: Report
Flying out of New Jersey and Maryland will do the least damage to your wallet, according to a new report. New Jersey was ranked the second cheapest state to fly from, with an average ticket price of $268.90, a study by couponfollow.com revealed. Flight prices from Newark have dropped over 18% since early 2019, the website said. Maryland ranked as the fifth cheapest state in the U.S. to fly from, with flight prices from Baltimore dropping over five percent since 2019, couponfollow.com said. The average ticket price in Maryland sat at $315.20, according to the travel study. Ala…
News
Man Who Made Threats Against Fauci, Other Feds Sentenced In Maryland
The man who admitted to making threats toward Dr. Anthony Fauci, his family, and other federal officials will spend years behind bars after being sentenced to federal prison time in Maryland. West Virginia resident Thomas Patrick Connally, Jr., 57, was sentenced to 37 months in prison by US District Judge Paula Xinis for making threats against a federal official, specifically for sending emails threatening to harm Fauci. Connally also admitted to threatening Dr. Francis Collins, the former Director of the NIH, Dr. Rachel Levine, the former Secretary of Health for the State of Pennsylva…
News
Assault Charges Dropped Against Football Player Who Decked Combative Airline Employee In Newark
A former NFL player who laid out a United Airlines employee after getting sucker-slapped during a now-infamous clash at Newark Airport reportedly is no longer facing charges. Simple assault charges against Brendan Langley were dropped after authorities determined that he'd used reasonable force during a May incident that went viral, his lawyer told TMZ Sports. "We are grateful for the Court’s decision which puts an end to this ordeal that began nearly two months ago when Mr. Langley was assaulted then wrongfully arrested and charged for exercising his rights under the law," attorney Halim …
Lifestyle
The Boss Is Back: Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band Returning To Baltimore In 2023
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will be making a return to Baltimore next year for the first time since 2016, according to reports by WBAL-TV 11. The famed 'Born In The USA' singer will host the grand opening performance of the newly restored Baltimore Arena on April 7, 2023, as a part of his first North American tour since 2016, the outlet continues. Tickets will go on sale for the tour through Ticketmaster's Verified Fan platform on Tuesday, July 26 at 10 a.m., with remaining tickets opening to the public at 3 p.m., the outlet says. The planned 31-show tour is slated to kick off …
News
$6.8M
Covid-
19 Scam: Ex-Hedge Fund Manager Gets 4+ Years, No Parole
A dual New York/Florida resident was sentenced in New Jersey to a plea-bargained 51 months in federal prison for fraudulently collecting more than $6.8 million in COVID-19 payroll protection loans -- $3 million of which he lost in the stock market. Gregory J. Blotnick, 35, will have to serve just about all of the sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti sentenced Blotnick in Newark to two years of supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution of $4,577,631. Blotnick told the judge last f…
News
Man Who Showed Up For Sex With 'Girl,' 13, At NJ Motel Sent To Federal Prison
A Bronx man was sentenced to two years in federal prison for arranging what he thought would be sex with a 13-year-old girl at a New Jersey motel. Eduardo Silva, 44, must serve the entire term because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb also sentenced him to lifetime supervised release during a hearing in federal court in Camden on Thursday, April 28. Silva used a social media app to ask the “minor” whether she was “into older guys,” U.S Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. He then “sent a series of explicit online communications and text mess…
News
Billion-Dollar Stock Fraud: Indicted Bergen County Businessman Freed On $100M Bond
A Bergen County businessman was arrested by federal agents on charges of orchestrating a massive market manipulation scheme that caused one of the biggest Wall Street trading collapses in history. Sung Kook “Bill” Hwang put the entire financial system at risk by conspiring with his former chief financial officer to boost profits for his Archegos Capital Management by lying to banks to inflate the stock prices of publicly traded companies, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday, April 27. The fraud scheme ballooned Hwang’s personal fortune from $1.5 billion to more than $35 billion in a singl…
News
Major Drug Trafficker Admits Shipping 40 Pounds Of Heroin From Cali To NJ On Car Carrier
UPDATE: A major drug trafficker from Somerset County who led investigators on a high-speed chase admitted moving massive amounts of heroin into New Jersey, federal authorities said. Authorities targeted William T. Bouza, 45, of Watchung, in early 2019 after intercepting 33 pounds of heroin stashed in a secret compartment of a Mercedes shipped on a car carrier to New Jersey from California, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Bouza was waiting for the drugs in Union but bolted after sensing something fishy, an indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Newark says. The following mont…
News
Amtrak Worker Gets 18 Months Without Parole For Selling Stolen Agency Equipment
UPDATE: A now-former Amtrak employee from the Jersey Shore was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for selling hundreds of chainsaws and chainsaw parts that he stole from the agency. Jose Rodriguez, 49, of Brick, will have to serve out the entire sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Rodriguez had collected 114 chainsaws, 122 chainsaw replacement bars and 222 replacement chains worth more than $76,000 before he was caught, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. He sold the items through online auction and directly to buyers, using the U.S. Postal Serv…
News
Feds: ID Thief Fraudulently Collected $140,000 In Pandemic Insurance While In Prison
People from all walks of life have fraudulently collected pandemic benefits, but Devontae Stokes took it to a different level. Stokes, a 27-year-old identity thief, was serving time at Fort Dix on an unspecified conviction when he schemed with others to collect $140,000 in COVID unemployment benefits while they were federal prisoners. That’s right. Stokes was a prisoner at the low-security Federal Correctional Institution adjacent to the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Burlington County when he and a group of co-conspirators “obtained personal identification information, including nam…
News
Cyber-Footsie Scammers From NJ, MD, VA Swindle $7 Million From Mostly Elderly Victims, Feds Say
Mostly elderly victims across the United States were conned out of a whopping $7 million by a quartet of romance scammers from New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia – all of whom were arrested by the FBI, authorities said. The victims sent the money to the imposters thinking that they were helping out love interests, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. They lost a lot. Arrested this past week, Sellinger said, were: Nana Yaw Marfo, 37, of Virginia, who was accused of receiving at least $4.7 million; Chevon Braxton, 42, of Maryland, who was accused of collecting at least $1.3 million; Will…
News
FBI: ‘Sextortion’ Of Teen Boys Is Increasing, Here's What Parents, Guardians Should Know
Reports of adults ‘sextorting’ teenage boys into sending them sexual videos or photos online are booming, particularly involving victims 14 to 17 years old, the FBI warns. In 2021 alone, its Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 18,000 sextortion-related complaints of various types, the bureau announced on Wednesday, April 13. A growing number involved late-teen boys targeted by predators posing as someone else, federal authorities said. It ordinarily begins with a contact through social media or on a gaming site. The adult predator or scammer "convinces the child to s…
News
Kidnapping
: Abducted Fort Lee Man Rescued By
Nypd
, Feds Seize Trio In $680,000 Ransom Demand
Federal authorities have charged three New York City men with kidnapping a Fort Lee resident and holding him for ransom. A judge ordered Albert Ferrelli, 50, and Chiahao Lee, 30, both of Queens, and Fa Deng, 42, of Staten Island detained following a brief hearing in U.S. District Court in Newark on Thursday, April 7. The kidnapper sent the victim’s wife a photograph showing the victim with his hands bound and his eyes and mouth duct-taped while demanding $680,000 following the Tuesday night abduction, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. New York City police officers resc…
News
Ex-Con From NY State Admits Trying To Get Loaded Gun Through Newark Airport Security
An ex-con from New York admitted trying to slip a loaded, stolen gun through the security checkpoint at Newark Airport late last year, authorities said. Desmond Herring, 48, of Newburgh, NY made a beeline for his gate when a TSA officer staffing the checkpoint X-ray monitor found the loaded weapon -- along with boxes of ammo -- in his carry-on bag on Nov. 29, 2021, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said. Port Authority police collected the bag and examined its contents, the TSA said at the time. Along with the 9mm pistol were 10 rounds loaded into a magazine, along with anot…
News
NJ Woman In Wheelchair, 74, Among Group Charged By Feds Following DC Anti-Abortion Protest
A 74-year-old North Jersey woman in a wheelchair was among a group of anti-abortion activists charged with federal civil rights violations for blocking access to a reproductive health clinic in Washington, D.C. The arrest of Joan Andrews-Bell of Montague and eight other demonstrators was originally live-streamed on Facebook during an October 2020 protest that they dubbed “The Pink Rose Rescue” and federal authorities called an “invasion." Justice Department officials on Wednesday, March 30 announced the return of an indictment charging the defendants with criminally conspiring to “injure, …
News
Feds: EPA Inspector From Bergen County Watched Child Porn On Work Computer At Home
A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employee from Fair Lawn watched child porn on his government-issued computer, authorities charged. John Struble, 63, was released by a U.S. magistrate judge in Newark, with conditions, after a brief video-conferenced appearance on Wednesday, March 29, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. Struble, who works as a tank system inspector for the EPA’s office in downtown Manhattan, is charged with possession of child pornography. “The EPA alerted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security Investigations that it discovered …
News
COVID Mask Seller From Brooklyn Pleads Guilty To Gouging NJ Grocers At 400% Markup
A Brooklyn company admitted that it illegally made a killing off a New Jersey grocery store chain by selling it COVID masks during the pandemic at a 400% markup, federal authorities said. Milk & Honey Ventures and two partners bought 250,000 KN95 filtering facepiece respirators from a foreign manufacturer, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said Tuesday, March 29. MHV had never sold personal protective equipment before, Sellinger said. The company and one its partners sold 100,000 of the masks to a chain of New Jersey grocery stores at $5.25 per mask -- far in excess of prevailing marke…
News
Career Criminal From Connecticut, 73, Admits Committing Murder-For-Hire Of Jersey City Politico
A hardened ex-con from Connecticut admitted that he and a longtime criminal pal from Philadelphia stabbed a political consultant to death and then torched his Jersey City apartment in a murder-for-hire attack. George Bratsenis, 73, of Monroe, CT said he and his partner were paid to whack Michael Galdieri, the son of former State Sen. James Galdieri (D-Jersey City) and a prominent figure in local Hudson County politics. Bratsenis and the other killer, Bomani Africa, 61, were hired by onetime political operative Sean Caddle, who’d been an aide to former State Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) a…
News
Update
: Food Network Kosher Chef From Teaneck Charged With Teen Sex Assaults
An accomplished kosher chef from Teaneck who appeared on the Food Network show "Chopped" was jailed on child sex assault charges. Shalom Yehudiel, 40, of Surfside, FL, remained held in the Bergen County Jail on Thursday, March 17, following his arrest the day before, records show. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella issued a statement that said, in part: "On Friday, Nov. 19, 2021, the FBI contacted the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit regarding the alleged sexual assault of a child. A months-long investigation by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and the FBI …
News
$1.5M Cosmetics Company Scam Sends Englewood Swindler To Federal Prison For 2½ Years
A former Englewood resident must serve nearly 2½ years in federal prison for scamming three investors out of $1.5 million. Matthew Benjamin, 54, used the victims' money for car and house rental payments, food, international travel, legal fees, technology equipment and summer camp tuition for family members, among other purposes, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. Benjamin, currently of New York, told the victims that his purported company, Clear Solutions Group, had lucrative contracts to purchase closeout or excess cosmetic inventory from one company that he planned to …
News
Feds: NJ High School Food Service Worker Had 1,673 Child Porn Files
A New Jersey high school food service worker was caught trafficking child porn, federal authorities said. Ezra W. Saphire, 29, of West Orange, was working at a high school in East Hanover (Morris County) when investigators found 1,014 video files and 659 still images of child sexual abuse, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. "These files included multiple visual depictions of prepubescent children being sexually abused by adults," the U.S. attorney said. Special agents of the Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations arrested Saphire on Thursday, March 10, and …
News
Feds: Smuggler Who Imported Ton Of Cocaine Into US Gets 15 Years Without Parole
A man who authorities said imported almost a ton of cocaine into the United States from Venezuela, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic was sentenced in federal court in Newark to a plea-bargained federal prison term of nearly 15 years, authorities said. Edwin “Tortuga” Nieves-Rosado, a 56-year-old U.S. citizen who was living in the Dominican Republic, must serve just about all of the sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Nieves-Rosado "played a managerial role" in conspiring to smuggle the cocaine from with at least five other people from 2016 through January, 20…
News
NJ Feds: California Gal Admits Running $9.9 Million Counterfeit Coupon Scam
UPDATE: A California woman admitted in federal court in New Jersey that she created and sold more than $9.9 million worth of counterfeit coupons used at retail stores throughout the country. Using the name “Mandy Carr,” Tong Lor printed Carolina coupons with fake bar codes for household items such as diapers, laundry detergent, and toiletries and then mailed them to customers nationwide, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Lor, 34, of Modesto sold the counterfeit coupons via invitation-only Internet groups associated with her businesses: Mandy’s Treasure Box, Mandy's Knitting …
News
Totowa Trio Charged With Killing Paterson Woman Found Stuffed In Car Trunk
UPDATE: One of three people charged with the brutal murder of a Paterson woman told detectives that she saw her live-in boyfriend and his father carry a large box from their Totowa home to the victim's car the night she was believed killed, authorities said. The victim, Stephanie DeJesus, 38, had driven to the Gordon Avenue home where Justin Fisher and Joelle Martucci lived with their young son the night of Feb. 23, documents say security video shows. She'd driven there from a nearby pharmacy, according to an affidavit filed in Superior Court in Paterson. Martucci, 24, pulled up afterward…
News
Man Admits Role In NJ/NY Network That Laundered $27M For International Drug Cartels
The takedown of a New Jersey and New York network that laundered more than $27 million for Central and South American drug cartels has produced another guilty plea, federal authorities announced. Gilberto Martinez, 33, formerly of Clifton, "cleaned" more than $1 million himself, both by buying and directing others to buy cashier's checks using drug money, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Morristown police helped the DEA and IRS crack the case, in which more than 1,000 cashier’s checks were bought, he said. The buyers typically were paid a fee of $150 to $200 for each check…
News
Cremated Ashes Gone After SUV Is Stolen From NJ Funeral Home
The explosion of auto thefts took a heartbreaking turn when a New Jersey funeral home employee's car was stolen with cremated remains still inside. It was no surprise that the 2021 Audi SQ5 was ditched in Newark, where a majority of cars stolen in North Jersey are often abandoned. The bad news: The ashes were gone, the town's police chief told Daily Voice. Loved ones are now left without closure. The SUV was stolen from outside a Bergen County funeral home several blocks off southbound Route 17 shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 3. The employee “ran in real quick to grab something, and…
News
Conspirator Who Used NJ High School Students To Cash Stolen COVID Stimulus Checks Gets 4 Years
One of a nest of criminals who paid New Jersey high school students to cash COVID stimulus checks stolen from the mail was sentenced to four years in federal prison. Because there's no parole in the federal prison system, Jeffrey Bennett, 27, of Irvington, must serve just about all of the plea-bargained sentence rubber-stamped by a U.S. District Court judge in Newark via videoconference on Monday, Feb. 14. Bennett -- a reputed associate of a group called "The Members" -- recruited U.S. Postal Service employees to steal checks, checkbooks, debit cards, and credit cards from the mail in excha…
Next Page
Archive
36°
