Grandparent Scam: Here’s How Pair From PA, NY Stole $300,000 From Elderly Victims Across US Grandparent Scam: Here’s How Pair From PA, NY Stole $300,000 From Elderly Victims Across US
Grandparent Scam: Here’s How Pair From PA, NY Stole $300,000 From Elderly Victims Across US At least 50 elderly victims across the United States were conned out of more than $300,000 by a ring of grandparent scammers who included a Pennsylvania woman and New York City man who confessed in federal court. Jacqueline Velazquez, 37, of Reading, and Daniel Duran, 33, of Queens played key roles in the phone and email-based scheme, Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams said. Here’s how it worked, Williams said: Co-schemers based in the Dominican Republic called elderly victims throughout the U.S. Posing as a grandchild, or the grandchild’s attorney, they claimed they’d been j…
'I Wanted To Be Somebody': Bergen County Barber Achieves American Dream With New Mobile Shop 'I Wanted To Be Somebody': Bergen County Barber Achieves American Dream With New Mobile Shop
'I Wanted To Be Somebody': Bergen County Barber Achieves American Dream With New Mobile Shop Cutting hair has always come naturally to 29-year-old Bergen County barber Starlyn Delgado. He first learned how as a kid, when he moved to Brooklyn from the Dominican Republic and spent time visiting his dad's friend's barbershop in Brooklyn.  By the time he was in middle school, Delgado was giving shape-ups to his friends. And when he moved to New Jersey, he began working at Top Cutz in Hasbrouck Heights. "My family didn't come to the U.S. just for me to be somebody else," said Delgado, a dad of two from Hackensack. "I wanted to be somebody -- I wanted to be successful." The COVID-19 p…
Secaucus Prostitution Sting Nets Three Arrests, Chief Says Secaucus Prostitution Sting Nets Three Arrests, Chief Says
Secaucus Prostitution Sting Nets Three Arrests, Chief Says Three women were arrested on prostitution charges in Secaucus last week, authorities said. The arrests were part of an effort within the township to combat vice related crimes, Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller said. The following individuals were arrested on June 9, he said: Lucy Oviedo Ramos, 32, of the Dominican Republic, for engaging in prostitution. Shannon Cave, 25, Union City, for engaging in prostitution and promoting prostitution. Edily Perez Batista, 25, of Elizabeth, for engaging in prostitution. Miller did not release the locations where the arrests occurred. 
Passaic Man, Dominican National In 13-Pound Video-Recorded Coke Bust Sent To Fed Pen Passaic Man, Dominican National In 13-Pound Video-Recorded Coke Bust Sent To Fed Pen
Passaic Man, Dominican National In 13-Pound Video-Recorded Coke Bust Sent To Fed Pen A Passaic man and a Dominican national – both 60 years old – have been sentenced to federal prison terms for their roles in trafficking 13 pounds of cocaine. Cellphone video captured the DEA arrest of Ramon “Rafael” Fabian-Pena in January 2020. A U.S. District Court judge in Newark sentenced Fabian-Pena to 2½ years in federal prison during a videoconference last week, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. On Thursday, the judge sentenced Jose Reyes of the Dominican Republican to nearly six years, she said. Both must serve just about all of their terms because there’s no parole in t…
GRANDPARENT SCAM: Rochelle Park PD Nabs Bronx Man After Elderly Victim Mails $7,800 GRANDPARENT SCAM: Rochelle Park PD Nabs Bronx Man After Elderly Victim Mails $7,800
Grandparent Scam: Rochelle Park PD Nabs Bronx Man After Elderly Victim Mails $7,800 Rochelle Park police nabbed a phone scammer from the Bronx who convinced an elderly victim to mail $7,800 in cash that he said was needed to bail out his just-arrested grandson, authorities said. Posing as a police officer, a caller told the 80-something Washington State resident that his grandson had been arrested, Detective Lt. James DePreta said. The caller said his son needed $16,800 for bail, then directed him to mail $7,800 to a Rochelle Park address, DePreta said. Believing it was real, the victim sent the money, the lieutenant said. He eventually realized it was a scam and called…
Ex-Mamajuana Café Co-Owner From Bergen Admits Bankruptcy Fraud Ex-Mamajuana Café Co-Owner From Bergen Admits Bankruptcy Fraud
Ex-Mamajuana Café Co-Owner From Bergen Admits Bankruptcy Fraud UPDATE: A Bergen County businessman who once co-owned the popular Mamajuana Café chain admitted in federal court that he concealed assets from a bankruptcy trustee. An investigation by the NYPD and New York City-based Homeland Security agents led to charges against Victor Osorio, 53, of Cresskill, who helped spark the Dominican restaurant chain's expansion to Paterson, East Rutherford, Secaucus, West New York and Woodbridge, as well as to New York and Florida. Osorio, a Dominican native who also co-owned a separate restaurant in Pennsylvania, filed for Chapter 7 relief in U.S. District Cour…
Hackensack Grandfather, 82, Who Fled To DR Charged With Fondling Girl Hackensack Grandfather, 82, Who Fled To DR Charged With Fondling Girl
Hackensack Grandfather, 82, Who Fled To DR Charged With Fondling Girl An 82-year-old grandfather from Hackensack who fled to the Dominican Republic after sexually assaulting an underage girl nearly a year and a half ago has been returned to face justice, authorities said. Daniel Baez began by massaging the back and rubbing the buttocks of the victim, who was at least 13 but under 16 at the time, an affidavit filed by a Hackensack police detective says. When she tried to get away from him, Baez "grabbed the wrist of the victim with one hand and with his other hand rubbed his crotch on the outside of his pants [telling] the victim to touch his penis," it says. …
Feds Charge Jersey Shore Pain Management Doc With Massive $24.6M Billing Fraud Feds Charge Jersey Shore Pain Management Doc With Massive $24.6M Billing Fraud
Feds Charge Jersey Shore Pain Management Doc With Massive $24.6M Billing Fraud A Jersey Shore pain management doctor accused of running a $24.6 million fraud scheme billed insurance plans for more than 24 hours worth of services in a single day no fewer than 900 times, federal authorities said Monday. Morris Antebi, 68, of Long Branch, also billed Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance companies frequently on dates when travel records show he was overseas -- including trips to China, Israel, Turkey, the Dominican Republic and across Europe – and at other times when he was otherwise out of state, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. Antebi, who specializes in pain ma…
Feds: Flier From DR Tries Smuggling 4½ Pounds Of Coke Into Newark Feds: Flier From DR Tries Smuggling 4½ Pounds Of Coke Into Newark
Feds: Flier From DR Tries Smuggling 4½ Pounds Of Coke Into Newark A traveler flew to Newark Airport from the Dominican Republic with 4½ pounds of cocaine hidden in his clothes, authorities said. Screeners nabbed Leandre Kemont Jefferson, 23, of Denver, after he arrived in Newark from Puerta Playa on Friday, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. Jefferson had two kilos of cocaine “concealed inside of 12 vacuum packed bags, which were themselves wrapped in foil, and which was further concealed inside of clothing,” Carpenito said. Jefferson was scheduled for a video-conferenced first appearance Monday afternoon before a U.S. magistrate judge in Newark. Carpe…
NO GAME: Feds Bust Accused Ringleaders Of Worldwide Videogame Hacking Crew NO GAME: Feds Bust Accused Ringleaders Of Worldwide Videogame Hacking Crew
NO Game: Feds Bust Accused Ringleaders Of Worldwide Videogame Hacking Crew Two accused ringleaders of one of the world’s most notorious videogame hacking groups were in FBI custody and an associate was being sought, federal authorities announced. All three are members Team Xecuter, a group that the government said develops and sells “jailbreak” devices that allow people to play pirated copies of games on their consoles. A federal indictment accuses Max “MAXiMiLiEN” Louarn, a 48-year-old French national, Gary “GaryOPA” Bowser, 51, of Canada, and Yuanning Chen, 35, of Shenzhen, China of creating and distributing the devices, which authorities said became more popula…
NJ Charges 9 With Using Stolen IDs, Bogus Driver's Licenses To Buy $1.3M Worth Of Vehicles NJ Charges 9 With Using Stolen IDs, Bogus Driver's Licenses To Buy $1.3M Worth Of Vehicles
NJ Charges 9 With Using Stolen IDs, Bogus Driver's Licenses To Buy $1.3M Worth Of Vehicles Nine people from New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Ohio used stolen IDs to get digital driver’s licenses that they used to finance more than $1.3 million worth of vehicles and water craft, Garden State authorities charged. The defendants got the driver’s licenses from motor vehicle agencies in Jersey City and North Bergen using stolen identities of U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said Thursday. They also used fake Puerto Rico driver’s licenses, along with other false documents to land big-ticket items at dealerships in New Jersey, Pennsylv…
Palisades Park PD: Detective Nabs FedEx Imposter Stealing Cellphones From Porches To Ship To DR Palisades Park PD: Detective Nabs FedEx Imposter Stealing Cellphones From Porches To Ship To DR
Palisades Park PD: Detective Nabs FedEx Imposter Stealing Cellphones From Porches To Ship To DR A Palisades Park detective captured a porch pirate from Paterson who posed as a FedEx worker to collect iPhones illegally shipped to residents throughout New Jersey and then send them to a storeowner in the Dominican Republic, authorities said. TMobile authorities alerted borough police to a package scheduled for delivery at a 4th Street address late last week, said Capt. Anthony Muccio, the officer in charge of the department. In the box were six iPhone 11s valued at $699 each, he said. Authorities suspected a bogus delivery because they were prepaid for with an American Express card on a…