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47°
Saturday, apr 27
Tag:
DEA
Police & Fire
Gone
IN 120
Seconds
: Burglars Smash Way Into Glen Rock Pharmacy, Snatch Oxy, Sedatives
Two burglars smashed their way into a Glen Rock drug store overnight and stole oxycodone and Promethazine, authorities said. The pair were wearing hoodies to conceal their faces when they shattered the glass back door of the Rock Ridge Pharmacy in the central business district at 3:10 a.m. last Tuesday, March 26, Glen Rock Police Chief Dean Ackermann said. They were in and out in two minutes, the chief said. The burglars “ransacked the pharmacist’s work area, forcing open locked drawers, gaining access to and removing narcotics,” Ackermann said. The incident was another in a series of bur…
News
North Jersey Police K9 Helps Handler With Gender Reveal (
Video
)
K-9 Ryker does it again. The 6-year-old German Shepherd who works in narcotics and criminal apprehension with the Maywood Police Department, delivered special news to his handler and family this weekend (scroll for video). Maywood Police Sgt. Chris Nichols, his fiancé Julia Perry, and 7-year-old son Landon gathered in the backyard of their North Jersey home where a friend had placed training drugs under one of the four boxes — two pink and two blue. Then, they watched as Ryker led Sgt. Nichols around the boxes. In seconds, Ryker scratched a box. A pink one. It's a girl! "Dogs are a hug…
Police & Fire
Repeat Offender Threatens To Bomb Child Welfare Buildings, Judges, Bergen Prosecutor Charges
A man who'd been previously accused of threatening Fair Lawn police and families on social media is back in custody after authorities said he took it to another level. Brandon M. Hernandez, 29, is now charged with threatening to "bomb and shoot" New Jersey Child Protection and Permanency buildings and Superior Court judges in Hackensack. Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella announced in a news release that Cyber Crimes Unit detectives from his office began investigating a "pattern of social media posts" by Hernandez last November. He specifically cited NJCP&P buil…
Police & Fire
FBI: Sex, Money, Murder Members Nabbed With Guns, Coke, More At Open-Air Brick City Drug Market
Five reputed members and associates of the Sex, Money, Murder gang were charged by federal authorities with peddling fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine at an open-air drug market in Newark. Drugs and loaded guns were seized during the arrests early last month of the quintet, who U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger said slung the potentially lethal narcotics from the neighborhood at Kent and Brenner streets. He identified them as Fuquan Williams, 33; Dwight Dixon, 52; Nafee Patterson, 41; Jabriel Mason, 20; and Daqwuan Barkley, 29, all of Essex County. A federal magistrate judge in New…
Police & Fire
Bergen Biz Partner Of Power 105.1 DJ Envy Busted By Feds In Multi-Million-Dollar Fraud Scheme
A New Jersey real estate investor and influencer who's business partners with Power 105.1 DJ Envy was seized early Wednesday by federal agents who charged him with orchestrating a multimillion-dollar Ponzi-like investment scheme. Promising returns that were too good to be true, Cesar Humberto Piña "exploited celebrity status and social media" to scam dozens of people out of millions of dollars, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said on Oct. 18. Piña, 45, who lives in the suburban Bergen County town of Franklin Lakes, craftily "developed a devoted following" whom he then victi…
Police & Fire
Feds Bust Bergen Doc For Prescribing Tens Of Thousands Of Oxy Pills For Fake Patients
A doctor from Hillsdale was arrested by federal agents for prescribing oxycodone for illegal use from her Paterson office, authorities said. Phony patients for whom Lisa Ferraro, 65, wrote scripts included two people who were locked up, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. They were among several “patients” who Sellinger said were “never physically examined or questioned about symptoms to determine whether there was a legitimate medical need for oxycodone.” Ferraro typically wrote prescriptions for 90 pills of 30mg of oxycodone per "patient," the U.S. attorney said. They were “typicall…
Police & Fire
Killing
Fields
: Another Dead, Two Wounded In Latest Paterson Shooting
Paterson was already reeling from three fatal shootings in a single day when a 23-year-old Riverdale man was killed and a 19-year-old Elmwood Park man was critically wounded Tuesday in a hail of gunfire at one of the city's deadliest street corners. Gunfire erupted at Rosa Parks Boulevard and Godwin Avenue shortly before 4 p.m. Oct. 3. In addition to the dead and critically injured victims, a 57-year-old Paterson man took a bullet in the leg. He and the Elmwood Park teenager were being treated at St. Joseph's University Medical Center, where the third victim was pronounced dead. This…
Police & Fire
Member Of Notorious Jersey City Street Gang Gets 7½ Years, No Parole, In Stabbing
UPDATE: A member of a ruthless Jersey City street gang must spend the next 7½ years in federal prison for stabbing a rival during an ambush. Sheldon “Thottie” Mays, 23, was among eight members of a street gang at the Curries Woods public housing complex in Greenville who rolled up on the victim in two vehicles, seeking revenge for a previous incident, as he walked down a city street in August 2020. The Tay Tay Shrimp Gang members parked in the middle of the street, hopped out and descended on the victim. They were punching and kicking him, authorities said, when Mays stabbed him, infli…
Police & Fire
Crime Fighters From NJ Work Case Of Baby, 1, Killed By Fentanyl At NYC Day Care Center
The owner of a Bronx daycare center where a 1-year-old boy died from fentanyl exposure was seized by federal authorities on Tuesday along with her husband’s cousin. Grei Mendez De Ventura, 36, the owner of Divino Niño Daycare, and her alleged accomplice, Carlisto Acevedo Brito, 41, were charged by the federal government on Sept. 19 with possession with the intent and conspiracy to distribute drugs resulting in death. Meanwhile, a manhunt continued for De Ventura’s fugitive husband, who was identified as the leader of the drug operation. Children who napped where the defendants were cuttin…
Police & Fire
Federal Prison Awaits Fentanyl Dealer Who Rammed Undercover DEA Vehicle In NJ
A dealer from the Bronx who rammed a DEA vehicle in a failed attempt to flee a fentanyl bust n New Jersey followed his accomplice's lead and took a deal from the government rather than face trial. Miguel Nuñez, 50, pleaded guilty to fentanyl possession and resisting arrest with a deadly weapon during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Newark on Tuesday, Sept. 11, federal authorities said. Nuñez and Jesus Higuera-Parra, 28, of Ontario, California, drove from New York City to Elizabeth to sell the deadly drug on March 24, 2021, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. T…
Police & Fire
Diamond District Operators From NJ, Long Island Busted In $673M Money Laundering Scheme: Feds
Four businessmen from New Jersey and one from Long Island laundered millions of dollars a day in cash through fronts they set up in New York City’s Diamond District, federal authorities charged. Federal agents tied the quintet to $673 million in dirty money laundered through the illicit operations over the past four years, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. In exchange, Raj Vaidya, 26; Rakesh Vaidya, 51; Shrey Vaidya, 23; and Neel Patel, 26, all of Edison; and Youssef Janfar, aka “Joe Rodeo,” 57, of Great Neck, NY collected sizable fees, he said. The three Vaidyas and P…
Police & Fire
Drug
Fraud
: Crimebusters Smash Statewide NJ Ring That Stole, Forged Prescriptions For Codeine
An elaborate drug fraud ring operating in more than half the counties in New Jersey stole doctors’ prescription pads as part of a scheme to stock up on opioid-boosted cough syrup, authorities charged. Medical offices in various parts of the state – including Wayne, Morristown and Bridgewater – were broken into by Divinete Jeffries, 30, of East Orange, Attorney General Matthew Platkin said. Jefferies snatched prescription pads that were then forged and given to accomplices who submitted them to various pharmacies using stolen IDs and bogus driver’s licenses, according to an indictment return…
Police & Fire
Bi-state
Bust
: Bergen Man, Westchester Woman Had 20 Pounds Of Fentanyl, 2½ Pounds Of Coke: Feds
A Bergen County man and a woman from Westchester were busted with 20 pounds of deadly fentanyl and 2½ pounds of cocaine for sale, federal authorities said. Plinio Junior Pineda Lopez, 33, of Oakland and Lorendy Diaz Beltre De Inoa, 27, of Yonkers were arrested with 1.5 kilos of fentanyl in Wallington, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said Wednesday. Nearly eight more kilos of hidden fentanyl were found during a court-approved search on Tuesday, July 11, of Lopez’s Hillside Avenue home just off West Oakland Avenue and down the street from an entrance/exit for Route 287, inve…
Police & Fire
Feds Help Seize 11 Guns, Bust 14 Members, Associates Of Violent Paterson 'UpTop' Gang
Federal agents united with local and county law enforcers to disarm several members of one of Paterson’s most violent street gangs. Members of the “UpTop” crew packed heat while slinging heroin and pot in the urban war zone that is the Silk City’s 4th Ward, authorities said. In response, the ATF teamed up with Passaic County prosecutor’s detectives, members of the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office and Paterson police, as well as several other local, county, state and federal agencies. A total of 11 guns were seized and 14 people charged locally and federally in a joint operation that began …
Police & Fire
Dealer Gets 14 Years Without Parole In Historic Jersey Shore Drug Bust, Brother Up Next
UPDATE: The second of two brothers who pleaded guilty in the largest drug bust in Atlantic County history -- 45 pounds of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine combined -- was the first to be sentenced. Fourteen years was the best that Ricardo Clavijo, 42, of Egg Harbor Township could get from a plea deal with the federal government. He'll have to serve just about all of it, too, because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Clavijo’s brother, Christopher Gonzalez of Pleasantville, is up for sentencing next. The brothers had more than 20 kilos combined of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine…
Police & Fire
Paramus' New Top Cop Reflects On Journey From Patrolman To Chief
When asked where he sees himself in 20 years during his initial interview at the Paramus Police Department in 1986, Robert Guidetti said: “As the chief.” Then-chief Joe Delaney laughed. Now, Guidetti understands why. “It’s not an easy road to the position,” says the lifelong borough resident, who on Tuesday, June 13 will be sworn in as the Paramus Police Department’s 12th chief. Future Paramus Police Chief Robert Guidetti.Cecilia Levine Since 2013, Guidetti served as the department’s deputy chief to former chief, Kenneth Ehrenberg — who retired last month — and has seen countless chang…
News
4½ Pounds Of Fentanyl Seized, Mexican Nationals Nabbed By DEA, Bergen Prosecutor's Detectives
Federal agents took custody of two Mexican nationals from Texas who local authorities said were caught with several pounds of deadly fentanyl during a traffic stop in Little Ferry. Camerino Hernandez-Atanacio, 32, and Alexis Araujo-Atanacio, 19, both unemployed, had been living in a small house with an adjacent trailer in the West Texas town of Odessa, records show. DEA agents from New York City and Bergen County narcotics detectives arrested both men last Friday as part of an ongoing investigation into bulk drug shipments being moved through the area, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Mus…
News
NJ Dealer Awaiting Trial For Shooting Detectives Gets 13 Years In Federal Drug Takedown
A manager of a major New Jersey drug ring who's awaiting trial for shooting two undercover detectives must spend 13 years in federal custody after taking a plea deal from the government in a separate case. Juan Figueroa, 25, was the last of 19 members of the Bloods-related group who were convicted following a federal assault on an open-air drug market in Camden that provided walkup and drive-by service to its customers. Figueroa and two associates were also charged in state court with ambushing two Camden County Police detectives who were investigating the ring, which peddled heroin, crack,…
News
50,000 Pills: Feds Hold Accused Fentanyl Trafficker From Mexico In Bergen Jail After NYC Bust
Federal authorities kept an accused fentanyl trafficker in custody at the Bergen County Jail after they said they caught her selling 50,000 potentially fatal fentanyl pills in Manhattan. Agari Reyes-Sillero, a 34-year-old Mexican national, got into a cooperator’s car in with the multi-colored pills packed into four protein powder containers on Feb. 5, 2023, a complaint signed by a DEA agent alleges. She expected to be paid $400,000 in return, the complaint filed in the Southern District of New York in Manhattan says. Members of a task force comprised of DEA agents, the NYPD and the New Yo…
News
Leader Of Jersey City Drug Crew Sentenced To More Than 4 Years Without Parole
The leader of a crew that slung cocaine and heroin in the Greenville section of Jersey City was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison. Jerome Powell, 43, must serve just about all of the plea-bargained 51-month sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. He and four accused members worked in the area of Columbia Park, moving the drugs from an undisclosed stash house to a home on Bartholdi Avenue that servied buyers, according to a DEA complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark. Authorities built a case by recording street deals and picking off buy…
News
Southern Fugitives Charged With Posing As Feds In Violent Bergen Home Invasion Brought To NJ
UPDATE: Three Georgia men charged earlier this month with shooting a Bergen County resident while posing as FBI agents during a summer home invasion have been brought to New Jersey to face charges. Two others remained held down South pending the outcome of extradition proceedings. Aaron Thomas Perry, 53, of Dunwoody, Ali Sadeeq Muhammad, 33, of Atlanta, and Roderick Moracle Carmichael, 50, of Stockbridge will remain held in the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack while the case against them and two other co-defendants proceeds. They were brought up separately over the past several days -- Car…
Police & Fire
'Clueless' Maplewood Carjacker Needed Surgery After Trying To Steal DEA Agent's Jeep: Report
A "clueless" carjacker from New Jersey is facing federal charges after he tried to steal an undercover DEA agent’s government-issued Jeep in Manhattan, reports the New York Post. The agent was stopped at a red light at 14th Street and Ninth Avenue shortly after midnight on Friday, Dec. 9 when Zachary Bell, of Maplewood, demanded he get out of the vehicle, the outlet said citing court paperwork. Bell, 32, reached toward his waist band as if he had a gun — prompting the 7-year DEA vet to turn on his police lights and pull out his own gun before tackling Bell and handcuffing him, court papers …
Police & Fire
Carload Of Fool's Gold Sinks Jersey City DEA Imposter's Plan For Riches: Feds
When a Massachusetts woman contacted federal authorities to report a man claiming to be one of them and asking for $330,000 in gold bars, they came up with a plan that would turn the tables and ultimately land the Jersey City imposter in police custody. The undercover agents set up a meeting with 38-year-old Gaurang Contractor in a Texas Roadhouse parking lot, and promised told two buckets of gold waiting for him inside a car's trunk. The gold was as real as his DEA badge. Investigators said Contractor contacted the woman in August and claimed to be a DEA agent named Oscar White, autho…
News
Jersey Shore Ex-Con Loses In Federal Trial For Multi-Pounds Of Heroin, Fentanyl, Coke, Gun
An ex-con caught with several pounds of heroin, cocaine and fentanyl -- not to mention a loaded gun -- in his Ocean County apartment is facing significant time behind bars following convictions in federal court. Dyshawn Moss, 43, of Manchester, was found guilty of drug and weapons offenses, including being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, following a four-day trial in U.S. District Court in Trenton. In addition to having an informant buy drugs from Moss, DEA agents used "physical surveillance, court-authorized location information, controlled purchases of narcotics, and lawfull…
News
Ex-Con Dog Walker Had Pound Of Cocaine, Assault Rifle, More In Turnpike Stop: Bergen Prosecutor
An ex-con dog walker from Hudson County had more than a pound of cocaine, an assault rifle and multiple high-capacity magazines in an electronically operated secret compartment of his SUV when he was stopped near the Meadowlands, authorities said. Detectives with the Bergen County Prosecutor's Narcotic Task Force stopped a 2009 Toyota Rav4 driven by Mervin Menier, 50, of Union City for speeding on the New Jersey Turnpike in Carlstadt this past Tuesday, Oct. 18. The investigators had been tipped off by the DEA that Menier was “transporting bulk shipments” of drugs and cash int…
News
DEA Warns Of 'Rainbow Fentanyl' Made To Look Like Candy
As if the drug wasn’t already terrifying enough: The DEA says it’s seeing increasing amounts of “rainbow fentanyl” being seized across the United States. The trend “appears to be a new method used by drug cartels to sell highly addictive and potentially deadly fentanyl made to look like candy to children and young people,” the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration warned. This month alone, the agency said, law enforcers at various levels have seized brightly covered fentanyl power and pills in 18 states. Some of it even comes in blocks that resemble sidewalk chalk, federal authorities said. …
Obituaries
Union Beach Officer Killed In Crash Was 'Rising Star'
The Union Beach Police Department is mourning the loss of one of its own. Detective Cpl. Timothy Kelly, Jr., 29, died in an off-duty crash, his department said. His father also served as a UBPD officer. "Kelly was a rising star in the Union Beach Police Department, having been involved in many high profile and sensitive special operations with the FBI, DEA, MCPO, and BTF," UBPD said. He earned a Bachelors of Science Degree from the University of Alabama with a double major in History and Criminal Justice. Details in the crash were not immediately clear.
News
Enough Fentanyl To Kill 3.5 Million Users Seized, Baltimore Man Busted By Bergen Detectives
Bergen County prosecutor’s detectives seized enough fentanyl to produce nearly 3½ million potentially fatal doses, along with enough heroin to fill more than 27,000 folds, while arresting a Baltimore man. Carlo Francisco Olivar Gomez, a 42-year-old painter by trade, was caught with more than 15 pounds of fentanyl and more than six pounds of heroin, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. According to the DEA, it takes only a single two-milligram dose of fentanyl to kill a person. A pound of fentanyl can produce 226,796 two-milligram doses. Multiplying that by 15 pounds gives…
News
Jersey Shore Man Found With Rifle, Silencer, Bogus Federal Agent Badges Takes Plea
A Jersey Shore man who was caught with a handful of phony federal agent IDs in his own name admitted also having a homemade rifle and a silencer. Jeffrey Backlund, 57, of Waretown, took a deal from the government rather than face trial, pleading guilty on Wednesday, April 27, to illegally possessing all of them, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Backlund was arrested after a warranted search prompted by a domestic disturbance in September 2020 turned up “a number of firearms and imitation federal identification badges,” Sellinger said. “They found one short-barreled, AR-style, .223 …
News
Murderous East Coast MS-13 Leader From NJ Sentenced In MD To Life
A Jersey Shore MS-13 overlord who ran the gang’s East Coast operation was sentenced in Maryland to life in federal prison on Friday, April 1 for a “reign of terror” across several states, the U.S. Justice Department announced. Miguel Angel “Reaper” Corea Diaz, 41, of Long Branch, NJ will have to serve out the sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. The capture of Corea Diaz was “one of the biggest takedowns of a high-ranking MS-13 leader in the United States," a district attorney in Nassau County said after he was indicted on Long Island in December 2018. Corea Dia…
News
Feds: NJ Drug Dealer Gets 10 Years, No Parole
An admitted drug dealer from Union County is headed to federal prison for 10 years. Tyrell "Hell Rell" Wilson, 36, of Rahway, must serve out just about all of the sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Wilson was busted in September 2019 with ex-con Marvin "Black Jesus" Lagrier, 39, of Newark. Authorities said they seized cocaine base, heroin, fentanyl, drug-packaging materials, a gun and several rounds of ammunition after searching Wilson's vehicle and a backpack he tossed while trying to flee. They also recovered several Newark Housing Authority uniforms bearin…
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