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Accused JC Scammers Hit With More Charges, Total Take Rises By $400,000
Three Indian Americans from North Jersey charged in a hotel supply company scam were re-arrested this week after authorities said they learned that the trio stiffed victims by three times as much money as they’d originally believed.
Married couple Viral Patel, 38, and Priyanka Patel, 33, of Jersey City and Pratik Patel, 35, of Ramsey, were originally charged last December with pocketing $200,000 for services that were never provided by their Janvi Hotel Supply company on Thorne Street, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said.
Members of the prosecutor’s Special Investigations Unit conti…
Victims Scammed Out Of $2.2M By NJ Couple In 'Publishers Clearing House Lottery' Scheme: Cops
A couple from Secaucus is facing a litany of charges after scamming residents in multiple states out of more nearly $2.2 million, police said.
Akeem Lee and Majda Hodzic-Lee called victims in Florida, Minnesota, Arizona, Kansas, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Nebraska, saying they'd won the "Publishers Clearing House Lottery," Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller said.
In exchange for the vehicles and large sums of money the victims were told they won, they were required by Lee and Hodzic-Lee to send cash, money orders and/or gift cards for taxes, fees and IRS …
NJ Man Promised Victims Luxury Cars, Instead He Kept Their $202K: Cops
A 32-year-old Rahway man has been arrested after he was given more than $200,000 to purchase luxury vehicles that the victims never received, authorities said.
Jonathan Najarro, who ran J and J Auto Sound and Security Corporation, became the center of an investigation last October, when the victims reported he had $202,920 of their money, Somerset County Prosecutor John P. McDonald said.
The theft occurred between July 2022 and October 2022 in Somerville, said McDonald alongside Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Chief of County Detectives Francisco Roman Jr., and Somerville…
West New York Man Steals $8K+ From Woman Using Passport At PA Bank: Police
An elderly woman has lost nearly $9,000 from her bank account after a New Jersey man used a fake passport card at a bank in Bethlehem, PA, police announced on Wednesday, Nov. 22.
Dax Perez Velazquez, 49 of West New York, NJ, somehow obtained a US passport card with his image on it but the elderly woman's name, and used it at a Member's 1st bank in Bethlehem, PA on September 30, Lower Allen Township police detailed in the release.
The man initially made a cash withdrawal of $6,800 using the woman's account info and his fraudulent passport card at a teller window inside the bank and the…
Guilty: Woman Defrauded Medicaid By Billing For NJ Ex's Care While Really At Work In Michigan
A substitute teacher from Michigan was convicted of billing Medicaid for giving care to her stroke-stricken Morris County ex-boyfriend while she was actually back home at work.
Michael Ann Ellis, 62, of Flint, MI, was found guilty by jurors in Morristown who heard testimony from, among others, a schools superintendent from her district during a four-day trial, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said.
Evidence also included timesheets and payroll records with school locations, dates, and hours for more than four years that Ellis collected $45,000 from the New Jersey Medicaid Prog…
Scam ALERT: 'Traveler' Busted In Attempted $15K Driveway Repair Ripoff In Upper Saddle River
A transient was arrested after scamming an Upper Saddle River homeowner out of $2,000 and then demanding $13,000 more, authorities said.
William Connors, 50, solicited the work from a resident on the north side of town by offering "leftover materials from a nearby job," USR Police Capt. Edward Kane said.
Connors got a $2,000 down payment for the fraud on Wednesday, Oct. 4, then returned to the victim's home on Thursday and insisted on $13,000 more, the captain said.
The driveway had to be entirely replaced as a result, Kane noted.
Connors, meanwhile, was arrested by borough police who dis…
Door-To-Door Contractors Bilk Bloomfield Victim Out Of $125K: Police
A pair of door-to-door contractors were arrested after police say they scammed a North Jersey woman out of $125,000.
The victim hired Patrick O'Doherty and Anthony Doherty to repair to sets of concrete steps for $3,800, paid in full in advance, on Aug. 20, Bloomfield police said.
Once the demolition began on the steps, Doherty and O'Doherty would show up sporadically, usually in the late afternoon hours, to do more demolition work.
The problem was, though, every time they came, they'd perform more demolition work and ask for more money — never repairing the actual steps, police said.
The …
Ex-Con Repeat Offender, NJ Roommate Charged With 1,500 Heroin Bags, Pounds Of Pot, More
An ex-con whose Point Pleasant boardwalk arrest became part of a viral video was busted once again on drug charges, this time along with his roommate, authorities said.
A SWAT team led a raid on the Grand Street apartment in Garfield that Zakee Murphy, 32, shares with fish tank technician Ryene Perry, 34, landing both in jail on various drug-related counts, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said.
Murphy has been arrested dozens of times in multiple counties over the past decade, records show.
This time he's accused of using the Garfield home to stash the drugs along with more than $8,…
NJ Biz Owner Didn't Give Hurt Landscaper Worker's Comp, Woman Stole $19K In Unemployment: AG
Two New Jersey residents are facing federal charges for failing to provide workers compensation to an injured employee and stealing more than $19,000 in unemployment funds, authorities said.
Richard Hockenberry, 71, of Hawthorne, and Brianna Larkins, 34, of Secaucus, were both charged by way of indictment for the employment benefit-related crimes, Acting Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced Monday, May 9.
One of Hockneberry's employees at his landscaping company became injured at work on Feb. 26, 2018, Platkin said. On May 4, 2018, the victim filed a Workers’ Compensation…
Scam ALERT: Men Used Counterfeit $100 Bills At Several NJ Gas Stations, Police Say
Two men have been charged after allegedly using counterfeit bills at several gas stations throughout the Garden State, authorities said Friday.
Mohammad Kamara, 30, of Newark, and Tonney Manyango, 29, of Sayreville, are accused of asking for $3.00 worth of gas at QuickChek in Cedar Knolls, paying with a counterfeit $100 bill, and asking for change for a second counterfeit $100 bill on Jan. 4, Hanover Police said.
A follow-up investigation found that several other convenience stores throughout New Jersey had recently experienced a similar scam between Jan. 4 and Jan. 6, authorities said.
Th…
Men Wanted In NJ Grandparent Scam After Pretending To Be Jailed Grandkids: Prosecutor
A pair of New York men are wanted by authorities for pretending to be New Jersey residents' jailed grandchildren asking for bail money, scamming them out of thousands of dollars, authorities said.
Jorge Peguero-Mendez, 34, and Richard Quinones-Perez, 24, both of the Bronx, New York, are wanted on charges of theft by deception and conspiracy to commit theft by deception, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.
An elderly victim from Barnegat was contacted in December 2021 by an individual claiming to be her grandson, authorities said. The individual informed her that he had b…
State: Jersey Shore Chiropractor, 73, With Fraud History Files 261 Bogus Insurance Claims
A Bayonne-based chiropractor from the Jersey Shore with an insurance fraud conviction already on his record did it again, state authorities charged.
Charles B. Boas, 73, of Matawan, got probation seven years ago after pleading guilty to collecting nearly $13,000 through bogus claims, records show.
State officials announced Wednesday that they'd caught him in an even bigger scam -- this time involving hundreds of false submissions to Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield.
A grand jury in Trenton indicted Boas on 261 counts involving health care claims fraud, theft by deception and tax evasions, Ac…
