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Staten Island Man Goes To Fed Pen For Bilking NJ Businesses, Robbing Essex Merchant At Gunpoint Staten Island Man Goes To Fed Pen For Bilking NJ Businesses, Robbing Essex Merchant At Gunpoint
Staten Island Man Goes To Fed Pen For Bilking NJ Businesses, Robbing Essex Merchant At Gunpoint A Staten Island man must spend the next eight years in federal prison for a crime spree in which he defrauded several businesses, stole the identities of three women and robbed a merchant at gunpoint. Raymond Scura, 31, lived the high life at the expense of others, including a Mount Laurel country club and two Marlton merchants who were left with worthless checks and account information stolen from unwitting victims, federal authorities said. He also splurged on limo services, luxury hotels and “exotic” car rentals, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. Things got violent when Scura forced …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Dozen Men Who Thought They Were Meeting Teens For Sex Busted In Undercover NJ Sting Dozen Men Who Thought They Were Meeting Teens For Sex Busted In Undercover NJ Sting
Dozen Men Who Thought They Were Meeting Teens For Sex Busted In Undercover NJ Sting The president of a financial institution and software engineer were among a dozen men who thought they were meeting a child for sex but instead, were arrested on the spot in an undercover New Jersey sting, authorities announced Tuesday, (scroll down for the complete list of defendants). The 12 men in "Operation Spotlight" thought they were meeting up with children they'd met on various social media platforms, but instead, were arrested at various pre-arranged locations across Somerset County between Oct. 15 and Oct. 18, Prosecutor Michael H. Robertson and U.S. Attorney/District of …

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Brick City Backhander: Feds Charge Newark Councilman With Taking Payoffs For Influence Brick City Backhander: Feds Charge Newark Councilman With Taking Payoffs For Influence
Brick City Backhander: Feds Charge Newark Councilman With Taking Payoffs For Influence Federal agents caught a sitting Newark City Council member pocketing payoffs in exchange for influence, authorities said Tuesday. West Ward Councilman Joseph A. McCallum Jr., 65, was charged with soliciting and collecting bribes and kickbacks at the same time that a consultant from the city, 60-year-old Malik Frederick, was pleading guilty to his role in the scheme, they said. McCallum “schemed to receive concealed bribes and kickbacks from Frederick, funded by developers, contracting companies, and other businesses seeking contracts and approvals principally related to development, constru…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Crooked Paterson Utilities Commissioner Sentenced To 35 Months In Fed Pen Crooked Paterson Utilities Commissioner Sentenced To 35 Months In Fed Pen
Crooked Paterson Utilities Commissioner Sentenced To 35 Months In Fed Pen A former commissioner with the now-defunct Paterson Municipal Utilities Authority is headed to federal prison for nearly three years for a pair of kickback schemes. Erik Lowe, 51, of Paterson, previously pleaded guilty in exchange for leniency at Monday’s sentencing in U.S. District Court in Newark. He must serve just about all of the term because they’re no parole in the federal prison system. Lowe admitted conspiring with contractor Carnell Baskerville, who was sentenced two years ago to a plea-bargained 21 months in federal prison for his role in the scheme, U.S. Attorney Craig Carp…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Driver Admits Impersonating FBI Agent During Paramus Traffic Stop Driver Admits Impersonating FBI Agent During Paramus Traffic Stop
Driver Admits Impersonating FBI Agent During Paramus Traffic Stop A driver from Queens admitted in federal court Thursday that he showed Paramus police who pulled him over this summer a fake badge, creds and security access card while claiming to be an FBI agent. Tornike Lubyk, 28, could face a federal prison sentence and a fine for impersonating a federal agent, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. Lubyk pleaded guilty to the charge before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler in Newark, admitting that he “falsely advised Paramus officers that he was with the FBI’s C-22 organized crime squad based in the Manhattan field office” during a July traffic stop…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Fugitive Wanted In 2017 Paterson Street Slaying Nabbed Trying To Re-Enter US From DR Fugitive Wanted In 2017 Paterson Street Slaying Nabbed Trying To Re-Enter US From DR
Fugitive Wanted In 2017 Paterson Street Slaying Nabbed Trying To Re-Enter US From DR Federal agents were waiting at an Atlanta airport when a fugitive accused of gunning down a man on a Paterson street nearly two years ago tried to slip back into the country from the Dominican Republic, authorities said Tuesday. Elisaul Marte, 29, was seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents after getting off a plane at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Saturday, they said. He was being held pending extradition to New Jersey to face charges of murder and weapons possession in the slaying of 28 year-old Ramon Mosquea, whose was found slumped over the hood of his…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Waldwick Contractor Admits Paying Tens Of Thousands In Kickbacks For No-Show Paterson MUA Jobs Waldwick Contractor Admits Paying Tens Of Thousands In Kickbacks For No-Show Paterson MUA Jobs
Waldwick Contractor Admits Paying Tens Of Thousands In Kickbacks For No-Show Paterson MUA Jobs A Paterson-based contractor from Waldwick admitted in federal court Wednesday that he paid kickbacks in exchange for work – much of it for work that was never done -- from the now-defunct Paterson Municipal Utilities Authority. Anthony Cacciola, 47, told a U.S. District Court judge in Newark that he conspired with then-MUA commissioner Erik Lowe to jack up the cost of contracts for fence installation and repair. He said he then kicked back the padded thousands to Lowe, who, exercising control over the MUA’s infancies, steered more contracts his way. Near the end of the scheme, U.S. Attorne…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Convicted 'Bridgegate' Lane-Closure Participant Resentenced To Less Federal Prison Time Convicted 'Bridgegate' Lane-Closure Participant Resentenced To Less Federal Prison Time
Convicted 'Bridgegate' Lane-Closure Participant Resentenced To Less Federal Prison Time A former top Port Authority official had his “Bridgegate” federal prison sentence reduced Tuesday to 18 months from two years. William E. Baroni Jr., 47, who was appointed by then-Gov. Chris Christie, had civil rights convictions tossed by a federal appeals court last September for his role in a political-retribution scheme against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich. Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, 46 — formerly deputy chief of staff for legislative and intergovernmental affairs in Christie’s office — were each convicted in November 2016 of willfully participating in what became a massive traffic …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Authorities: 82-Year-Old Paterson Man Charged With Attempted Murder Amid City Shooting Spike Authorities: 82-Year-Old Paterson Man Charged With Attempted Murder Amid City Shooting Spike
Authorities: 82-Year-Old Paterson Man Charged With Attempted Murder Amid City Shooting Spike An 82-year-old Paterson man was charged with attempted murder for shooting another man during what has become a tumultuous pre-Christmas week in the Silk City. Another victim was killed in a rash of shootings in just over three hours Wednesday night, as a tumultuous week for the city continued. Police were looking for the shooter in that case, along with a few recent others. The escalating gunfire comes amid an ongoing FBI investigation that has produced guilty pleas from three city police officers and pending charges against two others. The body of Lexander Torres, 23, was found on …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
'Digital Blackmail': FBI Hunts Iranian Duo Named In $30M International 'Ransomware' Plot 'Digital Blackmail': FBI Hunts Iranian Duo Named In $30M International 'Ransomware' Plot
'Digital Blackmail': FBI Hunts Iranian Duo Named In $30M International 'Ransomware' Plot Two Iranian men were being sought by the FBI for what one official called “21st-century digital blackmail” that netted them more than $6 million while racking up over $30 million in losses to hospitals, municipalities and public agencies across North America. Faramarz Shahi Savandi, 34, and Mohammad Mehdi Shah Mansouri, 27, operated an international computer hacking and extortion racket for more than 2½ years, a grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday morning in U.S. District Court in Newark charges. Working from inside Iran, Savandi and Mansouri authored “SamSam Ransomware” that was “capa…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Gunman Admits Robbing Hotels In Paramus, Rockland, Elsewhere Gunman Admits Robbing Hotels In Paramus, Rockland, Elsewhere
Gunman Admits Robbing Hotels In Paramus, Rockland, Elsewhere An Essex County man admitted that he robbed employees at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Paramus at gunpoint, along with those at 13 other hotels in New Jersey and Rockland County. Tremone Burnett, 46, of Orange told a federal judge in Newark that he tied the victims’ hands and feet in some of the holdups. SEE: Gunman Robs Cash From Paramus Hotel He also fired the gun during a hotel robbery at a Sheraton in Weehawken, federal prosecutors said. Among the victimized hotels were a Howard Johnson's in Airmont and a Hilton Garden Inn in Nanuet, they said. Burnett robbed the hotels during an eight-w…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Warning From Homeland Security, FBI: Russia Wants To Hack Your ISP Router Warning From Homeland Security, FBI: Russia Wants To Hack Your ISP Router
Warning From Homeland Security, FBI: Russia Wants To Hack Your ISP Router With the entire world watching what turn the international Russian conflict takes next, federal officials are warning area residents that a cyber strike could be the newest threat as hackers target routers and other network devices. The Department of Homeland Security, FBI and United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre issued a joint Technical Alert on the “worldwide cyber exploitation of network infrastructure devices (such as a) router, switch, firewall, Network-based Intrusion Detection System (NIDS) devices by Russian state-sponsored cyber actors.” Officials said that targets are p…

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by Zak Failla