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Cyberfootsies: Ex-NJ Couple, Money Washer Confess $4.5M Online Romance Scam
UPDATE: A former New Jersey couple and a local businesswoman have admitted scamming more than 100 lonely hearts out of $4.5 million in an elaborate online romance scheme, federal authorities charged.
Martins Inalegwu, 35, took a deal from the government, pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Camden on Monday, March 25 to conducting an unlawful money-transmitting business and evading taxes for four straight years.
Inalegwu's wife, Steincy Mathieu, 27, had already pleaded guilty to tax evasion last November.
Oluwaseyi Fatolu, 56, of Springfield, followed her by admitting this past …
Central Jersey Drug Dealer Found In Atlantic City With Heroin, Cocaine: Police
A Mercer County man was accused of selling heroin and cocaine in Atlantic City, authorities said.
Leroy Clark, 44, of Ewing, was arrested on Friday, Mar. 8, Atlantic City police said in a Wednesday, Mar. 13 news release. An officer saw Clark selling drugs to another man on the 1500 block of Atlantic Avenue at around 4:45 p.m.
Two other officers were able to arrest him, and investigators searched his vehicle and hotel room. Police seized 420 bags of heroin, nearly 10 ounces of cocaine, and items for selling drugs.
Clark was charged with three counts of possession of a controlled d…
10 Vintage Cars, 1.7 Pounds Of Coke, $332K Seized From Jobless NJ Drug Dealer: Prosecutor
An unemployed Nutley man bought 10 vintage cars with the money he made selling cocaine, authorities charged.
Authorities seized the “exotic” vehicles along with nearly $332,000 in cash that Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Omar Rios, 44, squirreled away in his apartment and a stash house.
They also grabbed 1.7 pounds of cocaine, cutting agents, packaging material and a hydraulic press used to compress cocaine for packaging, the prosecutor said.
Rios was seized during coordinated raids at his apartment in the Franklin Commons building on Franklin Avenue in Nutley, at a mixed-used …
NJ Dad, Son Busted Again, This Time In $2.5M Jersey Shore ‘Fix-and-Flip’ Scheme
It seemed state and federal prosecutors had thrown all they could at a Bergen County father and son for a series of multi-million-dollar investment scams. But state authorities announced a new indictment against both men on Monday, Nov. 6.
This time, George Bussanich, Sr., 65, of Park Ridge, and George Bussanich, Jr., 43, of Upper Saddle River, are charged with defrauding investors and mortgage lenders out of more than $2.5 million through a “fix and flip” investment scam involving Jersey Shore real estate.
Victims believed they were funding the purchase, renovation, and resale of four…
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…
Mid-Atlantic Crime Ring Arrests For NJ Armed Robberies, Carjackings
An indictment of 16 members of a violent mid-Atlantic crime ring has been unsealed and the federal agencies are naming names.
Of the 16, eight of the alleged crime ring members were arrested in the morning on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, police in Fairfax County, Virginia announced later that day.
They were all arrested in connection to a violent crime spree that took place between Jan. 7, 2022, through Jan. 27, 2023.
The crime ring members were all from Maryland and the District of Columbia. They met with their accused leader – Trevor Wright, also known as “Taliban Glizzy” …
Ex-NJ Corrections Officer's Crypto Scam Targeted Police, Firefighters, EMTs: Authorities
A retired New Jersey corrections lieutenant preyed on his peers with a cryptocurrency scheme that cost participating police, firefighters, EMTs, and other first responders more than $620,000, state and federal authorities said.
John DeSalvo, 47, of Linwood, also pulled a $100,000 investment scam that authorities said went to covering his credit card bills, day trading in cryptocurrencies and payments to a contractor who handled a luxury bathroom renovation for him.
DeSalvo -- who worked for the New Jersey Department of Corrections for 13 years before retiring in 2010 -- created and promote…
South Jersey Couple Used Facebook, Teenage Son In Drug-Dealing Operation: Prosecutor
Investigators said they found thousands of drug deals on Facebook and evidence a couple was using their 14-year-old son to deliver drugs.
An Atlantic County grand jury indicted John Garman, 38, and Donna Shiffler, 39, of Somers Point on Wednesday, Aug. 2, authorities said.
They each were charged with numerous drug offenses, child endangerment and money laundering, according to the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office.
Their Facebook account was called "Garmans Goods," selling marijuana, THC products and hallucinogenic mushrooms, the prosecutor said.
The couple was arrested on May 25, …
Accused South Jersey Pot Dealer Had 32 Pounds Of Drug-Tainted Gummy Candy: Prosecutor
A man accused of manufacturing marijuana was caught with 32 pounds of THC-infused gummy candy and nearly $120,000 cash, authorities said.
John Garman, 38, of Somers Point was arrested on Thursday, May 25, after a joint narcotics investigation conducted by the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office’s Gangs, Guns, & Narcotics Unit, Somers Point Police Department, and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force.
The investigation determined that Garman was operating a non-licensed cannabis manufacturing and distribution operation from his residence in Somers Point,…
Love At First Site: Ex-NJ Couple, Nigerian Wingman Charged In $4.5M Cyberfootsies Scam
A former New Jersey couple and a Nigerian national scammed more than 100 lonely hearts out of $4.5 million in an elaborate online romance scheme, federal authorities charged.
Martins Inalegwu, 34, of Philadelphia and Steincy Mathieu, 26, of Brooklyn cooked up the plot with Moses Chukwuebuka Alexander and several of his Nigerian brethren, an indictment returned by a federal grand jury alleges.
Together, they trolled online dating and social media sites for willing marks, whom they “wooed with words of love” on the phone and in emails, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said.
T…