Overcast 71°
Police & Fire
Feds: NJ Crew Used Postal Workers, High School Students To Steal, Forge COVID Stimulus Checks Feds: NJ Crew Used Postal Workers, High School Students To Steal, Forge COVID Stimulus Checks
Feds: NJ Crew Used Postal Workers, High School Students To Steal, Forge COVID Stimulus Checks A group of criminals recruited New Jersey postal service employees to steal federal COVID-19 stimulus checks and paid high school students to help cash them, authorities said. The defendants -- who were associates of a group calling itself “the Members” -- recruited U.S. Postal Service employees to steal checks, checkbooks, debit cards, and credit cards from the mail in exchange for cash, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. They then forged the signatures of the account holders and made the checks payable to high school students and others who’d given them access to their accounts, also in …

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
North Jersey Surgeon With Star-Studded Client List Faces Lawsuit For Botched Nose Job North Jersey Surgeon With Star-Studded Client List Faces Lawsuit For Botched Nose Job
North Jersey Surgeon With Star-Studded Client List Faces Lawsuit For Botched Nose Job A triple board certified North Jersey and NYC plastic surgeon who has a star-studded list of clients is facing a lawsuit for a botched a nose job intended to correct a breathing issue -- then forging documents, the New York Post reports. Arevik Khurdayan, who has a deviated septum, saw Dr. Ramtin Kassir to correct the breathing issues that resulted from the problem, The Post says. However, during the initial consultation, the Manhattan office convinced the 34-year-old patient to undergo a cosmetic nose job as well with a dual procedure called a septorhinoplasty, promising that the operatio…

SHARE

by Valerie Musson
Police & Fire
Prosecutor: Assistant Poses As Business Owner, Steals $1.4M From Bergen Company Prosecutor: Assistant Poses As Business Owner, Steals $1.4M From Bergen Company
Prosecutor: Assistant Poses As Business Owner, Steals $1.4M From Bergen Company State troopers in New York captured a personal assistant wanted for stealing $1.4 million in tax reimbursement checks intended for a Bergen County company and cashing them by assuming the identity of a prominent business owner, authorities said. Detectives had obtained an arrest warrant after learning that Dong Chol Kim, 59, of Queens had intercepted the two checks from the mail and deposited them into a shell account, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Kim “assumed the identity of a prominent business owner, opened the accounts and conducted multiple bank transactions for his own …

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Feds: Teaneck Man Busted With 5,126 Fake Credit Cards, DLs From 24 States Feds: Teaneck Man Busted With 5,126 Fake Credit Cards, DLs From 24 States
Feds: Teaneck Man Busted With 5,126 Fake Credit Cards, DLs From 24 States Secret Service agents seized 4,920 counterfeit credit cards, 206 counterfeit driver’s licenses from 24 different states and a bank of forgery equipment while arresting a man who they said ran a massive ID-theft operation from his Teaneck home. A federal judge released Michael Fulcher, 35, of Teaneck on $100,000 unsecured bond during a teleconferenced U.S. District Court appearance. Teaneck police found the stash in March after Fulcher called to report a burglary in progress, authorities said. Responding officers saw “several counterfeit driver’s licenses with Fulcher’s photograph as well a…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Edgewater PD: Bronx Pair Nabbed After Hitting Several Stores In Town With Bogus $100 Bills Edgewater PD: Bronx Pair Nabbed After Hitting Several Stores In Town With Bogus $100 Bills
Edgewater PD: Bronx Pair Nabbed After Hitting Several Stores In Town With Bogus $100 Bills Edgewater police nabbed a pair of counterfeiters from the Bronx who hit several stores in town, authorities said. The manager of a River Road GNC called police Wednesday after the men used three bogus $100 bills to pay for low-priced items, receiving genuine cash as change, before fleeing in a white Mercedes Benz E350 Police Chief Donald Martin said. The car pulled into the parking lot of The Square shopping center when Officer Tyler Iafelice spotted it, Martin said. A search turned up $600 in bogus $100 bills and the same amount in real money, he said. Charged with forgery, money launder…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Maywood Detectives Nab 15 In $40,000 Mailbox Checks Theft Maywood Detectives Nab 15 In $40,000 Mailbox Checks Theft
Maywood Detectives Nab 15 In $40,000 Mailbox Checks Theft Maywood police snared a whopping 15 people in the mailbox theft of what turned into more than $40,000 worth of checks. Police responding to a citizen’s call at 3:23 a.m. last Aug. 19 found a mailbox pried open, and its contents removed, at the intersection of West Pleasant and Wyoming avenues, Detective Sgt. William Phayre said Tuesday. “Over the course of the next several weeks, more than a dozen victims reported fraudulent activity involving checks that were placed in the mailbox during the days leading up to the theft,” Phayre said. “Many of the checks were altered and deposited into va…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Fort Lee Police Detective Nabs Security Guard In Two-Town Burglary Spree Fort Lee Police Detective Nabs Security Guard In Two-Town Burglary Spree
Fort Lee Police Detective Nabs Security Guard In Two-Town Burglary Spree A Fort Lee police detective's persistence produced the arrest of a security guard who burglarized 10 vehicles in town, mostly taking credit cards, as well as seven more in Palisades Park, authorities said. Detective Richard Rochford cracked the case after he obtained surveillance video not only of the burglaries from overnight on Jan. 13 but also from a Walmart where some of the credit cards were used, Capt. Ricky Mirkovic said. After consulting with the Essex County Sheriff’s Office and East Orange police, Rochford charged Marquis D. Porter, 30, of Irvington on Tuesday with a host of offen…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Huge Haul: South Hackensack PD Charges 29 With Fishing, Cashing $100,000 In Checks From Mail Huge Haul: South Hackensack PD Charges 29 With Fishing, Cashing $100,000 In Checks From Mail
Huge Haul: South Hackensack PD Charges 29 With Fishing, Cashing $100,000 In Checks From Mail Capping an enormous investigation involving dozens of victims, South Hackensack police busted 29 people who they said fished checks from a mailbox that they then cashed for upwards of $100,000. Between August and last month, nearly 40 victims reported checks stolen, altered for larger amounts and cashed by members of the large-scale ring, Detective Capt. Robert Chinchar said Tuesday. Nearly all of the checks -- which the victims wrote for utility bills, taxes, and mortgage payments -- were fished from a drive-through mailbox at the US Post Office on Huyler Street, the captain said. Th…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Authorities: 3 Nabbed Near GWB In Police Pursuit Clipped New Milford Officer With Getaway Car Authorities: 3 Nabbed Near GWB In Police Pursuit Clipped New Milford Officer With Getaway Car
Authorities: 3 Nabbed Near GWB In Police Pursuit Clipped New Milford Officer With Getaway Car UPDATE: A police pursuit sparked by a bank fraud in New Milford ended in Fort Lee late Tuesday afternoon with two women and a man from New York in custody and a police officer with an injury. The getaway car grazed a police officer who was rushing to the Bank of America on River Road on the fraud call as they sped off, Police Chief Brian Clancy said. New Milford police chased the vehicle first into Hackensack and then eastbound on Route 4, Clancy said. Port Authority, Teaneck and Fort Lee police eventually joined the pursuit. The trio bailed out and were captured in the area of Marguerite…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Trio Nabbed Near GWB In New Milford Police Chase Identified Trio Nabbed Near GWB In New Milford Police Chase Identified
Trio Nabbed Near GWB In New Milford Police Chase Identified UPDATE: A police pursuit sparked by a bank fraud in New Milford ended in Fort Lee late Tuesday afternoon with two women and a man from New York in custody. The getaway car grazed a police officer who was rushing to the Bank of America on River Road on the fraud call as they sped off, Police Chief Brian Clancy said. New Milford police chased the vehicle first into Hackensack and then eastbound on Route 4, Clancy said. Port Authority, Teaneck and Fort Lee police eventually joined the pursuit. The trio bailed out and were captured in the area of Marguerite Street near Fletcher Avenue around …

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Bookkeeper From Paterson Charged With Embezzling $100,000 From Bergen Food Distributor Bookkeeper From Paterson Charged With Embezzling $100,000 From Bergen Food Distributor
Bookkeeper From Paterson Charged With Embezzling $100,000 From Bergen Food Distributor A bookkeeper from Paterson embezzled $100,000 from a Bergen County food distributor that she worked for, authorities charged. Stefany Carolina Urias “took customer payments via checks and money orders without her employer’s authorization,” Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. She then “altered and deposited” checks and money orders made payable to the wholesale food distribution company into her account, he said. Musella’s Financial Crimes Unit arrested Urias in Passaic on charges of theft, forgery, falsifying records and criminal computer activity, the prosecutor said. She was pro…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Morris Prosecutor: Woman Doctored Medical Records In Family Court Case Morris Prosecutor: Woman Doctored Medical Records In Family Court Case
Morris Prosecutor: Woman Doctored Medical Records In Family Court Case A Franklin woman was charged with forgery, perjury and falsifying records after she submitted bogus medical invoices in a family court case, authorities said Wednesday. Lynneann K. Groves, 37, filed the documents with the Family Part of Superior Court’s Chancery Division in March, Morris County Prosecutor Fredric M. Knapp said. “The documents were allegedly medical invoices totaling $2,800,” Knapp said, adding that investigators from his office’s Fraud Unit determined that they were phony. “The investigation also revealed several alterations to the original invoices,” with amounts claimed …

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco