Fair 28°
Police & Fire
Feds: NJ Couple's Online Dating Scam Costs Those Looking For Love $6 Million Feds: NJ Couple's Online Dating Scam Costs Those Looking For Love $6 Million
Feds: NJ Couple's Online Dating Scam Costs Those Looking For Love $6 Million A married South Jersey couple orchestrated an online dating scam that wooed victims out of more than $6 million, federal authorities said. Martins Friday Inalegwu, 31, and his wife, Steincy Mathieu, 24, both of Burlington County’s Maple Shade, employed several accomplices – many of them living in Nigeria – to romance victims online and then take their money, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Craig Carpenito said. After making initial contact through dating and social media sites with phony identities, the thieves struck up what appeared to be romantic relationships with the victims either throug…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
North Jersey Union Officer Admits Embezzling From Local North Jersey Union Officer Admits Embezzling From Local
North Jersey Union Officer Admits Embezzling From Local A bus driver who served as finance officer for a North Jersey transportation workers union admitted in federal court Tuesday that he swiped $117,000 of the local’s money. Angel L. Garcia, 57, of Tampa, FL, pleaded guilty by videoconference to embezzling from the operating account of the Amalgamated Transit Workers Union Local 1614 in Sussex County. Garcia was a bus driver who held a part-time position as a financial secretary for five years at Local # 1614, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. “He alone was responsible for maintaining the check book and other financial documents of the unio…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
FBI Agents Arrest Accused Arsonist Who Torched Trenton Police Car On Social Media FBI Agents Arrest Accused Arsonist Who Torched Trenton Police Car On Social Media
FBI Agents Arrest Accused Arsonist Who Torched Trenton Police Car On Social Media FBI agents on Wednesday arrested a Trenton man who they said was caught on video torching a police car during a riot in the city last month. Bystander video shows Earlja J. Dudley, 27, and another man opening the vehicle’s engine and igniting a fire during unrest that followed what had been a peaceful day of protest against the death of George Floyd on May 31, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said Wednesday. In the video, Dudley is wearing a tank top and baseball cap with the Roman numerals “XIV” in red lettering, along with distinctive green, black and white sneakers, Carpenito said. Invest…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Feds: 6 Drug Ring Members Trafficked Heroin From Paterson To Atlantic City That Killed 48 Users Feds: 6 Drug Ring Members Trafficked Heroin From Paterson To Atlantic City That Killed 48 Users
Feds: 6 Drug Ring Members Trafficked Heroin From Paterson To Atlantic City That Killed 48 Users Six reputed members of a drug network trafficked heroin from Paterson to Atlantic City that was connected to 48 overdose deaths and 84 other ODs, federal authorities charged. The FBI used wiretaps, video surveillance, confidential informants and more to infiltrate the organization, which sold heroin in bags stamped with, among other names, “AK-47,” “Apple,” “Fortnite,” “Rolex,” “Frank Lucas,” “Bentley,” “Pandora,” and “9½,” U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. An indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Camden names six reputed gang members accused of conspiring to move more than a kil…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
FBI: Middlesex Man Tried To Torch Trenton Police Car Following Floyd Protest FBI: Middlesex Man Tried To Torch Trenton Police Car Following Floyd Protest
FBI: Middlesex Man Tried To Torch Trenton Police Car Following Floyd Protest Federal authorities seized a Middlesex County man who they said stuffed a rag into the gas tank of a police cruiser and tried to set it on fire during a riot that erupted in Trenton following what had been a peaceful protest over the death of George Floyd. Justin Spry, 21, of South Plainfield tried claiming on Twitter that he was brutalized by police, but U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Craig Carpenito said that surveillance video captured him and an accomplice trying to torch the police car Sunday night. “Law enforcement officers on scene observed Spry as he attempted to ignite the vehicle,” …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Justice Department Sues Contractor For Fraud In $39M NJ Road Project Justice Department Sues Contractor For Fraud In $39M NJ Road Project
Justice Department Sues Contractor For Fraud In $39M NJ Road Project A construction company lied to the federal government to get a $39 million subcontract on a New Jersey road project, authorities said Friday. C. Abbonizio Contractors Inc., based in Sewell, “defrauded the government by claiming to use disadvantaged entities” when, in fact, it didn’t, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. Companies must use disadvantaged business entities (DBE) for a specified percentage of the work in order to secure federal contracts for New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) projects, Carpenito said. Abbonizio Contractors obtained a $39 million subcontract from PK…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Former Gottheimer Aide Admits Forging Congressional Letters Former Gottheimer Aide Admits Forging Congressional Letters
Former Gottheimer Aide Admits Forging Congressional Letters A now-former aide to New Jersey Congressman Josh Gottheimer admitted using the U.S. House of Representatives seal to falsify letters written on the federal lawmaker’s letterhead. Patrick Sheehan, 29, of West Milford, was working as director of community outreach in Gottheimer’s Sussex County office in Newton when he “falsified and mailed” a series of letters that purported to be from another staffer containing false information about the congressman and that employee, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said following Friday's guilty plea. Sheehan then “falsified multiple copies of a letter on [G…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
US Government Sues Jersey Shore Town For Discriminating Against Orthodox Schools US Government Sues Jersey Shore Town For Discriminating Against Orthodox Schools
US Government Sues Jersey Shore Town For Discriminating Against Orthodox Schools Jackson Township is discriminating against Orthodox Jews through zoning ordinances that “intentionally restrict the operation of religious schools and housing associated with such schools,” including yeshivas, the U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday. The ordinances were enacted and used “against a backdrop of extreme [animosity] by Jackson residents and township decision makers toward the Orthodox Jewish community and a movement by residents to keep Orthodox Jewish community members from settling in Jackson,” the government contends in a lawsuit. Jackson’s planning board applied a pair o…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Feds: Paterson Man Got Girl, 11, To Share Nude Photos, Posted Child Sex-Assault Video Feds: Paterson Man Got Girl, 11, To Share Nude Photos, Posted Child Sex-Assault Video
Feds: Paterson Man Got Girl, 11, To Share Nude Photos, Posted Child Sex-Assault Video A Paterson man who posted a graphic video of a child being sexually assaulted convinced an 11-year-old girl to send him naked photos, said federal Homeland Security agents who arrested him. Jose Minaya, 24, was scheduled for a first federal court appearance via teleconference Thursday afternoon on charges of producing and distributing child pornography, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. Minaya “used a web-based application to engage an 11-year-old child in a sexually explicit conversation online [and] ultimately instructed the child to take sexually explicit photographs and send them to h…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
South Jersey Grocery Store Owner Admits $260,000 Food Stamp Scam South Jersey Grocery Store Owner Admits $260,000 Food Stamp Scam
South Jersey Grocery Store Owner Admits $260,000 Food Stamp Scam A Camden grocery store owner admitted trading drugs and cash for government-issued debit cards that he and several accomplices used to steal $260,000 in benefits intended for families in need. Luciano Estevez, 50, pleaded guilty on Wednesday via teleconference after federal agents caught him and three of the others in a sting, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, allows users to buy necessary groceries. Although exchanging SNAP cards for cash is illegal, Estevez and his acco…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
$900,000 Tax Scam Gets NJ Tax Preparer Four Years In Fed Pen $900,000 Tax Scam Gets NJ Tax Preparer Four Years In Fed Pen
$900,000 Tax Scam Gets NJ Tax Preparer Four Years In Fed Pen A federal judge sentenced a former tax preparer who worked in Essex and Union counties to a plea-bargained four years in prison for his role in a $900,000 income tax scam, authorities said. Because there’s no parole in the federal prison system, Tony V. Russell, 49, of Stone Mountain, GA must serve out the entire term for his guilty plea to conspiring to defraud the IRS. Russell was the first of five men sentenced for preparing bogus tax returns at Tax Pro’s and Tax Solutions & Associates, federal prosecutors said. A federal judge in Trenton last September convicted one of two co-owner…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
COVID-19 SCAM ALERT: Here’s How Stimulus Scammers Try To Steal Your Money COVID-19 SCAM ALERT: Here’s How Stimulus Scammers Try To Steal Your Money
Covid-19 Scam ALERT: Here’s How Stimulus Scammers Try To Steal Your Money Fear and uncertainty created by the coronavirus have made victims of people who’ve ended up giving what amounts to blank checks to scammers who claim to be contacting them about stimulus payments. Stimulus payments are automatic for seniors and taxpayers who filed tax returns in 2018 or 2019, state New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said Friday. There are no phone calls, no need to do anything but count the amount when it comes in the mail or is directly deposited sometime this month. If you do get a call, text or email from someone asking for your Social Security, checking accou…

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by Jerry DeMarco