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Tag: Undercover Operation
Prostitution Bust At Motels, Massage Parlors Nets 18 Arrests, $22K: Passaic Sheriff
Eighteen people were arrested and more than $22,000 was seized in a widespread prostitution bust across Passaic County, authorities said.
Acting on citizen complains, multiple divisions of the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office conducted a quality of life operation on July 23 and 24, Acting Sheriff Gary Giardina said.
The detail targeted massage parlors and hotels across Passaic County, and found that the establishments were collecting illegal profits through prostitution related activities, Giardina said. The total number seized was $22,206.
During the detail, detectives working i…
Child SEX Sting: German Traveler Busted At NJ Hotel After Flying In: Authorities
A German man who flew to the United States for what he thought would be sex with children 10 and 11 years old at a New Jersey hotel was instead arrested by undercover officers, authorities said.
Christian Stefan Walther, 38, of Erfurt, Germany, communicated with two officers via email, phone, and an encrypted messaging app about his “desire for sexual encounters with young children,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
The officers had posed as members of a group of child predators who had access to young children, he said.
Walther, who called himself a "perv to some extent," sen…
Essex Jail Officer, GF Stung By FBI In Scheme To Smuggle In Tobacco, Cell Phones: Feds
A corrections officer and his girlfriend were busted for smuggling tobacco and cellphones into the Essex County Jail from a source who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent, federal authorities said.
Efrin Wade, 34, and Yairisa Lizardo, 29, both of Jersey City, accepted $14,000 for the illegal acts and apparently were counting on another $30,000 when they were busted, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger said following their arrests on Tuesday, March 14.
Wade, who’d worked as a corrections officer at the Essex County Correctional Facility (ECCF) in Newark since February 2020, be…
Warren County Man, 63, Met Up For Sex With Undercover Cop Posing As Teen Girl: Prosecutor
A 63-year-old man from Warren County is facing numerous charges after investigators caught him meeting up for sex with an undercover cop he thought was a 14-year-old girl, authorities said.
Paul Tedeschi, of Lee Avenue in Alpha, was charged with second-degree attempted luring, second-degree sexual assault, attempted child endangerment, and promoting prostitution, Warren County Prosecutor James L. Pfeiffer said in a release on Friday, Sept. 2.
Police in Phillipsburg learned from a source on Sunday, Aug. 21 that Tedeschi was looking for an underage girl to have sex with, Pfeiffer said.
A fol…
British Man Hired Undercover Agent To Arrange Sex With Drugged Girls: Feds
A British citizen has been charged with trying to pay for sex with New Jersey girls while giving them drugs, federal authorities said.
Stephen Hudson, 51, of Ealing, England, is charged with one count of attempted online enticement of a minor and one count of travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, they said.
He was charged on Monday, May 9, according to U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger
He appeared by videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge José R. Almonte in Newark federal court and was detained.
According to authorities, from April 14, to Friday, May 6, H…
FBI Sting: Ex-Paraguayan Lawmaker, Husband Admit Roles In $2 Million Drug Money Laundering Plot
A former member of Paraguay’s Congress thought that she and her husband were laundering $800,000 in drug money when they’d actually been caught in a New Jersey-based FBI sting, federal authorities said.
Cynthia Elizabeth Tarragó, 41, also promised the purported drug traffickers that she could get them large quantities of cocaine at a good price, they said.
Both Tarragó and her husband, Raimundo Va, 45, took guilty pleas in exchange for leniency at sentencing, admitting in federal court in Trenton this week that they conspired to launder what they believed would be as much $2 million in drug…
