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Police & Fire
NJ Morgue Driver Pick Pocketed Bodies: Authorities NJ Morgue Driver Pick Pocketed Bodies: Authorities
NJ Morgue Driver Pick Pocketed Bodies: Authorities A Middlesex County man who drives bodies to the morgue stole credit cards that he found on them, authorities said. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 43, of Sayreville, who works as a driver at an unidentified company, used the stolen credit cards to buy plane tickets, groceries, movie tickets and other items from businesses throughout Middlesex County, the said. Thomas was arrested on Tuesday, April 19 at his home, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone alongside Milltown Police Chief Brian Knelle. Thomas was charged with credit card theft, identity theft, possession of prescriptio…

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by Jon Craig
News
Tax Scammer From Bergen Gets 24 Months, No Bail, For Posing As 18 Different Refund Recipients Tax Scammer From Bergen Gets 24 Months, No Bail, For Posing As 18 Different Refund Recipients
Tax Scammer From Bergen Gets 24 Months, No Bail, For Posing As 18 Different Refund Recipients UPDATE: A confessed ID scammer from Tenafly was sentenced to two years and two days in federal prison for posing as 18 different people to collect tax refunds, authorities said. Emmanuel A. Barrientos-Fermin, 39, must serve all of the term because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Barrientos-Fermin previously admitted in US. District Court in Newark that he gave an unnamed co-conspirator a photo of himself that was used to produce bogus driver’s licenses with his picture on them. The co-conspirator also gave him matching Social Security cards, driver’s licenses and W-2 forms …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Cliffside PD: $71,000, Gun Found In Illegally Parked Car After ID Thief Tries To Cash Bum Check Cliffside PD: $71,000, Gun Found In Illegally Parked Car After ID Thief Tries To Cash Bum Check
Cliffside PD: $71,000, Gun Found In Illegally Parked Car After ID Thief Tries To Cash Bum Check An identity thief left a car containing a loaded gun, $71,000 in cash and more illegally parked outside a Cliffside Park bank as he unsuccessfully tried to cash a bogus check inside, said police who arrested him when he emerged. Officers J.J. McGuire and Ryan Stanek spotted the unoccupied 2018 Infiniti Q50 with no license plates and completely tinted windows outside the M&T Bank at the corner of Anderson and Lawton avenues early Wednesday, March 23, Deputy Police Chief Vincent Capano said. The sedan wasn't registered, its engine was idling and its hazard lights were on, Capano said Em…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Feds: ID Thief Gets 4 Years For Stealing $600,000 From NJ Bank Customers Feds: ID Thief Gets 4 Years For Stealing $600,000 From NJ Bank Customers
Feds: ID Thief Gets 4 Years For Stealing $600,000 From NJ Bank Customers UPDATE: An admitted identity thief was sentenced to four years in federal prison for conspiring with a South Jersey bank employee and others to steal more than $600,000 from unsuspecting victims, federal authorities said. Lamar Melhado, 32, of the Bronx will have to serve just about all of the plea-bargained sentence handed down in U.S. District Court in Camden on Monday, March 7, because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Melhado received photos and screenshots of customers’ information and signatures from Mount Laurel bank call center employee Jamere Hill-Birdsong of Gloucest…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
East Coast Luxury Car Theft Ring Smashed By PalPark Detectives East Coast Luxury Car Theft Ring Smashed By PalPark Detectives
East Coast Luxury Car Theft Ring Smashed By PalPark Detectives What at first seemed like a run-of-the-mill package theft led Palisades Park detectives to an organized theft ring that used bogus IDs to buy high-end luxury cars, authorities said. Jeon Kichul, a 43-year-old Korean national, was arrested last December after Detective David Chun identified him as the porch pirate who swiped a package containing a baseball glove from outside a resident’s home, Capt. Shawn Lee said. Kichul, who was also carrying bogus ID, was released pending further investigation, said Lee, the officer in charge of the department. Chun then learned that Jeon was "part of a …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Chronic ID Thief Nabbed With Cocaine, Bogus Licenses, Phony Credit Cards: Lyndhurst Police Chronic ID Thief Nabbed With Cocaine, Bogus Licenses, Phony Credit Cards: Lyndhurst Police
Chronic ID Thief Nabbed With Cocaine, Bogus Licenses, Phony Credit Cards: Lyndhurst Police A repeat offender was busted by a Lyndhurst police officer who found him carrying cocaine, fake driver's licenses and phony credit cards during a traffic stop, authorities said. It's not the first -- or even second -- time that Miguel Arias, 36, has recently been busted in the area for those charges, records show. This time, Lyndhurst Police Officer Michael Clifford stopped Arias for driving an older-model Mercedes Benz through a commercial parking lot at Polito and Rutherford avenues without his headlights on shortly after 2 a.m. last week, Detective Lt. Vincent Auteri said. Arias handed …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Alert Bank Manager Helps Hawthorne PD Nab ID Thieves, Authorities Say Alert Bank Manager Helps Hawthorne PD Nab ID Thieves, Authorities Say
Alert Bank Manager Helps Hawthorne PD Nab ID Thieves, Authorities Say Hawthorne police nabbed a pair of identity thieves from the Bronx thanks to a local bank manager, authorities said. The manager at the Chase branch on Lafayette Avenue called police after denying the men access to an account belonging to a Florida resident and watching them drive away, Detective Capt. Robert King said. Officers took Orlando Rodriguez, 35, and Christian Ellis, 30, into custody after stopping their vehicle – which had tinted windows and no front license plate – moments later, King said. Both had several debit and credit cards in the names of other people with them, the capta…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Where Did This NJ Town Get A Maserati To Auction Off? Answer: From A Federal Convict Where Did This NJ Town Get A Maserati To Auction Off? Answer: From A Federal Convict
Where Did This NJ Town Get A Maserati To Auction Off? Answer: From A Federal Convict A Maserati that’s being auctioned off by a small Bergen County town was seized from a confessed ID thief from Hackensack who's now serving federal prison time for swiping $2 million from various victims, Daily Voice has learned. She was a he at the time. Closter police confiscated the flash ride during a 2018 investigation that produced the arrest of Ralph Taylor -- who according to the U.S. Attorney's Office has become Alexis Taylor while behind bars. Working with others, Taylor bought a “significant amount of stolen personal identifying information via the dark web, includ…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
ID Thief Had Tools Of Trade And More During Rochelle Park Traffic Stop, Police Say ID Thief Had Tools Of Trade And More During Rochelle Park Traffic Stop, Police Say
ID Thief Had Tools Of Trade And More During Rochelle Park Traffic Stop, Police Say An identity thief had the tools of the trade with him -- as well as credit cards, debit cards, personal checks and a drug prescription in other people's names -- when a Rochelle Park police stopped him for not having a front license plate, authorities said. Officer Chris Kiszka stopped the Honda Accord as it exited the parking lot of the Ramada Inn on Passaic Street, Lt. James M. DePreta said. The officer quickly discovered that the driver, Dashawn McDaniel, 25, of Paterson had an outstanding traffic warrant, he said. McDaniel "provided conflicting accounts as to his destination" before co…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Fraudster Put Her Own Email Address On $100K Loan In Victim's Name: Wayne PD Fraudster Put Her Own Email Address On $100K Loan In Victim's Name: Wayne PD
Fraudster Put Her Own Email Address On $100K Loan In Victim's Name: Wayne PD A 47-year-old Wayne woman was arrested for opening $100,000 in loans under someone else's name after she put her own personal contact information on the account, authorities announced. Cherie Elliott used used her own email address, phone number and physical address on the six loans she took out under the victim's name last April, Wayne Police Det. Capt. Dan Daly said. The victim came to police last June when she noticed her credit score suddenly dropped, Daly said. She was told by a financial institution that loans were opened using her personal information -- but had the email a…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Prosecutor Drops Child Porn Charges Against Ramsey Plumber After Cybersleuth Proves Innocence Prosecutor Drops Child Porn Charges Against Ramsey Plumber After Cybersleuth Proves Innocence
Prosecutor Drops Child Porn Charges Against Ramsey Plumber After Cybersleuth Proves Innocence A Ramsey volunteer first responder who was wrongfully accused in a child-porn case was vindicated after a private forensic investigator proved his innocence. Charles Gilbride had no idea what was happening when cybercrime detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office raided his home and arrested him early on the morning of Dec. 2, 2021. That’s because he hadn’t done anything wrong. First responders, like many others, found it impossible to believe the 2015 Ramsey High School graduate – who’d been a lieutenant with the all-volunteer Ramsey Rescue Squad – was capable of such crimes. …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Jersey City Man Gets 27 Months In Fed Pen For $450,000 Phony Passport Bank Fraud Scheme Jersey City Man Gets 27 Months In Fed Pen For $450,000 Phony Passport Bank Fraud Scheme
Jersey City Man Gets 27 Months In Fed Pen For $450,000 Phony Passport Bank Fraud Scheme A Jersey City man must spend more than two years in federal prison for his role in a ring that used bogus passports and IRS refund checks to pocket more than $450,000. Mamadou Diallo, 44, also must pay $150,052 in restitution as part his plea deal with the government, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. For 6½ years, beginning in 2012, Diallo admitted, he and others stuck photos of themselves to passports bearing others’ names. They then used the bogus IDs to open bank accounts into which they deposited phony IRS refund checks. They withdrew the funds from ATM and teller termi…

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by Jerry DeMarco