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Homeland Security Investigations Newark

Former NJ Child Services Caseworker Admits Collecting Kid Porn Former NJ Child Services Caseworker Admits Collecting Kid Porn
Former NJ Child Services Caseworker Admits Collecting Kid Porn 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A 57-year-old former caseworker for the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency admitted collecting images of victims as young as toddlers being sexually abused, federal authorities said. Authorities found images on his cellphone after Trent Collier, 57, of Kearny, arrived at Newark Airport on a flight from the Dominican Republic, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said. Collier was targeted because he'd apparently exchanged images on the phone while out of the country, investigators said. He ended up taking a deal from the government rather than risking the potential ou…
Former Hudson Clothing Store Manager Who Shared Child Porn Gets 10 Years, No Early Release Former Hudson Clothing Store Manager Who Shared Child Porn Gets 10 Years, No Early Release
Former Hudson Clothing Store Manager Who Shared Child Porn Gets 10 Years, No Early Release A former clothing store manager from Jersey City who shared videos of infant and toddler pornography was sentenced to a plea-bargained 10 years in federal prison, after which he's expected to be deported. Ramy Mercado, 29, transmitted more than 20 child sex abuse videos and expressed a "desire for sexual encounters with young children," U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Mercado took a deal from the government rather than risk the potential outcome of a jury trial. He pleaded guilty to child porn possession, as well as to naturalization fraud, in exchange for leniency at sen…
MAIL-ORDER METH: NJ Man Who Shipped 100 Pounds Gets 14+ Years In Fed Pen MAIL-ORDER METH: NJ Man Who Shipped 100 Pounds Gets 14+ Years In Fed Pen
Mail-order Meth: NJ Man Who Shipped 100 Pounds Gets 14+ Years In Fed Pen A New Jersey man who shipped more than 100 pounds of crystal meth for sale cross-country through the U.S. mail was sentenced to more than 14 years in federal prison as part of a plea deal. Michael Venditti, 39, of Camden, was arrested during a controlled delivery of a package in September 2021. It had been intercepted on its way from Calexico, a Southern California town at the Mexican border, federal authorities said. Inspectors got a warrant to open the package after a drug-detection dog reacted to its arrival at a South Jersey postal facility, they said. Inspectors swapped some of the m…
Middlesex Man Gets 2½ Years For COVID Unemployment Scam Middlesex Man Gets 2½ Years For COVID Unemployment Scam
Middlesex Man Gets 2½ Years For COVID Unemployment Scam A Middlesex County man was sentenced to a plea-bargained 2½ years in prison for conspiring to illegally obtain nearly $450,000 in COVID-19 unemployment benefits, federal authorities said. Christopher Valerio, 33, of Perth Amboy, must serve a little over two years before he can be released because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Valerio and co-conspirators submitted bogus unemployment applications to the New York Department of Labor through "fictitious online profiles that they created using personally identifiable information, including names, dates of birth, and Social…
Convicted MS-13 Killer Sentenced In NJ Murder Plot Convicted MS-13 Killer Sentenced In NJ Murder Plot
Convicted MS-13 Killer Sentenced In NJ Murder Plot 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A member of an MS-13 clique who just began serving 40 years in federal prison for a murder in Virginia was sentenced to 10 years for his role in a failed plot to kill a rival in Hudson County. The plea-bargained sentence approved by a federal judge in Newark on Thursday, March 21, won’t require Jose Gimenez-Lobos, a 33-year-old Salvadoran national, to serve more time. It will run concurrently. Gimenez-Lobos and two companions were ordered by a high-ranking member of La Mara Salvatrucha to execute a member of the rival 18th Street gang from the Maryland/Virginia area, U.S. Attorney …
Man Who Drove 12 Pounds Of Heroin, Fentanyl All The Way From Cali Busted In Bergen County: Feds Man Who Drove 12 Pounds Of Heroin, Fentanyl All The Way From Cali Busted In Bergen County: Feds
Man Who Drove 12 Pounds Of Heroin, Fentanyl All The Way From Cali Busted In Bergen County: Feds A California man was minutes from a dropoff after driving more than a dozen pounds of fentanyl and heroin cross country to New Jersey when he was stopped in Fort Lee for running a stop sign, authorities said. Timothy Alan Blank, 54, of Reseda, CA, made it 2,800 miles before Fort Lee police pulled his SUV over in Englewood Cliffs north of Sylvan and Myrtle avenues last Friday, March 8, according to a federal complaint. A Bergen County Sheriff's K-9 directed officers to the trunk, where it says they found the five kilos wrapped in five bricks. Blank collected the wrapped $195,000 of heroin a…
NJ Pair Staged Dog Fights, Shared Vids On Telegram Of 'Underperformers' Being Hanged: Feds NJ Pair Staged Dog Fights, Shared Vids On Telegram Of 'Underperformers' Being Hanged: Feds
NJ Pair Staged Dog Fights, Shared Vids On Telegram Of 'Underperformers' Being Hanged: Feds Two South Jersey men were charged by federal authorities with participating in a depraved multi-state dog-fighting collective. Tommy J. Watson of Clayton and others used the “DMV Board” on the Telegram app to share videos of live dog fights, dogs being trained to fight and "the killing of underperforming fighting dogs, including by hanging,” U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said on Monday, Dec. 11. They also posted bloodline information on the dog fighting website “Peds Online” from an operation they called “From Da Bottom Kennels,” the U.S. attorney said. Federal authoriti…
Ring Member Admits Snatching $1.5M Worth Of High-End Vehicles In NJ, Rockland, CT, Long Island Ring Member Admits Snatching $1.5M Worth Of High-End Vehicles In NJ, Rockland, CT, Long Island
Ring Member Admits Snatching $1.5M Worth Of High-End Vehicles In NJ, Rockland, CT, Long Island The last of four men caught stealing more than $1.5 million worth of luxury cars in New Jersey, Rockland County, Long Island and Connecticut took a guilty plea on Thursday, federal authorities announced. Like his pals, Malik Baker, 29, of Vauxhall, NJ, took a deal from the government, pleading guilty in federal court in Newark on Oct. 19 to conspiring to transport stolen vehicles in interstate commerce and receiving a stolen vehicle that had crossed state lines after being stolen. U.S. District Judge Esther Salas scheduled Baker's sentencing for March 7, 2024. Baker had remained on the sid…
Jurors Convict Elizabeth Man Who Lured Out-Of-State Escorts To NJ, Then Raped And Beat Them Jurors Convict Elizabeth Man Who Lured Out-Of-State Escorts To NJ, Then Raped And Beat Them
Jurors Convict Elizabeth Man Who Lured Out-Of-State Escorts To NJ, Then Raped And Beat Them Federal jurors in Newark convicted an Elizabeth man of luring out-of-state escorts to New Jersey for sex with false promises of paying them tens of thousands of dollars, authorities said. Jose Torres, 45, refused to pay those who accepted the offer and often raped and beat any who pressed him for the money, according to an indictment that led to his conviction on Wednesday, Oct. 11, following a six-day trial. Jurors in federal court in Newark found Torres guilty of four counts of persuading, inducing, and enticing women to travel in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution, U…
BUSTED: Feds Charge NJ Pair With Selling Five Guns, Fentanyl, Coke to CI BUSTED: Feds Charge NJ Pair With Selling Five Guns, Fentanyl, Coke to CI
Busted: Feds Charge NJ Pair With Selling Five Guns, Fentanyl, Coke to CI Two Newark men were nabbed after illegally selling five guns to an undercover operative working for the government, authorities said. One of them, Carlo M. De Leon De Jesus, 26, peddled four of the firearms and also sold fentanyl and cocaine, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. The Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives conducted three controlled buys from DeJesus from this past July through September, the U.S. attorney said. The conversations were secretly recorded, he said, as the confidential informant bought: a Glock 19 pistol for $1,500 in cash; an E…
Repeat Child Porn Trafficker From NJ, 65, Gets 10 More Years Without Parole: Feds Repeat Child Porn Trafficker From NJ, 65, Gets 10 More Years Without Parole: Feds
Repeat Child Porn Trafficker From NJ, 65, Gets 10 More Years Without Parole: Feds A 65-year-old convicted child porn trafficker from New Jersey is headed to federal prison for 10 years without parole for going back to it while on supervised release. Hugh Cohen, 65, of Elizabeth, served nearly all of a five-year federal prison sentence for possessing and receiving child pornography in 2010. Supervised release, which was a requirement of his sentence, was to run from the end of October 2014 to the end of October 2021, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. While still on supervised release, from March 28, 2021, to April 24, 2021, Cohen “engaged an undercover agent in an …
NJ Data Analyst Admits Trafficking Child Porn NJ Data Analyst Admits Trafficking Child Porn
NJ Data Analyst Admits Trafficking Child Porn A data analyst from Somerset County admitted in federal court in Trenton on Thursday that he trafficked videos and other images of child pornography. Marcevan Manasse, 28, of Somerville, was nabbed following an undercover operation, authorities said. Detectives accessed five video files and 11 images containing child sexual abuse from an IP address at Manasse’s home, a complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Trenton says. The files included “multiple visual depictions of pre-pubescent children being sexually abused by adults” that he ended up sharing over the course of more than two ye…