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Ridgefield Park Officer Finds Gun, Hollow-Nose Ammo, $24,500 After Stopping Out-Of-State Driver
A Ridgefield Park police officer turned up a handgun loaded with hollow-nose bullets, a small amount of crystal meth and $24,500 in suspicious cash during a traffic stop, authorities said.
Officer Amanda Thomas stopped the Toyota Tundra for a number of violations at Main and Hobart streets shortly after 10 a.m. Monday, April 8, Police Chief Joseph Rella said.
The driver, 40-year-old Mexican national Raul Villanueva Muratalla of Nashville, was taken into custody a short time later, he said.
Muratalla was charged with unlawful weapons possession, possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpo…
Victims Scammed Out Of $2.2M By NJ Couple In 'Publishers Clearing House Lottery' Scheme: Cops
A couple from Secaucus is facing a litany of charges after scamming residents in multiple states out of more nearly $2.2 million, police said.
Akeem Lee and Majda Hodzic-Lee called victims in Florida, Minnesota, Arizona, Kansas, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Nebraska, saying they'd won the "Publishers Clearing House Lottery," Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller said.
In exchange for the vehicles and large sums of money the victims were told they won, they were required by Lee and Hodzic-Lee to send cash, money orders and/or gift cards for taxes, fees and IRS …
Cyberfootsies: Ex-NJ Couple, Money Washer Confess $4.5M Online Romance Scam
UPDATE: A former New Jersey couple and a local businesswoman have admitted scamming more than 100 lonely hearts out of $4.5 million in an elaborate online romance scheme, federal authorities charged.
Martins Inalegwu, 35, took a deal from the government, pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Camden on Monday, March 25 to conducting an unlawful money-transmitting business and evading taxes for four straight years.
Inalegwu's wife, Steincy Mathieu, 27, had already pleaded guilty to tax evasion last November.
Oluwaseyi Fatolu, 56, of Springfield, followed her by admitting this past …
Tardy Rochelle Park Hotel Guest Busted With Cocaine, Pills, Knife: Police
A Rochelle Park hotel guest who overstayed his welcome was arrested after officers found cocaine and pills for sale in his room, authorities said.
Police responding to a call of a guest not leaving by checkout time at the Ramada by Wyndham Hotel on West Passaic Street found Anwar Mnawer, 33, of the Bronx disoriented shortly after 1 p.m. Monday, March 18, Capt. James M. DePreta said.
“In plain view inside the room, officers observed a large folding knife, prescription pills, a baggie containing a white powdery substance believed to be cocaine, and miscellaneous drug paraphernalia,” the …
Central Jersey Drug Dealer Found In Atlantic City With Heroin, Cocaine: Police
A Mercer County man was accused of selling heroin and cocaine in Atlantic City, authorities said.
Leroy Clark, 44, of Ewing, was arrested on Friday, Mar. 8, Atlantic City police said in a Wednesday, Mar. 13 news release. An officer saw Clark selling drugs to another man on the 1500 block of Atlantic Avenue at around 4:45 p.m.
Two other officers were able to arrest him, and investigators searched his vehicle and hotel room. Police seized 420 bags of heroin, nearly 10 ounces of cocaine, and items for selling drugs.
Clark was charged with three counts of possession of a controlled d…
17 Firearms, High-Capacity Mags Seized In Raid Of Morris County Man's Home: Prosecutor
A 54-year-old Denville man was arrested and charged on Tuesday, Feb. 6 with possessing and selling defaced firearms, authorities said.
Robert Klaar sold the defaced gun in Denville in January 2024, Morris County Prosecutor Robert Carroll, Chief of Detectives Robert McNally and Denville Chief of Police Frank Perna said.
A search of Klaar's home turned up 17 firearms, two firearm silencers and evidence he was manufacturing the devices, including assembly manuals, authorities said. High-capacity magazines, $17,000 in cash, numerous rounds of ammunition, two pounds of marijuana …
Drug Dealer Sold Fentanyl Elixir To 28-Year-Old Man Before Fatal Morris County OD: Cops
A 26-year-old man has been charged in the fatal overdose of a 28-year-old man last February in Morris County, authorities said.
Anthony Dello Russo, of Cedar Knolls (Hanover), is believed to have sold a man identified only as T.H. the fentanyl and cocaine that killed him on Feb. 16, Morris County Prosecutor Robert Carroll said.
The cause of death for T.H., who was found dead at a home in Whippany, was combined toxicity of cocaine, fentanyl, and acetyl fentanyl, Carroll said alongside Chief of Detectives Robert McNally, and Hanover Township Police Chief Michael Loock.
Dello-R…
$50K, Cocaine, 5 Pounds Of Pot Seized From Morris County Drug Dealer: Prosecutor
More than $51,000 in suspected drug proceeds, cocaine, and five pounds of marijuana was seized from a Morris County man, authorities said.
Hanover's Anthony Dello-Russo, 27, is facing multiple drug-related offenses following a drug dealing investigation, Morris County Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll said.
More than $51,000 in cash, half an ounce of cocaine and more than five pounds of marijuana were seized from Dello-Russo on Friday, Dec. 8, Carroll said alongside Chief of Detectives Robert McNally, Sheriff James M. Gannon, and Hanover Township Police Chief Michael Loock.
Dello-Russo was…
10 Vintage Cars, 1.7 Pounds Of Coke, $332K Seized From Jobless NJ Drug Dealer: Prosecutor
An unemployed Nutley man bought 10 vintage cars with the money he made selling cocaine, authorities charged.
Authorities seized the “exotic” vehicles along with nearly $332,000 in cash that Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said Omar Rios, 44, squirreled away in his apartment and a stash house.
They also grabbed 1.7 pounds of cocaine, cutting agents, packaging material and a hydraulic press used to compress cocaine for packaging, the prosecutor said.
Rios was seized during coordinated raids at his apartment in the Franklin Commons building on Franklin Avenue in Nutley, at a mixed-used …
Bergen Dad, Son Busted Again, This Time In $2.5M Jersey Shore ‘Fix-and-Flip’ Scheme
It seemed state and federal prosecutors had thrown all they could at a Bergen County father and son for a series of multi-million-dollar investment scams. But state authorities announced a new indictment against both men on Monday, Nov. 6.
This time, George Bussanich, Sr., 65, of Park Ridge, and George Bussanich, Jr., 43, of Upper Saddle River, are charged with defrauding investors and mortgage lenders out of more than $2.5 million through a “fix and flip” investment scam involving Jersey Shore real estate.
Victims believed they were funding the purchase, renovation, and resale of four…
Diamond District Operators From NJ, Long Island Busted In $673M Money Laundering Scheme: Feds
Four businessmen from New Jersey and one from Long Island laundered millions of dollars a day in cash through fronts they set up in New York City’s Diamond District, federal authorities charged.
Federal agents tied the quintet to $673 million in dirty money laundered through the illicit operations over the past four years, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said.
In exchange, Raj Vaidya, 26; Rakesh Vaidya, 51; Shrey Vaidya, 23; and Neel Patel, 26, all of Edison; and Youssef Janfar, aka “Joe Rodeo,” 57, of Great Neck, NY collected sizable fees, he said.
The three Vaidyas and P…
Mid-Atlantic Crime Ring Arrests For NJ Armed Robberies, Carjackings
An indictment of 16 members of a violent mid-Atlantic crime ring has been unsealed and the federal agencies are naming names.
Of the 16, eight of the alleged crime ring members were arrested in the morning on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023, police in Fairfax County, Virginia announced later that day.
They were all arrested in connection to a violent crime spree that took place between Jan. 7, 2022, through Jan. 27, 2023.
The crime ring members were all from Maryland and the District of Columbia. They met with their accused leader – Trevor Wright, also known as “Taliban Glizzy” …
Ex-NJ Corrections Officer's Crypto Scam Targeted Police, Firefighters, EMTs: Authorities
A retired New Jersey corrections lieutenant preyed on his peers with a cryptocurrency scheme that cost participating police, firefighters, EMTs, and other first responders more than $620,000, state and federal authorities said.
John DeSalvo, 47, of Linwood, also pulled a $100,000 investment scam that authorities said went to covering his credit card bills, day trading in cryptocurrencies and payments to a contractor who handled a luxury bathroom renovation for him.
DeSalvo -- who worked for the New Jersey Department of Corrections for 13 years before retiring in 2010 -- created and promote…
$256K Cash Seized As Accused Meth, LSD Dealers Charged In Morris County: Prosecutor
More than $256,000 in cash and a slew of drugs were seized as a pair of accused dealers were hit with distribution and money laundering charges, authorities in Morris County announced Wednesday, June 28 said.
Nelly Solano, 59, and Eldridge Cruzado, 21, both of Kenvil, were charged with first-degree distribution of LSD, distribution of methamphetamine, and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and LSD, second-degree money laundering, and other similar offenses, Morris County First Assistant Prosecutor Maggie Calderwood said.
The two were charged following the seizure of over $…
