FEDS: India-Based Phone Scammers Admit Conning Elderly NJ Victims Out Of $600,000 FEDS: India-Based Phone Scammers Admit Conning Elderly NJ Victims Out Of $600,000
Feds: India-Based Phone Scammers Admit Conning Elderly NJ Victims Out Of $600,000 Two Indian nationals admitted Wednesday that they conned mostly elderly New Jersey victims out of $600,000 through a variety of phone scams, including posing as government officials and online support techs. Zeeshan Khan, 22, and Maaz Ahmed Shamsi, 24, operated India-based call centers that made robocalls to mostly elderly U.S. residents, Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Rachael A. Honig said. Once contact was made, members of the international ring “would coerce or trick the victims into sending large sums of cash through physical shipments or wire transfers to other members of the cons…
Last Of Trenton Police Car Firebombers Pleads Guilty In Federal Court Last Of Trenton Police Car Firebombers Pleads Guilty In Federal Court
Last Of Trenton Police Car Firebombers Pleads Guilty In Federal Court A Trenton man caught on video torching a police car during a riot in the city took a guilty plea in federal court. Earlja J. Dudley, 28, is the last of four men to plead guilty for their roles in the incident following what had been a peaceful day of protest against the death of George Floyd on May 31, 2020. Surveillance and bystander video show Dudley and another man opening the vehicle’s engine and igniting a fire during the unrest, Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Rachael A. Honig said. In the video, Dudley is wearing a tank top and baseball cap with the Roman numerals “XIV” in red l…
Paterson Ex-Con Headed To Federal Prison For Selling Revolvers, Pistols, Rifles, Ammo Paterson Ex-Con Headed To Federal Prison For Selling Revolvers, Pistols, Rifles, Ammo
Paterson Ex-Con Headed To Federal Prison For Selling Revolvers, Pistols, Rifles, Ammo An ex-con from Paterson who'd already done time on a gun conviction is bound for federal prison -- this time for selling 16 weapons. Rather than face trial, Floyd “HK” Henry, 36, took a deal from the government, pleading guilty via videoconference with a federal judge in Newark to gun selling, as well as being a convicted felon in possession of firearms and ammo. Henry sold two semi-automatic rifles, three revolvers and 11 semi-automatic pistols – as well as over 100 rounds of ammunition -- when ATF agents arrested him in September 2019, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. He’d bou…
Former Bergen Resident From CT Admits Embezzling $540,000 From Security Firm Former Bergen Resident From CT Admits Embezzling $540,000 From Security Firm
Former Bergen Resident From CT Admits Embezzling $540,000 From Security Firm A former Bergen County resident now living in Connecticut admitted Wednesday that she embezzled $540,000 from a local company. Melissa Corso, 50, and her husband lived in Closter when she worked for a Delaware-based security systems supplier with an office in Ridgefield Park, federal authorities said. Corso, currently of Groton, CT, and co-worker Joseph Spaccavento steered customer payments owed to their former employer to a PayPal account registered to him and linked to her work email, according to an FBI complaint. The customers, in turn, sent more than $3.1 million through 1,150 transa…
Feds: Dealer Admits Selling Fentanyl Dose That Killed Jersey Shore Woman Feds: Dealer Admits Selling Fentanyl Dose That Killed Jersey Shore Woman
Feds: Dealer Admits Selling Fentanyl Dose That Killed Jersey Shore Woman A Trenton dealer admitted in federal court that she sold a Jersey Shore woman the fentanyl dose that killed her, authorities said. Tarashanna Blake, 33, met the 39-year-old victim near her Englishtown home, where the sale was made, on May 15, 2018, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Englishtown police found the buyer dead of an overdose later that day, with several folds of what at first appeared to be heroin stamped “CAMEL” nearby, Honig said. It was actually fentanyl, she said. Blake took a deal from the government rather than face trial, pleading guilty in U.S. District Court …
Getaway Driver In 7-County North Jersey Holdup Spree Heads To Federal Prison Getaway Driver In 7-County North Jersey Holdup Spree Heads To Federal Prison
Getaway Driver In 7-County North Jersey Holdup Spree Heads To Federal Prison The wheelman in nearly two dozen gas station and convenience store armed robberies in North Jersey was sent to federal prison for at least nine years. Meshach Whagar, 31, of Newark must serve just about all of the 110-month sentence handed down in U.S. District Court in Newark on Wednesday because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Whager admitted late last year that he drove the getaway car during the 20 predawn holdups in seven counties -- Bergen, Passaic, Hudson, Essex, Middlesex, Morris and Union -- in November and December of 2017 (see list of locations below). The gunman…
Historic Drug Seizure Near Atlantic City Nets Fentanyl, Heroin, Coke, Feds Say Historic Drug Seizure Near Atlantic City Nets Fentanyl, Heroin, Coke, Feds Say
Historic Drug Seizure Near Atlantic City Nets Fentanyl, Heroin, Coke, Feds Say Local and federal authorities seized more than 30 pounds of fentanyl, heroin and cocaine – the area’s largest narcotics haul in history -- while raiding a basement drug mill just outside Atlantic City, authorities said. A federal judge in Camden ordered via videoconference that Ricardo Clavijo, 39, who lives in the Egg Harbor Township home, and Christopher Gonzalez, 37, of Pleasantville, remain held without bail, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Each is charged with conspiring to have and sell more than a kilo of heroin. “By all accounts, this case represents the largest single…
Deportee Who Raped Paterson Girl, 15, After Illegally Re-Entering US Gets 7¾ Years Deportee Who Raped Paterson Girl, 15, After Illegally Re-Entering US Gets 7¾ Years
Deportee Who Raped Paterson Girl, 15, After Illegally Re-Entering US Gets 7¾ Years UPDATE: A deportee who snuck back into the U.S. and was living illegally in Paterson was sentenced Tuesday to 95 months in federal prison for raping a 15-year-old city girl. Juan Carlos Morales-Pedraza, a 35-year-old Mexican citizen who was born in Ecuador, had been deported in 2010, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. He'd re-entered the United States when he approached the girl in Passaic County in April 2019, had sex with her, then took her with him on a planned trip to Chicago, Honig said. They never made it that far, however. An Ohio state trooper pulled Morales-Pedraza’s 201…
Feds Charge Reputed Jersey City Gang Member With Gunning Down Rival Feds Charge Reputed Jersey City Gang Member With Gunning Down Rival
Feds Charge Reputed Jersey City Gang Member With Gunning Down Rival Federal authorities have charged a reputed gang member from Jersey City with murder in the shooting death of a rival during a running feud between allied crews. Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Rachael A. Honig announced Tuesday that her office has taken over the prosecution of Phillip Wiggins Jr. of Newark for the March 31, 2020 slaying of Damone “Munch” Smith. Wiggins, 24, who investigators say belongs to the Wilkinson Avenue gang, shot Smith in the chest near the corner of Rose and Cator avenues.  Smith, 25, was brought by private vehicle to Jersey City Medical Center, where he …
Feds: Message App Shows How Pair Stole $10M Worth Of HIV Meds From NJ Veterans Hospital Feds: Message App Shows How Pair Stole $10M Worth Of HIV Meds From NJ Veterans Hospital
Feds: Message App Shows How Pair Stole $10M Worth Of HIV Meds From NJ Veterans Hospital UPDATE: Encrypted messages outline how a former pharmacy worker stole $10 million worth of HIV medications from a New Jersey veterans hospital with the help of a black-market fence from Bergen County, authorities charged. Surveillance cameras had already caught pharmacy tech Lisa M. Hoffman of Orange stealing the drugs from the shelves of the outpatient pharmacy at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in East Orange, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said earlier this year. According to an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Newark this week,  federal agents also s…
Feds: NJ Mail Carrier Picked Up, Delivered Drugs For Years Feds: NJ Mail Carrier Picked Up, Delivered Drugs For Years
Feds: NJ Mail Carrier Picked Up, Delivered Drugs For Years A New Jersey mail carrier took bribes for five years to help people use the U.S. Postal Service to ship coke, pot and other contraband through the mail. Emerson Pavilus, 46, of Union was working for the post office in Flanders when he took the payoffs, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. “Among other things, Pavilus provided his conspirators with addresses in Flanders to which parcels could be shipped, intercepted those parcels from the mail stream, and personally delivered those parcels to conspirators at addresses other than those listed on the parcels,” Honig said. Pavilus was n…
Feds: NJ Mail Carrier Picked Up, Delivered Drugs For Years Feds: NJ Mail Carrier Picked Up, Delivered Drugs For Years
Feds: NJ Mail Carrier Picked Up, Delivered Drugs For Years A New Jersey mail carrier took bribes for five years to help people use the U.S. Postal Service to ship coke, pot and other contraband through the mail. Emerson Pavilus, 46, of Union was working for the post office in Flanders when he took the payoffs, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. “Among other things, Pavilus provided his conspirators with addresses in Flanders to which parcels could be shipped, intercepted those parcels from the mail stream, and personally delivered those parcels to conspirators at addresses other than those listed on the parcels,” Honig said. Pavilus was n…