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NJ ID Thief Gets 6½ Years In Federal Prison For $450K New York State PUA Scam NJ ID Thief Gets 6½ Years In Federal Prison For $450K New York State PUA Scam
NJ ID Thief Gets 6½ Years In Federal Prison For $450K New York State PUA Scam A Union County ID thief is headed to federal prison for 6½ years for illegally collecting $450,000 in pandemic unemployment insurance benefits from New York State. Maurice Mills, 30, of Union Township must serve just about all of the sentence because there's no parole in the federal court system. Mills submitted bogus applications for the benefits, funded by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, "using the names of other individuals," U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Mills took a deal from the government rather than face trial, pleading guilty to wi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Union County Woman Admits Destroying Evidence In $400,000 COVID Unemployment Scam Union County Woman Admits Destroying Evidence In $400,000 COVID Unemployment Scam
Union County Woman Admits Destroying Evidence In $400,000 COVID Unemployment Scam A Union County woman admitted in federal court that she was shredding bogus credit and debit cards -- obtained by a man who fraudulently collected $400,000 in pandemic unemployment benefits from the state of New York -- when investigators came busting in. Detectives armed with a search warrant found Latoyia McCollum, 46, of Hillside in the kitchen of an undisclosed location "placing what appeared to be a credit/debit card into the shredder" while face-timing on a cellphone in October 2020, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. McCollum told them she was on the phone with Maurice Mills…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Confessed NJ ID Thief Admits Stealing $450,000 In Pandemic Unemployment Benefits From NY State Confessed NJ ID Thief Admits Stealing $450,000 In Pandemic Unemployment Benefits From NY State
Confessed NJ ID Thief Admits Stealing $450,000 In Pandemic Unemployment Benefits From NY State A Union County man admitted Monday that he stole $450,000 in pandemic unemployment insurance benefits from New York State by using other people's identities. Maurice Mills, 29, of Union Township took a deal from the government rather than face trial, pleading guilty to wire fraud during a video conference with a federal judge in Newark. Mills admitted that he submitted the bogus applications last year for the benefits, funded by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, "using the names of other individuals," Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. U.S. Di…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Trouble Collecting Unemployment? Working NJ Man Pocketed $96,437 Before COVID, Authorities Say Trouble Collecting Unemployment? Working NJ Man Pocketed $96,437 Before COVID, Authorities Say
Trouble Collecting Unemployment? Working NJ Man Pocketed $96,437 Before COVID, Authorities Say Before the coronavirus pandemic drove claims to unprecedented heights, a South Jersey man collected $96,437 in unemployment benefits from the state while holding down a job, said authorities who charged him with theft. Brian Peyton, 50, of Vineland had worked for a major food packaging company in Cumberland County for 27 years, in fact, records show. A state grand jury in Trenton indicted Peyton late last week after prosecutors said he had the benefits directly deposited from July 2010 through January 2017 while remaining employed the entire time, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal sai…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Woman Who Enslaved Sri Lankan Servant In Hudson, Passaic Homes Gets 70 Months In Fed Pen Woman Who Enslaved Sri Lankan Servant In Hudson, Passaic Homes Gets 70 Months In Fed Pen
Woman Who Enslaved Sri Lankan Servant In Hudson, Passaic Homes Gets 70 Months In Fed Pen A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a woman with homes in Secaucus and Woodland Park to nearly six years in prison for holding a Sri Lankan national against her will for more than nine years while forcing her to marry her and work without pay as a domestic servant. In addition to the 70-month prison term, U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler sentenced Alia Imad Faleh Al Hunaity, 44, to three years of supervised release and ordered her to pay restitution of $1.2 million. Jurors convicted Hunaity – also known as “Alia Al Qaternah” -- of forced labor, alien harboring for financial gain and ma…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Health Insurance Fraud Sentence: Fed Pen, $1M Restitution For Fort Lee Broker From Old Tappan Health Insurance Fraud Sentence: Fed Pen, $1M Restitution For Fort Lee Broker From Old Tappan
Health Insurance Fraud Sentence: Fed Pen, $1M Restitution For Fort Lee Broker From Old Tappan A Fort Lee insurance broker must spend six months in federal prison -- followed by six months of home confinement -- and repay $1 million that was siphoned from a Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield and the United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2326 Health Care Plan. Lawrence Ackerman, 55, of Old Tappan originally was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiring to defraud Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of $5.6 million by covering 700 to 800 ineligible participants through bogus – or “shell’ – companies. Ackerman, in turn, pleaded guilty in December 2018 to health care fraud for deliverin…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Saga Of Bergen-Hudson Scrap Metal Company That Conned Customers Out Of Millions Closes Saga Of Bergen-Hudson Scrap Metal Company That Conned Customers Out Of Millions Closes
Saga Of Bergen-Hudson Scrap Metal Company That Conned Customers Out Of Millions Closes After two years, four guilty pleas and several years worth of combined sentences, a massive federal case ended quietly Wednesday against a North Jersey scrap metal company that conned customers of several million dollars over nearly two decades. David Bartek, 55, of Wood Ridge, became the only convict to not get any federal prison time when he was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Newark to eight months home confinement and five years of supervised release. The government’s case against Cinelli Iron & Metal Co. (CIMCO) publicly began when with Bartek, the company’s former CF…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Scrap Metal Company Owner From Allendale Gets Time In Fed Pen For Multi-Million Fraud Scheme Scrap Metal Company Owner From Allendale Gets Time In Fed Pen For Multi-Million Fraud Scheme
Scrap Metal Company Owner From Allendale Gets Time In Fed Pen For Multi-Million Fraud Scheme A scrap metal company owner from Allendale was sentenced Wednesday to 33 months in federal prison for conning customers out of several million dollars over nearly two decades. Craig Cinelli, 49, a Cinelli Iron & Metal Co. (CIMCO) minority owner who hails from Wood-Ridge, must serve nearly all of the sentence. There's no parole in the federal prison system. Two years ago, Cinelli pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Newark to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Several developments followed. The government dismissed charges against his brother, 62-year-old CIMCO majority owner Joseph …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Wyckoff Exec Gets 12-Month Fed Sentence For Taking $350,000 In Bribes From Scrap Metal Company Wyckoff Exec Gets 12-Month Fed Sentence For Taking $350,000 In Bribes From Scrap Metal Company
Wyckoff Exec Gets 12-Month Fed Sentence For Taking $350,000 In Bribes From Scrap Metal Company A former national demolition company senior vice president from Wyckoff was sentenced Wednesday to six months in federal prison and six months of home confinement for taking $341,052 in payoffs from a scrap metal company. A judge in U.S. District Court in Newark also ordered that Frank Aiello, 54, pay full restitution. Aiello worked as a senior vice president at an unnamed demolition and remediation services company with offices in New Jersey and throughout the United States, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. He accepted “gifts, payments and other things of value” from two brothers who c…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Feds: Teaneck Vending Machine/Jukebox Company Owner Stole $186,000 From Employee Pension Fund Feds: Teaneck Vending Machine/Jukebox Company Owner Stole $186,000 From Employee Pension Fund
Feds: Teaneck Vending Machine/Jukebox Company Owner Stole $186,000 From Employee Pension Fund A well-known Teaneck businessman whose vending machine and jukebox company paid five figures earlier this year to settle a copyright suit embezzled $186,000 from his employees’ pension fund, federal prosecutors charged. Howard Preschel, 62, began skimming the money from a trust fund at CMG Vending Inc. five years ago, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said Friday. CMG -- which Preschel founded -- operated, leased, and rented vending machines throughout New Jersey and New York, Carpenito said. “To conceal the ongoing embezzlement, Preschel failed to inform the participants and beneficiaries tha…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Demo Company VP From Wyckoff Admits Taking $350,000 In Bribes From Scrap Metal Company Demo Company VP From Wyckoff Admits Taking $350,000 In Bribes From Scrap Metal Company
Demo Company VP From Wyckoff Admits Taking $350,000 In Bribes From Scrap Metal Company A former national demolition company senior vice president from Wyckoff admitted Friday that he took $341,052 in payoffs from a scrap metal company in exchange for usiness. Frank Aiello, 53, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Newark to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Aiello worked as a senior vice president at an unnamed demolition and remediation services company with offices in New Jersey and throughout the United States, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. He accepted “gifts, payments and other things of value” from two brothers who co-owned Cinelli Iron & Metal Co. (CIMCO), …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
More Prison Time For Fort Lee Con Man Who Used Prisoners' IDs On Claims More Prison Time For Fort Lee Con Man Who Used Prisoners' IDs On Claims
More Prison Time For Fort Lee Con Man Who Used Prisoners' IDs On Claims FORT LEE, N.J. – A former Fort Lee mortgage broker already headed to a federal pen must also spend at least three years in state prison for filing bogus unemployment and temporary disability claims that netted $317,736 by using the names of prison inmates. Jose Crespo, 52, must also pay the government back after pleading guilty last April to computer theft. Crespo's wife, Marilyn Crespo, 50, pleaded guilty to theft charge and was sentenced to a drug court program that carries a five-year prison sentence if she fails to meet its requirements. Her husband's friend, Craig Mallone, 62, of Wilm…

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by Jerry DeMarco