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Saturday, apr 27
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45°
Saturday, apr 27
Tag:
Online Safety
Police & Fire
Man Admits To Child Porn Charges In Hudson Valley, DA Says
A Long Island man has pleaded guilty in the Hudson Valley to attempted dissemination of indecent materials to minors. Nassau County resident Daniel Waxman, age 56, of Cedarhurst, pleaded guilty on Thursday, April 4, in Ramapo, according to Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Walsh II, From May 2023 to May 2023, the DA's Office said an undercover investigator from the Rockland County District Attorney's Office posing as a minor engaged in a series of internet chat conversations with Waxman. The undercover investigator told Waxman on multiple occasions that she was …
News
Hudson Valley Man Sexually Assaults Boy Outside His Home: Here's His Sentence
A 35-year-old man from New York will spend decades in prison for enticing a teenage boy to engage in sexual activity with him at his Connecticut home, officials announced. Westchester County resident Leland Robinson, of Mount Vernon, was sentenced to 50 years in prison for enticing a 14-year-old boy to engage in sexual activity with him, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced on Friday, March 8. According to federal officials, in February 2019, when Robinson was 31 years old, he posed as a high school student on a social media application a…
Police & Fire
Armed Robber Lures Online Seller Before Stealing Jewelry, Car Keys In Region, Cops Say
A 25-year-old man has been arrested in connection with an armed robbery in the region that began with a Facebook Marketplace post. The Albany County incident happened at around 11:30 p.m. Dec. 27, 2023, in Bethlehem, in the hamlet of Slingerlands. Bethlehem Police said a woman called 911 reporting an armed robbery in progress in the parking lot of the Plug Power facility, located on Vista Boulevard. The male victim told investigators that he had arranged to meet a stranger there after posting jewelry for sale on Facebook Marketplace. When he arrived, he was attacked by two men, one …
Police & Fire
Threat Leads To 'Hold In Place' For Ketcham High School in Wappingers Falls
Students at a Hudson Valley high school were held in the auditorium or on buses following a rumor that potentially threatening information was posted online. The incident took place in Dutchess County at the Roy C Ketcham High School at 99 Myers Corners Road in Wappingers Falls. According to Superintendent Dr. Dwight Bonk, of the Wappinger Central School District, administration officials were made aware of a rumor that a student was posting potentially threatening information on social media. Administrators, along with the School Resource Officer and other officers from the Dutchess…
News
'Please Call The Police': Area Woman Held Hostage Uses Grubhub To Get Help
A New York woman being held hostage and sexually assaulted was finally rescued after using a food delivery app to call for help. Westchester County restaurant The Chipper Truck Cafe, located in Yonkers, said it received the desperate plea for help Sunday, June 19, via a customer order on Grubhub. Written in the app’s “additional instructions” box was the message: “please call the police his going to call me when u delivered come with the cones please don’t make it obvious.” In a Facebook post, the restaurant’s owner said staff immediately called 911 and reported the message to police. …
News
Don't Let Them Break Your Heart: FBI Issues Alert For Romance Scams
While Valentine's Day is a time for romantic gestures, the FBI has issued an alert to the public about romance scams. The agency said in an alert on Monday, Feb. 14, that the scams take place when a criminal adopts a fake identity online to get the victim's trust and uses the close relationship to manipulate and/or steal from the victim. "The criminals who carry out romance scams are experts at what they do and will seem genuine, caring, and believable," the FBI said. "Con artists are present on most dating and social media sites." The FBI said eventually the scammer will ask the vic…
Police & Fire
Man Arranged To Have Sex With 13-Year-Old From Region, Police Say
A man has been apprehended after arriving in Connecticut believing he was going to be having sex with a child, police announced. Detectives in Fairfield County from the Greenwich Police Department’s Special Victims Section had been engaged for several weeks in an internet undercover sexual predator investigation. The suspect believed one of the detectives was a 13-year old girl and began extensive conversations which included him sending explicit text messages indicating specific sex acts he wanted to engage with what he believed was a juvenile child, said police.&n…
News
Covid-
19: Alert Issued For Child Tax Credit Payment Scams
Opportunistic fraudsters have taken advantage of some consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic, this time targeting child tax credit payments that have been sent out to assist families. The IRS recently issued an alert after it began sending tens of millions of dollars to families, though scammers have been attempting to pull a fast one over on some to steal thousands of dollars in federal benefits. According to the IRS, scammers have been reaching out to families using emails, text messages, and through social media, asking to verify personal information to receive the child tax credit payme…
Police & Fire
Man Charged With Kidnapping After Missing NY 15-Year-Old Found In Virginia
A man is facing kidnapping charges after allegedly taking a 15-year-old Long Island boy he met online out of state. Suffolk County Police Fifth Squad detectives are investigating the circumstances during which the missing special needs boy was found in Virginia early on Wednesday, June 30. The boy was reported missing by his family on Tuesday, June 29 at approximately 1:30 p.m., after he was last seen leaving his home at 11:30 a.m., police said. Following an investigation, detectives determined the boy had been communicating with a 20-year-old man residing in Tennessee through an ins…
News
Hudson Valley Man Accused Of Sexually Exploiting Three 13-Year-Olds Online
A 29-year-old Hudson Valley man was arrested for the sexual exploitation of three young teens online following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigative Division. Orange County resident Jonathan Weiss, also known as "Ian_Jameson," of Middletown, has been charged with communicating with three different underage victims online and directing them to take sexually explicit images and send them to Weiss. "Jonathan Weiss's alleged crimes are abhorrent and predatory," ," said Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. "Using a common socia…
Politics
New Requirements For Sex Offenders Using Social Apps Proposed In NY
A new proposal from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo would regulate registered sex offenders from using social media applications and other online methods to contact and exploit children. In his 11th proposal of the 2020 State of the State agenda, Cuomo introduced legislation to prevent convicted sex offenders from using social media accounts, dating apps, and video game chat functions to target minors. The proposal is an extension of New York's e-STOP law, which passed in 2008 and requires sex offenders to register some online activities with state officials. According to Cuomo, “wit…
News
Four Accused Of Arranging To Meet Up With Teen Boy For Sex In Area
Four men were arrested after allegedly arranging to meet up with a 13-year-old boy to have sex through an online website. The arrests were the result of an investigation in Orange County that began when Port Jervis officers stopped to investigate a suspicious vehicle parked in the parking lot of a closed business after hours on Sept. 4, said Port Jervis Chief William Worden. During the stop, officers found Kerry Sauer, 56, of Port Jervis, with a 13-year-old male victim whom he met online using Grindr, Worden said. Grindr is an online dating application geared towa…
Police & Fire
Don't Fall For It: Police Issue Alert For Unclaimed Funds Email Scam
Police in the area are cautioning local residents of a recent email scam that has been making the rounds throughout the region. One police department, located in Rockland County, reports it just received a scam email from “Rupnarain Kamal” stating that the recipient of the email was due a payment of $22,583,112.00 as a beneficiary for an unclaimed fund at a South African bank. “Back in January, we posted about a scam email we received in the (police department’s) General Email Account Mailbox,” the Ramapo Police Department posted online. “Well, on (Monday), July 22, we received the same ema…
Police & Fire
Disturbing 'Suicide Challenge' App Aimed At Teens Sparks New Warning
An ongoing suicide “game” involving a person dubbed “Momo" targeting teens on a prominent messaging app is sparking a new warning. “Momo” has become a viral challenge that first asks people to add a contact on the WhatsApp app, and they are then encouraged to commit self-harm or suicide. The “game” has spread nationwide. The challenge has since evolved to include other apps and social media platforms. According to Fox News, police in Mexico say that “Momo” started in a Facebook group, where people are encouraged to make contact with an unknown telephone number. “Computer Crime Investigator…
Lifestyle
Kids Spend More Time On YouTube Than With Friends, New Study Says
A new study has revealed some shocking stats about the way today’s children are spending the bulk of their time. The study, which was carried out by media watchdog Ofcom, discovered that children under the age of five spend an hour and 16 minutes online per day, on average. Factor in gaming and television and that time shoots up to four hours and 16 minutes. But that’s not all: one-fifth of children ages eight through 12 are on social media, despite the “ban” for those under age 13. The results of the Ofcom annual report are based on 2,000 interviews. Many parents admitted that they had “l…
News
Missing 16-Year-Old Believed To Be In New York Area
A 16-year-old out-of-state girl has gone missing and her family says they believe she's in the New York City area. Brooklynn Hays from Essex, Maryland ran away from home after a camping trip after she thought she was in trouble with her parents on Sunday, Sept. 30, according to WMAR-TV. Her parents told the station they suspect she contacted someone she met online and that police believe she was seen somewhere in New York City. “We believe she’s in danger," her cousin Korinne Gurnsey told WMAR. "We’ve been in contact with a lot of her friends and we don’t know where she is.” Sh…
Lifestyle
Twitter Says It Will Delete Millions Of Accounts
Twitter users may soon see a lot fewer followers, as the company prepares to purge the system from locked accounts that have been disabled due to suspicious activity. Officials said that locked accounts occur when they see sudden changes in behavior. They then reach out to the owners of the accounts and unless they validate the account and reset their passwords, they stay locked with no ability to log in. “We are committed to building trust and encouraging healthy conversations on Twitter,” the company posted. “Follower counts should be meaningful and accurate. We are removing locked accoun…
Police & Fire
Putnam Sheriff Warns Of 'Well-Designed,' 'Sophisticated' Netflix Email Scam
Putnam County residents have been receiving sophisticated scam emails claiming to be from Netflix, Sheriff Robert L. Langley, Jr. reports. The email is well-designed and attempts to fool Netflix customers into turning over their credit card details. The message claims that there is a billing issue that needs to be resolved. The email contains an “Update Payment” button that will take the victim to a malicious site that looks like a legitimate Netflix page. It asks for credit card details and password verification. This is not a Netflix page, and the credit card and password is sent to the s…
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