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U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton

Police & Fire
Newark Rapper Tsu Surf Gets 5 Years, No Parole, For Leadership Role In Armed, Violent Drug Gang Newark Rapper Tsu Surf Gets 5 Years, No Parole, For Leadership Role In Armed, Violent Drug Gang
Newark Rapper Tsu Surf Gets 5 Years, No Parole, For Leadership Role In Armed, Violent Drug Gang Battle rapper Tsu Surf must spend a plea-bargained five years in federal prison for what authorities described as a leadership role in a violent drug-selling Newark street gang. The 32-year-old rapper – whose real name is Rahjon Cox -- was one of 10 reputed members of the Rollin’ 60s Neighborhood Crips charged under federal RICO statutes following a massive North Jersey roundup last year. A total of 42 targets in all were arrested in a series of pinpointed attacks on organized gangs dealing drugs, packing weapons and waging street warfare, federal authorities said at the time. Cox took a d…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
$2M NJ Scammer Who Claimed Dead People As Biz Partners Gets 3 Years, No Parole $2M NJ Scammer Who Claimed Dead People As Biz Partners Gets 3 Years, No Parole
$2M NJ Scammer Who Claimed Dead People As Biz Partners Gets 3 Years, No Parole UPDATE: A scammer from Sussex County who fraudulently collected more than $2 million in federal funds by identifying people who'd been dead for more than a decade as business partners must spend the next three years in federal prison. John Jhong, 54, of Sparta, actually submitted bogus applications for more than $15 million in federal pandemic aid earmarked to help struggling companies during COVID-19, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Jhong "turned these vital relief programs into his personal ATM," spending the more than $2 million he illegally collected on personal expenses, the U.…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
NY Man Who Assaulted Female Passenger On Flight To Newark Gets 2 Years, No Parole NY Man Who Assaulted Female Passenger On Flight To Newark Gets 2 Years, No Parole
NY Man Who Assaulted Female Passenger On Flight To Newark Gets 2 Years, No Parole UPDATE: An upstate New York man who admitted assaulting a fellow passenger on a flight from Denver to Newark must spend two plea-bargained years in federal prison. Ryan Manuella, 30, of Erie County, “moved to a vacant center seat next to a female passenger, who was sitting in a window seat” on the April 16, 2021 flight, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Manuella, who didn't know the woman, then "touched the passenger without her consent," Sellinger said. "The victim then yelled at him and left the row of seats," the U.S. attorney said. Defense attorney Andrew Olesnyck…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Ex-Con NJ Bloods Leader Known As 'Hellboy' Gets 10 Years, No Parole, After Undercover PCP Sting Ex-Con NJ Bloods Leader Known As 'Hellboy' Gets 10 Years, No Parole, After Undercover PCP Sting
Ex-Con NJ Bloods Leader Known As 'Hellboy' Gets 10 Years, No Parole, After Undercover PCP Sting UPDATE: The leader of a Bloods subset that ruled some East Orange, Newark and Orange neighborhoods must spend the next 10 years in federal prison after he got stung selling PCP to an undercover agent. Tyree Thomas, 29, of Irvington -- known on the street as “Hellboy” -- had two loaded guns to protect the drugs and proceeds in a stash house that was raided after he repeatedly peddled phencyclidine to the agent from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. Agents seized a 9mm Glock 19 and a .380-caliber Grendel P1O…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds: NJ Dad Admits Making, Sharing Child Rape Livestreams, Videos Feds: NJ Dad Admits Making, Sharing Child Rape Livestreams, Videos
Feds: NJ Dad Admits Making, Sharing Child Rape Livestreams, Videos UPDATE: A New Jersey father of three admitted producing and sharing live streams and videos of children being sexually assaulted – some of them by him, federal authorities said. Homeland Security agents seized Antonio Del Prado, 61, during an October 2020 raid of his Millburn home after learning that he’d uploaded some of the images to a cloud, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. These included 56 images and 18 videos of child sexual abuse, according to a complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark. A judge kept Del Prado detained, and investigators learned that he'd “had a woma…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Major Trafficker Gets 14 Years, No Parole, For Shipping 40 Pounds Of Heroin From Cali To NJ Major Trafficker Gets 14 Years, No Parole, For Shipping 40 Pounds Of Heroin From Cali To NJ
Major Trafficker Gets 14 Years, No Parole, For Shipping 40 Pounds Of Heroin From Cali To NJ UPDATE: A major drug trafficker from Somerset County who flooded the New Jersey streets with major quantities of heroin -- some of it laced with deadly fentanyl -- must spend a plea-bargained 14 years in federal prison. William T. Bouza, 45, of Watchung, must serve out the entire term handed down by U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark because there's no parole in the federal prison system. The judge also sentenced him to five years of supervised release and ordered him to pay a $25,000 fine. Authorities targeted Bouza in early 2019 after intercepting 33 pounds of heroin stashed…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Tri-State Tour Company Founder Gets 7 Years, No Parole, In Child Porn Case Tri-State Tour Company Founder Gets 7 Years, No Parole, In Child Porn Case
Tri-State Tour Company Founder Gets 7 Years, No Parole, In Child Porn Case A tri-state nature tour company founder from North Jersey was sentenced to a plea-bargained seven years in federal prison for collecting hundreds of child porn images. Vaughn Tiedeman -- whose Living Adventure Tours operates in the Garden State, New York and Pennsylvania -- must serve out the entire term because there's no parole in the federal prison system. He'll also remain under supervised release for 10 years under the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark on Thursday, Sept. 21. Special agents of the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Inv…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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FEDS: Bergen Doc Admits Buying Cancer Drugs For Multi-Million-Dollar Black Market Resale FEDS: Bergen Doc Admits Buying Cancer Drugs For Multi-Million-Dollar Black Market Resale
Feds: Bergen Doc Admits Buying Cancer Drugs For Multi-Million-Dollar Black Market Resale An Elmwood Park doctor admitted buying discounted prescription drugs used to treat cancer and other diseases so they could be sold for tens of millions of dollars on the black market, federal authorities said. Jon-Paul Dadaian, 53, a board-certified anesthesiologist and pain management specialist from Manhattan, used his medical license to buy the oncology medications under false pretenses "for the purpose of selling them for profit," U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. He also let others use his license for the same purpose, Sellinger said. All for $130,500, the U.S. attorney said. D…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Drug Mule Caught With 15½ Pounds Of Coke Wrapped In Chocolate At Newark Airport Gets 30 Months Drug Mule Caught With 15½ Pounds Of Coke Wrapped In Chocolate At Newark Airport Gets 30 Months
Drug Mule Caught With 15½ Pounds Of Coke Wrapped In Chocolate At Newark Airport Gets 30 Months UPDATE: A Peruvian woman was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for trying to smuggle nearly 15½ pounds of cocaine hidden in chocolate candy through Newark Airport. Yolanda Fonseca Melgarejo, 60, a legal permanent resident of the United States and a citizen of Peru, was nabbed after flying in from Lima in March 2019. She had seven kilos of coke "concealed within wrapped chocolate candy in her luggage," Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Malgarejo took a deal from the government rather than risk trial, pleading guilty this past June to a single count of importing controlled s…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Hudson Ex-Con Gets 3½ Years In Fed Pen For Contraband Drone Drops Into Fort Dix Prison Hudson Ex-Con Gets 3½ Years In Fed Pen For Contraband Drone Drops Into Fort Dix Prison
Hudson Ex-Con Gets 3½ Years In Fed Pen For Contraband Drone Drops Into Fort Dix Prison An ex-con from Hudson County is headed back to the big house for using drones to smuggle tobacco, phone chargers and other contraband into the federal prison at Fort Dix following his release. Jason “Juice” Arteaga-Loayza, 30, of Jersey City must serve out just about all of a plea-bargained 3½ years because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Arteaga-Loayza and three other men had the smuggling operation going for several months before officers at Fort Dix spotted a drone with a dangling fishing line hovering above a housing unit, authorities said. The officers also found a cel…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds: Convicted Big-Time NJ Ticket Investment Scammer Admits Doing It Again Feds: Convicted Big-Time NJ Ticket Investment Scammer Admits Doing It Again
Feds: Convicted Big-Time NJ Ticket Investment Scammer Admits Doing It Again A Middlesex County man who’d previously been convicted in a ticket resale investment scam admitted in federal court Thursday that he did it again, authorities said. Jeffrey Burd, 61, of Edison, told a U.S. District Court judge during a virtual hearing in Newark that he spent the $447,000 that investors had given him for the purported business on himself. Burd had promised his victims that their money would go toward buying tickets for “high-profile concerts, sporting events, and Broadway shows,” with the profits split between him and them, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachel A. Honig said. Burd “f…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Ex-Newark Police Officer Goes To Fed Pen For 9 Years For Kickback Scheme Ex-Newark Police Officer Goes To Fed Pen For 9 Years For Kickback Scheme
Ex-Newark Police Officer Goes To Fed Pen For 9 Years For Kickback Scheme A former Newark police officer is headed to federal prison for the next nine years for paying kickbacks to a corrupt official for a private security contract. Janell Robinson, 45, of Newark must serve just about all of the entire sentence because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Jurors in U.S. District Court in Newark convicted Robinson last February of conspiring in a massive corruption scheme with Linda Watkins Brashear, the former executive director of the Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corporation (NWCDC). The NWCDC provided water to half a million New Jer…

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by Jerry DeMarco