Mom Found Burned Dead In Vacant Lot ID'd As NJ Woman — Now Police Hope To Find Her Daughter Mom Found Burned Dead In Vacant Lot ID'd As NJ Woman — Now Police Hope To Find Her Daughter
Mom Found Burned Dead In Vacant Lot ID'd As NJ Woman — Now Police Hope To Find Her Daughter Known for 30 years as the "Girl with the Scorpion Tattoo," the unidentified victim found brutally murdered on Staten Island has been identified as a New Jersey woman — with a daughter whom authorities are hoping to find. Christine Belusko of Clifton was handcuffed, strangled, beaten and burned in a Staten Island lot, the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office said. In the weeks leading up to her killing, she had been staying at a Mount Airy Lodge near Mount Pocono, PA, authorities said. Now, investigators hope to find Belusko's daughter, Christa Nicole, who would have been two…
Atlantic City Councilman In Bigger Trouble Now, Charged By Feds With Voter, Unemployment Fraud Atlantic City Councilman In Bigger Trouble Now, Charged By Feds With Voter, Unemployment Fraud
Atlantic City Councilman In Bigger Trouble Now, Charged By Feds With Voter, Unemployment Fraud An Atlantic City councilman who was accused last year of assaulting his wife and endangering his daughter was busted by federal authorities for voter and unemployment fraud. MD Hossain Morshed, 49, a Democrat who represents the city’s Fourth Ward, was charged in a complaint unsealed Friday, March 17, in U.S. District Court in Camden. Morshed falsified voter registrations, lied to the FBI and filed bogus unemployment benefit claims with the state, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. According to Sellinger, Morshed gave a prospective voter in the June 2019 primary a pre-filled voter regi…
Phucket Fugitive Returned To Face Charges In NJ Deli Fraud Scheme Phucket Fugitive Returned To Face Charges In NJ Deli Fraud Scheme
Phucket Fugitive Returned To Face Charges In NJ Deli Fraud Scheme A fugitive from Thailand was returned to the United States to face charges in a massive market manipulation scheme involving a New Jersey deli company whose stock was once valued at an illogical $100 million, federal authorities announced. A U.S. District Court magistrate judge in Newark ordered one-time Hong Kong businessman Peter Coker Jr. held after he was flown in custody from a Bangkok jail. Coker, 54, formerly of North Carolina, was seized at a hotel in the resort area of Phuket in mid-January following the arrests of his father, Peter Coker Sr., and James Patten in North Carolina. C…
Essex Jail Officer, GF Stung By FBI In Scheme To Smuggle In Tobacco, Cell Phones: Feds Essex Jail Officer, GF Stung By FBI In Scheme To Smuggle In Tobacco, Cell Phones: Feds
Essex Jail Officer, GF Stung By FBI In Scheme To Smuggle In Tobacco, Cell Phones: Feds A corrections officer and his girlfriend were busted for smuggling tobacco and cellphones into the Essex County Jail from a source who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent, federal authorities said. Efrin Wade, 34, and Yairisa Lizardo, 29, both of Jersey City, accepted $14,000 for the illegal acts and apparently were counting on another $30,000 when they were busted, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger said following their arrests on Tuesday, March 14. Wade, who’d worked as a corrections officer at the Essex County Correctional Facility (ECCF) in Newark since February 2020, be…
'Bling Bishop' From Bergen Accused Of Faking Docs To Finance Paramus Mansion: 'FBI Set Me Up' 'Bling Bishop' From Bergen Accused Of Faking Docs To Finance Paramus Mansion: 'FBI Set Me Up'
'Bling Bishop' From Bergen Accused Of Faking Docs To Finance Paramus Mansion: 'FBI Set Me Up' A flashy Brooklyn bishop who lives in Bergen County – and was infamously robbed at gunpoint during a live-streamed church service last year – claims the FBI set him. Lamor Whitehead was already facing charges of swindling a female parishioner out of $90,000 in retirement money when a new indictment this week accused him of fabricating bank records to try and finance his million-dollar mansion in Paramus. Whitehead made it appear on paper that he controlled an LLC that had an average balance of more than $2 million when it actually had less than 10 bucks, the indictment returned in the Sout…
'White Lives Matter Too': Man Charged With Smoke Bombing, Pepper Spraying Asbury Church Event 'White Lives Matter Too': Man Charged With Smoke Bombing, Pepper Spraying Asbury Church Event
'White Lives Matter Too': Man Charged With Smoke Bombing, Pepper Spraying Asbury Church Event An Ocean County man was charged with throwing smoke bombs and trying to pepper-spray attendees of an anti-racism concert at an Asbury Park church while shouting "White lives matter, too," authorities announced. Nicholas G. Mucci, 28, of Toms River was wearing a black face covering on Jan. 28 as he blocked attendees from leaving a concert organized by a social justice organization known as the One People's Project at the Trinity Episcopal Parish on Asbury Avenue, state Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. “White lives matter, too,” he shouted while tossing two smoke bombs toward the cro…
Bergen Ex-Con Tried Boarding Newark Flight With AR-15, Taser, Fake US Marshal Creds, More: Feds Bergen Ex-Con Tried Boarding Newark Flight With AR-15, Taser, Fake US Marshal Creds, More: Feds
Bergen Ex-Con Tried Boarding Newark Flight With AR-15, Taser, Fake US Marshal Creds, More: Feds A convicted felon from Bergen County was seized while trying to bring two rifles, a handgun, a Taser, a switchblade and bogus U.S. Marshals credentials onto a flight from Newark to Fort Lauderdale, federal authorities said. Seretse Clouden, 42, of Wallington had a .308-caliber DPMS Panther Arms rifle, a 5.56-caliber AR-15 rifle, a .40-caliber Glock 22 handgun and the phony creds -- which bore his name, photograph and a U.S. Marshal badge -- in his checked baggage, the FBI charged in a complaint. His bags also contained a ballistic vest that said "Deputy Marshal," two magazines containing 15…
UPDATE: Hudson Real Estate Agent Admits Grooming Girls, 15, To Send Him Homemade Porn UPDATE: Hudson Real Estate Agent Admits Grooming Girls, 15, To Send Him Homemade Porn
Update: Hudson Real Estate Agent Admits Grooming Girls, 15, To Send Him Homemade Porn A Hudson County real estate agent admitted in federal court that he groomed two 15-year-old girls to create and send him porn photos and videos of themselves, authorities said. Erick Solis, 25, of Weehawken "used a social media application to engage with two underage victims in sexually explicit conversations," U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said following a plea hearing in Newark. He then "instructed both victims to take sexually explicit photographs and videos of themselves and send them to him," Sellinger said. “What will your friend friends/teachers think if I picked you up from sch…
'Love Psychic' Convinced Client To Mail $90M In Jewels To Paramus, Federal Court Docs Say 'Love Psychic' Convinced Client To Mail $90M In Jewels To Paramus, Federal Court Docs Say
'Love Psychic' Convinced Client To Mail $90M In Jewels To Paramus, Federal Court Docs Say A precious, pink, 13.15-carat diamond from Qatar was among the $90 million worth of jewelry that a New Jersey relationship psychic convinced a client to swipe in his quest for love, court papers say. John Lee, who has a mailing address on Route 17 in Paramus, met his alleged victim on a website called Purple Garden, where he posed as a "love expert" under the username 1111Giovanni1111, federal prosecutors said in court papers filed in Florida. Lee, of Davenport, FL, convinced his victim — who worked for a wealthy individual in Qatar — to send him jewelry to be cleansed of bad spirits in Jun…
Saudi National Who Drove Stolen NJ School Bus To PA Kept Anti-Semitic Journals: Feds Saudi National Who Drove Stolen NJ School Bus To PA Kept Anti-Semitic Journals: Feds
Saudi National Who Drove Stolen NJ School Bus To PA Kept Anti-Semitic Journals: Feds A college student from Saudi Arabia who stole a school bus in Livingston, NJ, and drove it nearly 60 miles to Stroudsburg, PA, kept anti-Semitic journals, federal authorities said. Bader Alzahrani, a 22-year-old divorced sophomore who attends an undisclosed college, is accused of first breaking into a vacant home across the street from a Livingston Board of Education parking lot on Hill Side Avenue where the bus was parked. The district reported the bus stolen on Jan. 17, two days after the residential break-in, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said. Police found a backpack…
Fake Nursing Degrees Sold For $15K, Pair Arrested In South Jersey: Feds Fake Nursing Degrees Sold For $15K, Pair Arrested In South Jersey: Feds
Fake Nursing Degrees Sold For $15K, Pair Arrested In South Jersey: Feds A large-scale scheme to sell fake nursing degrees has been busted up by federal authorities.  Two South Jersey men were charged in the scheme that allowed thousands of prospective nurses to skip time-consuming training and licensing by purchasing credentials for up to $15,000. Those indicted collected more than $100 million peddling the bogus licenses, federal officials said. HHS-OIG, the FBI and Justice Department worked jointly on the operation, dubbed "Operation Nightingale," named after Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. The overall scheme involved the distribut…
Wanaque Man Gets 3½ Years, No Parole, For Assaulting Sister, Having Assault Weapon, Pipe Bomb Wanaque Man Gets 3½ Years, No Parole, For Assaulting Sister, Having Assault Weapon, Pipe Bomb
Wanaque Man Gets 3½ Years, No Parole, For Assaulting Sister, Having Assault Weapon, Pipe Bomb UPDATE: A Wanaque man must serve at least 3½ years in state prison before he'll be eligible for attacking his sister in their home and having an assault rifle and pipe bomb in his possession. Michael Wierciszewski, 25, was arrested by borough police after the victim told them that he lunged at her with a knife while trying to kill her at the family’s Jackson Street residence on Nov. 24, 2021. A search of the home turned up the improvised device, along with a Century Arms RAS 47 rifle that had been modified to remove the stock and accommodate a silencer, authorities said at the time. The vi…